ScamWatch, a division of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) that helps protect Australians from scams, has reported an increase in scams since the Coronavirus crisis began.

The ACCC has advised that scammers are taking advantage of people financially impacted by the Coronavirus crisis by falsely selling products or services online and using fake emails or text messages to try and obtain personal data.

There are also reports of scammers offering to check if a person’s superannuation account is eligible for various benefits (such as the early release of superannuation) or claiming new schemes will lock people out of their accounts.

In 2019, Australians lost over $6 million to superannuation scams with people aged 45–54 losing the most amount of money.

Please remember, never give any personal information about your superannuation to someone who has contacted you. You should first confirm who has contacted you and make sure they are a legitimate company or government representative. Hang up and call the organisation directly by doing an independent search for their contact details.

Next steps

If you think you may have provided information about your superannuation account to a scammer, please contact our office immediately. You can also contact www.idcare.org, a free Government-supported service which will work with you to develop a specific response plan to your situation and support you through the process.

More information on Coronavirus scams is available on the Scamwatch website (https://www.scamwatch.gov.au).

Carrick Aland is here to support you if you have any further questions, please contact our office. 

General Advice Disclaimer: The information in this report is general advice only and does not take into account the financial circumstances, needs and objectives of any particular investor. Before acting on the general advice contained in this report, an investor should assess their own circumstances or seek advice from a financial adviser. Where applicable, the investor should obtain and consider a copy of the prospectus or other disclosure material relevant to the financial product before making any investment decision to acquire a financial product. It is important to note that the price or value of financial products go up and down and past performance is not an indicator of future performance.