With financial scams on the rise, it is important to protect yourself from superannuation scammers.
Superannuation scams are on the rise
A scam is when someone deceives you into providing personal or financial information so they can steal from you. Scams come in many different forms, and superannuation scams are on the rise.
Text messages, emails, social media and phone calls are the most commonly used ways scammers target their victims.
Scams can appear legitimate and often encourage a quick response such as asking you to:
- provide personal or financial information
- download a file or click a link
- share access to your computer
- set up a new account or make a payment.
Report a suspicious message
If you're not sure about a piece of communication regarding your super you can contact our Service Centre or call us on 1800 682 626.
Common superannuation scams
Superannuation is not immune to scams. So it’s important to remain vigilant and protect yourself from scammers.
Common superannuation scams include:
Phishing scams
A scammer may pretend to be from your superannuation fund and ask for your personal, account or login details. This could include asking you to provide identification documents or sending you a link, which leads you to a webpage designed to trick you into entering your username and password details.
Illegal early access schemes
Illegal early access schemes encourage you to withdraw your super before you're legally entitled to. For a fee, scammers may offer to help you complete legitimate forms and submit them to your superannuation fund, so that you can use the funds to pay for personal expenses. These schemes are illegal.
Encouraging you to withdraw your superannuation and open a self-managed super fund
Scammers can make this option appear enticing through descriptions of high investment returns and ease of the process by having it ‘all taken care of for you’. Ultimately, the scammer may be seeking to steal your money, once your superannuation account has been transferred to a bank account they control.
Tips to avoid superannuation scams
Regularly check your superannuation account balance and details by logging in through our website. Look for any unusual activity such as transactions and detail changes that you do not recognise. If something does not look right, call us on 1800 682 626 or use the contact form.
We generally communicate with our members by:
Mail: If you aren’t certain about the authenticity of mail you have received, you can call us on 1800 682 626 to verify.
Text messages: Text messages can be sent to you as part of the multi-factor authentication process when logging into your online account.
Phone: If you aren’t certain about a call’s authenticity you can call us back on 1800 682 626 to verify.
Email: Emails from the Fund can be sent from the following email addresses:
- @equipsuper.com.au
- @equipsuper.superfacts.com
- @super-retirement.com.au
- @equipsuper.youraccountonline.com
- @esuper.com.au
You can contact us directly by calling 1800 682 626 or using the contact form.
If you are not sure about something, speak with somone you trust (like a family member, one of our team members, your financial adviser, or your accountant), before you proceed.
A scammer is unlikely to have a valid licence to manage superannuation funds. They may say they don’t need one, or they may copy someone’s licence details. You can check if someone is licenced on ASIC's Professional Registers Search page.
Updating passwords on a regular basis can help protect you. As a general rule, passwords should be:
- Long: Experts recommend at least 12 characters.
- Complex: A combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols is suggested.
- Unique: Use different passwords for different accounts.
A password manager can help you to manage multiple passwords across different accounts.
How we keep your super safe
At Equip Super we’re committed to protecting our members’ superannuation from fraud and scams and have a range of security measures in place, including multi-factor authentication for account logins.
Here’s what you can expect from us:
- If you call us, we’ll ask a number of security questions to verify your identity.
- We monitor Equip Super accounts for suspicious activity and will contact you if we notice suspicious activity. If you aren’t certain about a call’s authenticity you can call us back on 1800 682 626 to verify.
- We have proof of identity procedures in place for changes to account details.
- We have security measures in place to prevent unauthorised access to confidential data and documents.
How do I keep my super safe?
If you think your Equip Super account may have been compromised, or notice suspicious acitivity, take the following actions as soon as possible.
Step 1. Update your password.
Change your Member Online password. You can do this by logging in to your account.
Step 2. Contact us.
If you think your Equip Super account may have been compromised please call us on 1800 682 626 or use our contact us page.
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