Over $36m in super savings targeted by cyber criminals

One of Australia’s largest superannuation funds has reported a concerning increase in attempted financial crime from ‘brazen’ cyber criminals targeting the fund’s members.

Aware Super identified a 208 per cent increase in such crimes in a six-month period, with incidents including attempted identity theft, phishing scams, and unauthorised access to superannuation accounts over-represented in the numbers.

This has been attributed in part to superannuation becoming a “lucrative” option for criminals as more Australians transition into retirement with larger sums of money and easy access to the funds.

According to Aware Super’s chief operating officer, Jo Brennan, the careful monitoring of systems was able to prevent the loss of more than $36 million in member savings.

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“For any financial services organisation the reality is that we will always be a target,” Brennan said.

“Our members trust us to do all that is practical to safeguard their super, and we continually invest in robust technical and human security measures, in collaboration with the appropriate regulatory authorities, to help mitigate these threats.”

The fund flagged the need for the superannuation industry to help keep Australians alert to such crimes even as cyber criminals display “alarming sophistication and brazenness”.

She noted that, compared to breaches of traditional bank accounts, superannuation hacking could prove to be more devastating for many Australians.

“With super accounts often representing decades of hard-earned savings, the impact of losing even a fraction of retirement funds could result in needing to re-enter the workforce, or sell off assets such as homes to help fund retirement,” Brennan said.

“It’s rare that the average Australian will have a hundred thousand dollars sitting in their everyday banking account, yet when it comes to super it’s these sorts of amounts that we’re talking about – and more.

“Financial criminals know this, and that people don’t regularly check their super balance, which is why we’ve seen such a steep rise in financial crimes targeting superannuation.”

Last year, Australians lost $476 million to scams, according to recent figures from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and for the quarter, the National Anti-Scam Centre’s latest update indicated Australians lost around $82.1 million.

Aware Super noted there has been a huge spike in social media scams and phone calls impersonating banks and trusted institutions, with those aged over 65 recording the highest losses of any age group.

“Aware Super wants all Australians, not just our members, to know what they can do to help protect themselves and their super, but also be on the lookout for loved ones, particularly if they’re older, live alone or are otherwise a bit more vulnerable to these kinds of bad actors,” said Brennan.