Гражданин Южной Австралии потерял четверть миллиона долларов на мошеннической схеме с пенсией

South Australian grandfather James Chenoweth was innocuously browsing a super comparison website when he got sucked into a superannuation scam and lost his retirement savings. Subscribe now for unlimited access. or signup to continue reading Chenoweth, 56, told The Senior he's had a "gutful" but is warning others of the way financial services and funds aggressively target older Australians. "You put in your details in the website and you got a callback from a financial adviser," he said. The sweetener that got him? A $10,000 boost to his super in his first year. "They were very convincing," he said. "They are very good at the way they sell the product. They basically offered a lot larger returns then you would be getting from your normal super." Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino announced the federal government would ban cold calls and boost Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) oversight on August 19 in the wake of First Guardian Shield funds collapse that impacted 12,000 people. But Chenoweth said the decision is too late to him. He transferred his super to Australian Fiduciaries Limited (AFL) in 2023, a move in which he lost $252,000. No compensation offered About 600 people have been affected, losing $160 million in retirement savings. Chenoweth has not received a cent back. He believes there are more people out there affected. "The problem is, liquidators have basically said that, you know, there's not a hell of a lot of money left they can find," he said. "Unfortunately, a lot of our claims are being turned down because APT Strategy [the financial firm] ... aren't registered ... so we can't claim against the compensation of last resort." Data from the National Anti-Scam Centre showed Australians lost $22 million to superannuation-related scams in 2025. The average loss reported in superannuation-related scams was $88,736. 'Following conventional advice' Brisbane resident Colleen Bain, 59, also knows how easy it is to get sucked into a superannuation scam. She was doing renovations on her house when the business she was dealing with raised the subject of her superannuation and suggested she have someone look at it. Bain would go on to lose about $170,000 of her retirement savings in the now-infamous First Guardian collapse. She told The Senior she believed she was simply doing what anyone in her position would be doing: Keep an eye on your super, compare funds and look for lower fees. "I was just doing what I thought I had to do," Bain said. A few months later she was transferred to another financial adviser who informed her that her super had been frozen. "He was relatively calm," she said. It was only after her own investigations that she realised the scale of the fraud. What has she learnt? She's unsure. "I was just doing what I thought I had to do, you know?" she said. 'Be cautious' According to the federal government's MoneySmart website if someone calls about your super, be cautious. "They may offer a free 'super health check' or to find your lost super," the website said. "These can be sales tactics designed to steer you into switching - even when your super fund is performing well." MoneySmart also advised consumers to "be wary" if sales agents start to collect personal information. "They may not be qualified to give financial advice about your super," the website said. For Chenoweth he has had a "gutful" but his love for his grandchildren has kept him fighting. "At times I've been, you know, at the point of a lot of distress over this," he said. "I'm not the only one." But he hoped if by sharing his story he helped one person not fall for a scam it would be worth it. "If people out there knew that they could lose their super with no recourse whatsoever, I think there'd be a lot more people kicking up," he said. - MoneySmart https://moneysmart.gov.au/