At first glance Billabong Brief (billabongbrief.com) looks like a friendly Aussie money blog. The lead story is “7 Things to Know About the Quiet Change Taking Hold in Australian Household Budgets (and What to Check Before Trying an AI App)”. Below it are guides on renting, energy bills and sole trader tax. Nothing about it shouts scam. Yet the Australian Securities and Investments Commission flagged it on 26 October 2026, and the alert went out on IOSCO’s international alerts network.
The page ASIC actually pointed at
The ASIC entry does not point at the homepage. It points at one hidden address on the site, billabongbrief.com/ai-app-au. When we tried to open that page, our browser stopped us with a Cloudflare notice: “Suspected Misleading Website. This website has been reported for potentially misrepresenting itself as a particular brand or service.” We did not click through.
That pattern is well known. A tidy blog full of genuine looking advice builds trust with search engines and ad networks. Then a separate page, reached only from an advert, tells a story about an “AI app” that makes ordinary Australians rich, often with a fake news layout and a celebrity photo. That page sends you to a sign up form, and the sign up form hands your phone number to a call centre.
| What you see | What sits behind it |
|---|---|
| Budget tips and cost of living guides | Content that makes the site look trustworthy |
| An “AI app” story in the headline | The same theme as the flagged page |
| billabongbrief.com/ai-app-au | Blocked as a suspected misleading site |
| Domain registered | 29 September 2026, four weeks before the ASIC alert |
How to spot a fake AI trading story
- It promises daily income from an app that “does the trading for you”.
- It quotes a famous person who never said it.
- The only button leads to a form asking for your phone number.
- Someone calls within minutes and asks for about $250 to start.
If that call has already happened, do not let the caller install remote access software on your computer, and do not read them any code sent to your phone. Those are the two steps that turn a small deposit into an emptied account.
⚠ What we recorded
- ASIC alert shared by IOSCO, 26 October 2026.
- Flagged page: billabongbrief.com/ai-app-au.
- Cloudflare “Suspected Misleading Website” warning on that page, 29 October 2026.
- Domain one month old.
Sources: IOSCO international investor alerts portal (ASIC, billabongbrief.com/ai-app-au, 26 October 2026); billabongbrief.com (checked 29 October 2026); RDAP record. General information only.
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