‘Alarming' AI powered scams targeting Australians
'This is alarming … some of the methods of scams has really gone up to another level thanks to AI,' Mr Fenech told Sky News Australia.
'A lot of people have unfortunately given up their details … and their accounts have been compromised.
'Make sure you've got the latest version of all that software because if you don't have that protection, you could easily be led to these sites.'
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West Australian
2 days ago
- West Australian
Escalante-backed fintech WeMoney doubles down on WA roots as it eyes ASX listing
Laurence Escalante-backed WeMoney is on the path to an ASX listing even before it turns a decade old, its chief says, as the WA-founded fintech charts ambitious local expansion plans. The financial wellness app, founded by former National Australia Bank banker Dan Jovevski, aims to help people manage earnings by using artificial intelligence to detect their spending patterns and make suggestions on where to save cash. With the app already clocking over one million downloads in Australia since it went live in late 2020, Mr Jovevski is now charting the business' next phase of growth. 'We've always had a desire to become a public company and for our particular business, it makes a lot of sense because the growth (trajectory) we're currently on, there may not be an option to raise money privately,' he said. 'We're not going to rush into it . . . but our general goal now is to (list on the ASX) within the next three years based on our current growth rate.' All of that would be done from WA, Mr Jovevski said. WeMoney on Friday unveiled its new headquarters on St Georges Terrace and plans to create 50 news jobs across data science, AI development and product design within three years, with a strong focus on early-career professionals and recent graduates. 'The office is symbolic because it plants our roots here in WA, but also sends a signal to the broader tech community that more companies should (establish) offices here because the talent pool and density is phenomenal,' Mr Jovevski said. It comes after WeMoney in April secured $12 million in funding — valuing the enterprise at $100m — led by Virtual Gaming Worlds founder Mr Escalante's family office. The round also attracted support from RAC's venture capital arm BetterLabs and Mastercard. The funds raised were used for research and development. With 80,000 monthly active users, Mr Jovevski pointed to the persistent high cost-of-living pressures as being 'an accelerant' of its growth. 'About half of Australians are living pay cheque to pay cheque,' he said, with higher interest rates and housing costs crunching people's incomes. 'People are still struggling even amidst the interest rate cuts and what's been a real catalyst for our growth is people wanting to get more control and transparency over their money and their finances.' Mr Jovevski said on average, its customers saved $335 a month by using the WeMoney app. 'One of the outcomes were really proud of is in a short nine months of using WeMoney, our members report that their credit health improves by 63 points,' he said.
Sydney Morning Herald
2 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Hey, Scott Farquhar, this is the future. Can I have a word?
To: Dear Scott, We note that you cite your 'property' rights. We were interested to hear your ideas on property, also on 7.30. Sarah Ferguson asked you if the law should protect writers, musicians and other creators from Big Tech stealing their work and using it to train AI to take their jobs. You said that if property is stolen and then transformed 'in a new and novel way', and if the benefits 'outweighed' the previous use, 'that's fair'. For you, the owner's property rights belong to the past. In July 2025, you told the National Press Club that building new data centres in convenient locations 'is a multibillion-dollar, multi-decade opportunity. To do that, we need to systematically remove barriers to growth.' Our new data centre is a transformative re-use of 'Uig Lodge', and its benefits will flow to all Australians: a transformation of the land from unproductive to productive use. Unfortunately, as you will agree, your occupancy is a barrier to growth. Best wishes, The Future To: thefuture@ From: But I'm going through hell getting council approval for my renos! To: From: thefuture@ Dear Scott, In your Press Club speech, you listed your complaints about council, 'as anyone who has built or renovated a house knows'. You said an artificial intelligence digital agent could remove such barriers: 'A developer would know whether the block of apartments they want to build are likely to be possible before they even purchased the land. Wouldn't that dramatically increase not only the number of applications submitted but also the number of complying and successful applications? We could dramatically increase the number of dwellings built without changing a single law.' We have applied such a digital agent to 'Uig Lodge'. Our DA for a multibillion-dollar data centre in Point Piper was approved overnight without changing a single law. To: From: thefuture@ Dear Scott, You have already heard legal advice from ours (which we downloaded for free). Your DA application was assessed by an AI that looks at how much you spend on luxury goods and then 'personalises' the cost of your very own fee. (Sorry, Scott, you had no property rights over your data.) As luck would have it, yours came to $130 million. This would have benefited all residents of your council area! Pity you missed your chance. Our data centre will benefit them so much more. Call us any time if you want to discuss. The Future To: thefuture@ From: This is property theft. This is communism. To: From: thefuture@ Dear Scott, 'Property theft' again. We note your thoughts on 'communism' from the 7.30 interview when you were asked how you would feel if Atlassian's software had been ripped off: 'If someone had used my intellectual property to compete with me, then that is an issue. If they had used all the intellectual property of all the software in the world to help all the people in the world to write better software in the future, I think that is fair use.' We're delighted to inform you that our data centre will transform 'Uig Lodge' for the benefit of all the people in the world in the future, so we can only assume that you use 'communism' as a compliment. Maybe we could catch up for a coffee! The Future To: thefuture@ From: You want to take us back to the past. To: From: thepast@ CC: thefuture@ Dear Scott, We old-timers have a phrase to describe the attitude of your kind: 'What's yours is mine and what's mine's me own.' BTW, from our vantage point, AI doesn't look artificial or intelligent. We call it RA: Real Authority. Best wishes, The Past To: thepast@ From: If it was down to your kind we'd never have got beyond horses and carts. To: From: thepast@ CC: thefuture@ Dear Scott, Henry Ford would have had little incentive to develop the Model T if he couldn't register it as his intellectual property. Do you still think 'governments should move fast to remove regulatory barriers to new ways of working', as you told the Press Club, or do you want laws to protect you now? The Past To: thefuture@ From: You're taking my words out of context. You're taking the piss. You're a piss-bot, aren't you? To: From: thefuture@ Your words aren't your property, Scott. Nor is 'your' land. As for satirically using your words to expose your double standards, you said it yourself, Scott, on 7.30: 'Of course we can.'
The Age
2 days ago
- The Age
Hey, Scott Farquhar, this is the future. Can I have a word?
To: Dear Scott, We note that you cite your 'property' rights. We were interested to hear your ideas on property, also on 7.30. Sarah Ferguson asked you if the law should protect writers, musicians and other creators from Big Tech stealing their work and using it to train AI to take their jobs. You said that if property is stolen and then transformed 'in a new and novel way', and if the benefits 'outweighed' the previous use, 'that's fair'. For you, the owner's property rights belong to the past. In July 2025, you told the National Press Club that building new data centres in convenient locations 'is a multibillion-dollar, multi-decade opportunity. To do that, we need to systematically remove barriers to growth.' Our new data centre is a transformative re-use of 'Uig Lodge', and its benefits will flow to all Australians: a transformation of the land from unproductive to productive use. Unfortunately, as you will agree, your occupancy is a barrier to growth. Best wishes, The Future To: thefuture@ From: But I'm going through hell getting council approval for my renos! To: From: thefuture@ Dear Scott, In your Press Club speech, you listed your complaints about council, 'as anyone who has built or renovated a house knows'. You said an artificial intelligence digital agent could remove such barriers: 'A developer would know whether the block of apartments they want to build are likely to be possible before they even purchased the land. Wouldn't that dramatically increase not only the number of applications submitted but also the number of complying and successful applications? We could dramatically increase the number of dwellings built without changing a single law.' We have applied such a digital agent to 'Uig Lodge'. Our DA for a multibillion-dollar data centre in Point Piper was approved overnight without changing a single law. To: From: thefuture@ Dear Scott, You have already heard legal advice from ours (which we downloaded for free). Your DA application was assessed by an AI that looks at how much you spend on luxury goods and then 'personalises' the cost of your very own fee. (Sorry, Scott, you had no property rights over your data.) As luck would have it, yours came to $130 million. This would have benefited all residents of your council area! Pity you missed your chance. Our data centre will benefit them so much more. Call us any time if you want to discuss. The Future To: thefuture@ From: This is property theft. This is communism. To: From: thefuture@ Dear Scott, 'Property theft' again. We note your thoughts on 'communism' from the 7.30 interview when you were asked how you would feel if Atlassian's software had been ripped off: 'If someone had used my intellectual property to compete with me, then that is an issue. If they had used all the intellectual property of all the software in the world to help all the people in the world to write better software in the future, I think that is fair use.' We're delighted to inform you that our data centre will transform 'Uig Lodge' for the benefit of all the people in the world in the future, so we can only assume that you use 'communism' as a compliment. Maybe we could catch up for a coffee! The Future To: thefuture@ From: You want to take us back to the past. To: From: thepast@ CC: thefuture@ Dear Scott, We old-timers have a phrase to describe the attitude of your kind: 'What's yours is mine and what's mine's me own.' BTW, from our vantage point, AI doesn't look artificial or intelligent. We call it RA: Real Authority. Best wishes, The Past To: thepast@ From: If it was down to your kind we'd never have got beyond horses and carts. To: From: thepast@ CC: thefuture@ Dear Scott, Henry Ford would have had little incentive to develop the Model T if he couldn't register it as his intellectual property. Do you still think 'governments should move fast to remove regulatory barriers to new ways of working', as you told the Press Club, or do you want laws to protect you now? The Past To: thefuture@ From: You're taking my words out of context. You're taking the piss. You're a piss-bot, aren't you? To: From: thefuture@ Your words aren't your property, Scott. Nor is 'your' land. As for satirically using your words to expose your double standards, you said it yourself, Scott, on 7.30: 'Of course we can.'
