Australian Crime Commission cracks down on investment fraud

The Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Justice Jason Clare has tagged the growing level of Australia's superannuation savings as an attractive pot for international fraudsters.

A report commissioned by the Australian Crime Commission and Australian Institute of Criminology found 2,600 Australians may have lost more than $113 million to organised investment fraud in the past five years.

Targets were typically male, aged over fifty with high levels of financial literacy, and most victims managed their own super through a self-managed super fund, the report found.

Targets were usually cold-called from outside Australia and directed to a flash website. Once the money changed hands the trail went cold, it said.

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Australian Securities and Investments Commission chairman Greg Medcraft said fraudsters had fooled even the most skilled investors.

"Perpetrators of this type of fraud are skilled at using high-pressure sales tactics over the phone and using email to persuade their victims to part with their money," he said.

Over the next two months, the ACC will send an informational mail-out to all Australians, making it the largest postal sting to combat organised crime. 

"This problem is not going to go away. Australia's retirement savings are growing - making us a bigger target every year," Clare said.