is your super in safe hands? super scams, cold calls & protecting your retirement savings

Glen James (0:06)

Today's bonus episode is brought to you by Industry Super Funds.

Stop, check your super is in safe hands, and visit superinsafehands.com for more information. I am joined today by Kristian Fok. He is the CEO of CBUS Super. Got a bit of a big dog in the hen house today, Kristian, welcome to the show.

Kristian Fok (0:29)

Thank you, and I am glad to be here, Glen.

Glen James (0:31)

Yeah, I am in Melbourne, the home of CBUS. I mean, every building I see CBUS on the side of it, so I feel like I am in your heartland.

Kristian Fok (0:41)

Well, we are around the country as well.

Glen James (0:42)

You are, and we might get into some of that stuff a bit later. Look, there has been a rise in people getting cold called, contacted out of the blue about their super.

What is happening here?

Kristian Fok (0:54)

Well, as you know, the superannuation industry, it is a national success. People overseas really admire it. I've been to the States. I think President Trump actually wants to replicate it.

Glen James (1:04)

Yeah, yeah, that was one of my little things I was going to ask you.

Kristian Fok (1:06)

Yeah, yeah. So, but what's happened is that over a long period of time, we've had compulsory superannuation contributions building up to a reasonable amount, 12%.

And now superannuation for most people is the second biggest asset that they have. And then with that is attracting a lot of attention who want to get their hands on your savings. Now, you would recall from the banking rule commission, there's a lot of findings around high pressure sales tactics, conflicted advice, people not acting in the interests of their customers, but their own interests. And so they put in laws to prevent that, anti-hawking laws. These predatory lead generators have popped up to get around those very laws that are designed to protect.

Glen James (2:03)

Yeah, so we were actually talking about this on a show a couple of weeks ago now. And just for everyone, when we are talking about potential topical things, we are recording this on the 8th of September.

Kristian Fok (2:14)

Yep.

Glen James (2:14)

And this is going up on the 25th of September. So if the world ends tomorrow, you know.

Kristian Fok (2:19)

I hope not.

Glen James (2:20)

Well, yeah, you've heard this before the world ended.

Just as an example, just so I'm very clear, these unscrupulous operators who want to get their mitts on other people's money and put into schemes that are conflicted and fraudulent potentially, they can effectively pay a... Because we've all had the calls, right? I've had the call. Do you have superannuation?

Kristian Fok (2:48)

I make it a habit of not answering any phone calls from phone numbers. I don't know, because there's just too many of those.

Glen James (2:56)

Yeah, it's a good practice to have. So basically, the unscrupulous operator, they got around the anti-hawking laws by getting someone to call and almost just go, oh, do you have super? Do you want a better return? Yes. Oh, we'll introduce you to this country.

Kristian Fok (3:12)

Well, it actually starts even earlier than that.

Glen James (3:14)

Yeah, talk us through, because I'm...

Kristian Fok (3:16)

Because you've got to sort of give permission. Yes.

Although I think, you know, there are some operators that ignore that and they just go straight out.

Glen James (3:25)

Yeah.

Kristian Fok (3:25)

But the way they give you permission is they put an ad, right? And it's, you know, a free superannuation check. Often it's in the colors of some well branded superannuation funds. We've had, we've seen examples in CBUS colors. Really? In Australian Super's orange colors.

So they make it look like, you know, they're an authority and it's free. So you go, great, you know, click on it.

And then they ask you for some simple details. Well, sure, you know, you need to sort of tell them who you're with, how much money you have so that they can give you that check. And normally you'd think, okay, well, there'd be like a report or they'd send you something. No, they collect your phone number and then you've initiated the contact. That's how they get around it. And then the lead generators, they are not financial advisors. They're not paid to give advice, but they will do everything that they can to make you feel like, you know, that your current settings, your current savings are a jeopardy, right? That high pressure sales tactics kicks in. Their motivation is to generate the lead. They get paid. Some of them are actually integrated with these entities that they're working for. They're in the same building, for instance. Yeah.