Did the Australian TV network 9News report that the Australian Securities Exchange and Reserve Bank of Australia had announced a new financial platform that could enable investors to earn 30,000 Australian dollars each month? No, that's not true: A video on Facebook that made this claim did not include a genuine 9News newscast, nor is there any record that the Securities Exchange or Reserve Bank made an announcement about such an automatic trading system. Neither 9News nor Australian government websites have published such reports. A link in the video sends users to a website promoting what appear to be courses at a supposed business school -- a frequent technique used to harvest unwary users' personal information.
The claim originated in a video (archived here) shared on Facebook on November 7, 2023, with a caption that read in part:
๐๐ ๐ฐ๐น๐๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐น๐น ๐๐๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น๐ถ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐!
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น๐ถ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ด๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐น๐ผ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ธ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ด๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ฏ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ฒ๐ป๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐น๐น-๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น๐ถ๐ฎ๐ป๐! ...
๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ, ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ด๐ถ๐ป๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐ท๐๐๐ ๐ฏ๐ฑ๐ฌ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐น๐น๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ป ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ฎ๐ ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐น๐น๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ธ.
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken Thurs Nov 9 09:13:34 UTC 2023)
The above is not a genuine 9News Australia broadcast, nor is there any record that the Australian government made such an announcement.
The 1:35-minute video opened with footage of a 9News anchor with audio that suggested he was introducing the investment opportunity. He said:
It's easy now, to start with $250 and consistently make $30,000 [AUS] every month. You'll be shocked. Now it's real. The head of the central bank and the manager of the Australian Stock Exchange have joined together and created a financial platform that trades automatically without human intervention.
As of November 10, 2023, 30,000 Australian dollars is worth just over $19,000 in U.S. currency.
A search (archived here) of the 9News website, using the keywords "Economic Society of Australia investment opportunity 30,000," did not produce any results that showed News9 ever produced such a broadcast.
After the supposed newscast, the video shared on Facebook then cut to a supposed speech by Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe. The audio attributed to Lowe said:
After nine months of development and successful testing, we are proud to announce the launch of a new financial program that will help you increase your income to $32,000 per month. The partnership with the stock exchange will enhance the economy and lower inflation in Australia ...
Using a reverse-image search (archived here) of a screenshot taken from the video, Lead Stories determined that the video images came from Lowe's July 12, 2023, speech to a business lunch of the Economic Society of Australia, a professional association. As an official transcript shows, Lowe announced changes to the Reserve Bank's board in response to inflation concerns. Lead Stories reviewed the transcript of the 48:42-minute broadcast (archived here). Lowe said nothing about a new investment opportunity.
Similarly, searches of the Australian Stock Exchange website (archived here) and the Reserve Bank (archived here) websites, using the keywords "$30,000 investment," did not produce any results to substantiate the video's claim.
Using the keywords "Australian investment opportunity 30 000," searches of the website of the Economic Society of Australia (archived here), which hosted the luncheon Lowe addressed, showed no relevant results.
A news search of Google's index of news sites (archived here), with the keywords "Economic Society of Australia investing opportunity 30,000," also produced no results to substantiate the video's claims.
Attached to the Facebook post is a link (archived here) that reads, "Start Now" and "93% of Aussies don't know about it." It has nothing to do with an investment opportunity. When clicked on, an unrelated webpage with the URL "https://toy.splendidrice.com/" opens that appear to host business-related articles.
Lead Stories contacted 9News for a statement on the video's claim, and will update this fact check if a response is received.
We previously have debunked similar information-harvesting scams, including those that purportedly involved Elon Musk, a supposed "QuantumAI" platform and another fake investment platform.
