The role of financial literacy and fraud awareness in strengthening self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs)

In 2020, Australians reported losses of over AUD$851 million to fraud (ACCC, 2021b). This was up from AUD$634 million in 2019 (ACCC, 2020b), and is expected to increase further in 2021. Fraud is characterised by the use deception for financial gain. Offenders employ a variety of techniques to successfully gain large amounts of money from victims. Offenders will coerce and persuade victims to send money taken from savings accounts, lines of credit, bank loans, and borrowing from family and/or friends. In a small number of cases, offenders will also coax victims to withdraw money from their self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs).