ASIC says super trustees fall short on scams, fraud

Mike Taylor

Managing Editor/Publisher, Financial Newswire

4 February 2026

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has revealed a review of anti-scam and fraud practices has exposed significant gaps in superannuation funds’ communications with members.

ASIC said it had assessed scams and fraud-related website content across 47 superannuation funds, benchmarking them against comparable website content from the big four banks (ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, NAB, and Westpac).

It said the review focused on the availability, quality and actionability of anti-scams and fraud content, including by checking the website content for clarity and relevance, prominence on the website and readability.

“ASIC’s review found banks scored positively in over 80% of criteria assessed, whereas most super funds scored positively against just 40–60% of the same criteria,” the regulator said.

ASIC’s review identified key areas for improvement:

• Availability: While most super fund websites included some material on scams and fraud, this information was often hard to find or lacked prominence. Several super funds provided no scam or fraud information on their websites at all.
• Quality: Two-thirds of super fund websites included examples of scams and fraud, but the quality varied. Content was frequently outdated, generic, or overly complex. Only 19% of super funds clearly defined what constitutes a scam, and one-third did not provide messaging on their website on common scam signs.
• Actionability: Only about one third of super fund websites provided actionable information for members to prevent or report scams and fraud. Just one in five offered a dedicated contact method for scam and fraud reporting. Banks consistently outperformed funds in providing clear, detailed action steps and dedicated reporting channels.

ASIC Commissioner, Simone Constant said despite being custodians of $4.3 trillion in Australian retirement savings, the superannuation industry has been slow to respond to evolving scams and fraud risks to members.

“Our latest review of superannuation website content confirmed that super funds often lacked clarity, accessibility, and support for scam victims. When benchmarked against other industries, super funds fell short for victims,” she said.

“It is time for super trustees to step up and minimise scam and fraud risks to members, which according to the National Anti-Scam Centre suffered $22 million in losses from super-related scams in 2025.

“Super trustees have a clear and unavoidable responsibility to oversee risk and ensure these emerging threats are identified and managed actively. Yet scam and fraud prevention, detection, and response capabilities are still not sufficiently addressing risks to members,” Constant said