Lee Braz's entire super, $180,000, was stolen by scammers who used fraudulent documents to trick his fund.
In sales documents it claimed to have impressive returns using money from self-managed super funds to invest in tech and finance giants like Google and Visa. His fund didn't have multi-factor authentication in place — so he never received an alert by text message or email.A sales script to screw Aussies out of their super
"These were very cleverly prepared scripts … to explain all the so-called legitimate services that this fraudulent organisation was actually carrying out," Mr Gamble said.While no charges have been laid in the Philippines, a criminal prosecution is underway in Australia of a man with direct links to the call centre.
It found he wasn't entitled to one cent because the fund had met its obligations and carried out basic checks.This time the judge found in his favour — ruling the ombudsman's decision should be scrapped. Lee was awarded 30 per cent of what he lost, about $54,000, leaving him worse off after paying legal fees."I'm actually worse off by fighting it and winning in court than if I'd left it and just said goodbye to all that super."Josh Mennen is a lawyer with firm Maurice Blackburn who specialises in superannuation disputes."It's so manifestly unfair and unreasonable for Mr Braz," he said.
It said scams and fraud in superannuation was "an emerging area" and it had taken into account the Federal Court findings."I see glaring similarities. I would expect AFCA to reopen and look at my case again," Mr Holmes said.AFCA's lead ombudsman for superannuation Heather Gray said in a statement, "We urge superannuation fund trustees to keep their processes under review, and to make full use of facilities such as multi-factor authentication".
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