Former Financial Advisor Ross Hopkins has been permanently banned by ASIC from providing financial services or from controlling an entity carrying on a financial services business due to serious dishonest conduct.

There are many types of scams that happen in Australia. Depending on the circumstances, there are a number of organisations which can help, including organisations who can assist with the emotional toll these scams can take on your mental health.

Lawrence Toledo, breached an existing banning order, by providing financial advice to an SMSF to invest in Premier Realty Group Pty Ltd and arranging the sale of a financial product (70,000 shares in Premier Realty Group for $70,000) to the SMSF

While you can report a scam to the ACCC, they are unable to help you recover your financial losses resulting from the investment scam. 

Dodgy operators targeted property investments through SMSF’s through investment seminars, or newspaper advertisements, and encourage people to set up an SMSF to buy a property. They make enticing claims such as “guaranteed rent”, or “high yield returns” on the investment. These statements are however, often unsubstantiated, and many people have lost their entire superannuation savings to this type of scam.

Have you ever been invited to attend a free initial investment seminar, promising high returns with what you’re told, is little risk? Have the fees to attend the following seminars been suspiciously high? These are just two warning signs that the investment seminar you are attending, might be an investment scam.

The Local Court of NSW has imposed a conditional release on former Nexus Financial Planning director, Wael Kourieh, after he pleaded guilty to forging 30 member signatures on AMP superannuation investment election forms.

Trent Allan and Fabrizio Urrutia provided advice without a thorough investigation of clients’ needs and objectives and in many cases they did not make adequate enquiries about their clients’ existing superannuation and insurance products. Their advice also failed to provide appropriate reasoning for recommending the replacement of existing products,” ASIC said in a statement.

A common way Australian households are being scammed is through emails or advertisements offering exclusive share price advice and information. This promise of exclusive information frequently lures people into dodgy investments, and they often can lose their life savings.

Cold callers often contact households, posing as investment professionals like stock brokers or financial advisers. They will talk to you about legitimate investments, such as your superannuation, share portfolios, mortgages and real estate. This feigns legitimacy, and convinces people they are a trustworthy financial services organisation. The scammers claim their offer is low-risk, with high-returns through investments in overseas countries, foreign currency trading or options trading.

ASIC banned Adam Bevan of Trade Wind Financial Services after he failed to act in the best interests of three clients after he neglected to make enquiries about their existing superannuation funds and proceeded to not put adequate measures in place to ensure the funds were transferred in accordance with his advice.

One of the best things to be able to avoid an investment scam, is to know what to look out for. This blog discusses the four major warning signs, that your’'e being scammed! If you receive contact promising any of the below, be extra cautious, and contact ACCC if you are unsure.