20 October 2025
Media Release

Many of you will have seen social media ads inviting you to compare your super fund or watch a flashy video asking whether you have enough super for your age. Some might have been tempted to click, drawn in by slick graphics or relatable down-to-earth paid actors. 

But behind these polished campaigns are ‘lead generators’: companies paid to harvest personal information using clickbait, videos and surveys. 

What seems like a harmless comparison or financial check-up is often the gateway into the wild west of superannuation and financial advice in Australia.

These cowboys operate with little oversight, trampling all over anti-hawking laws and undermining the security of the super system. They create a sense of uncertainty and fear, making people feel uncomfortable about their financial situation, while promising tremendous, almost guaranteed returns elsewhere.

What’s happening is product pushing, masquerading as genuine financial advice. And anyone is a target.

Recently, my father asked for help reviewing a bewildering array of superannuation investment options. Fresh from selling a property, he’d been approached with a pitch for exotic financial products, credit default swaps and other instruments that have no place in the average retiree’s portfolio. 

The approach was targeted, persistent, and highly sophisticated, and revealed to me how far some operators are willing to go to get their hands on Australians’ retirement savings. 

There is no mention of risk, nor any warning about the loss of insurance, which is particularly important for blue-collar workers who work in construction and building jobs often excluded from standard insurance policies.  

What’s even more concerning is that the terms and conditions of these comparison websites mean that once someone enters their information, these groups hold onto it and sell it to whoever they like, for as long as they like. 

This turns a simple enquiry into a permanent vulnerability, exposing people to ongoing targeting and exploitation.

Proper financial advisers – which is the vast majority of people working in the sector - would never behave this way. 

The collapse of the First Guardian and Shield Master funds is a stark example of the dangers. More than 11,000 Australians lost their savings when these funds failed, many having found themselves invested and exposed after first clicking on an Instagram or Facebook ad and filling in a form. 

This disaster shows how easily people can be targeted and pressured into risky schemes, all while thinking they are getting legitimate advice.

This scandal gives me an uneasy sense of déjà vu, having watched the Banking Royal Commission reveal similar and numerous stories of people losing out after being pressured into switching their super fund.  

After hearing these stories of loss Commissioner Kenneth Hayne recommended banning the unsolicited selling of super products. “Superannuation is not a product to be sold. It is a compulsory product. Unsolicited offers are inappropriate and not in the interests of consumers,” he said. 

Despite this, his anti-hawking laws, only five years old, are being openly flouted. Online lead generators use clickbait to skirt these laws, and this is before we even consider the rise of generative AI scams.

First Guardian and the Shield Master Fund are the tip of the iceberg. Scammers and dodgy online businesses are sophisticated and determined to get their hands on Aussies’ super. The next front will be SMSFs, possibly through the tokenisation of real estate and other private market investments, as is already happening in the US. In this model, ownership of property is split into digital tokens that can be bought and sold online, making it easier for promoters to market risky or unsuitable investments to everyday Australians. 

What’s especially concerning is that when SMSF members fall victim to these schemes, there is often no recourse to recover their lost money—once the funds are gone, they are gone for good. 

ASIC has already sounded warnings on pressure sales tactics being used to convince Australians to transfer considerable volumes of super savings into high-risk property schemes via platform products or SMSFs.

Funds can work with the regulators and governments to ensure sound outcomes while looking to provide proactive education and information to members. The system is rightly designed to be competitive and to allow Australians free choice. But that free choice should not expose super members to scams or inappropriate products.  

As an industry we have a responsibility to speak up for members and call for changes.

It’s time to work together to ban online lead generators for superannuation and financial advice. Australians working and saving hard for their retirement deserve better than the wild west.

Kristian Fok is CEO of Cbus Super.