Keep your Super safe!
The recent incident of fraudulent activities carried out by unfaithful financial advisors has raised the much-needed awareness for protecting your super. These advisors have swindled clients, including friends and family, for millions of dollars through their dodgy schemes.
These unethical behaviours have raised serious concerns about safeguarding your super savings. Here are a few tips to help you keep your super safe:
- Ensure your postal mailbox is secure to avoid your mail being stolen. These documents contain sensitive information such as TFN which can be used to carry out fraudulent activities.
- Protect your documents. Ensure all your printed copies are stored safely. Ensure your digital copies are stored in a password-protected folder. Lastly, always shred any documents that you choose to dispose of.
- Never provide any personal or financial information over the phone to any person, company, or website without confirming their identity. Scammers claiming to be ATO personnel are one of the leading culprits for identity theft. ATO never asks for your personal/financial information over the phone.
- Phishing emails often contain links that advertise schemes such as “access your super early”, “use this one tip to retire stress-free”, “guaranteed high investment returns”. Make sure you mark these emails as junk and block the sender. This will help your email provider to recognise the pattern and automatically block and send such emails to junk in the future.
- Contact 1300 300 630 to report suspected fraud. This will help ASIC to recognise new schemes used by scammers and devise safety measures to protect the public.
- Always seek independent financial advice before investing!
- Use ASIC’s Financial Advisers Register to check if your financial advisor is licensed.
