Protecting Superannuation from Scams
Launch library · evergreen read
Superannuation and other retirement savings accounts are a genuinely appealing target for scammers precisely because of their considerable size, and unsolicited calls or messages offering to help "consolidate", "unlock" or "boost" these funds deserve particular, sustained caution before any personal details are shared at all.
Genuine advice about superannuation typically comes from a licensed financial adviser you have personally chosen to engage yourself, not from an unsolicited call promising unusually early access or unusually high returns on your existing, already accumulated retirement balance built up steadily over many working decades.
Being especially wary of pressure to transfer superannuation into an unfamiliar fund quickly, or to provide identification documents to someone who contacted you first rather than the other way around, protects effectively against this particular, well documented superannuation scam pattern seen repeatedly across the industry.
Checking directly with your existing, trusted fund, using contact details taken from a genuine statement rather than any number provided by the caller themselves, is a reliable and simple way to confirm whether an approach is genuinely legitimate before any paperwork is actually signed and returned.