Superannuation Scams
Tuesday January 20, 2009
Superannuation scams will often come in the form of offers to let you access the preserved portion of your managed super funds earlier than usual. Unfortunately, there are just a few exceptions on compassionate grounds that can allow you to legitimately access your preserved savings before you reach your preservation age. While superannuation scams will offer earlier access, you must accept that, except for extreme circumstances, your preserved savings in your managed super funds will be inaccessible until you reach preservation age, which is between 55 and 60 currently, depending on when you were born.
The way that superannuation scams will often operate is to get you to aid in convincing your current managed super funds to release your funds to the scam artists. This may be achieved with a false story or by some other means, but the end result is that your money is in the hands of swindlers. They will then probably disappear. Another possibility is that they may instead take out a large fee from your money and then give you what remains. As they tend to involve victims in an illegal activity, very often people do not report this happening to them.
Just be sensible and look carefully into any claims that you can access your preserved savings earlier than usual. Consult ASIC as well as an independent financial adviser who is licensed by ASIC in order to better identify offers that are too good to be true.
Please browse our site if you are interested in reading about industry super funds, different types of super funds or other subjects to do with using managed super funds or avoiding superannuation scams.
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