The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) warns consumers to be cautious of some cold-calling operators using high-pressure sales tactics and online bait advertising to lure consumers into accepting inappropriate pension transfer advice.

These cold-calling operators—after obtaining consumers' personal information either through third-party data brokers or through unsolicited telephone marketing using online bait—are associated with a small number of financial advisers who have potential client steering and referral arrangements. These financial advisers typically recommend consumers to switch to superannuation products that incur high fees, often targeting individuals aged between 25 and 50 in Australia, putting people's retirement savings at risk.

Specifically, ASIC observes a significant flow of pension savings into high-risk real estate management investment schemes—via platform superannuation products provided by funds regulated by APRA or self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs)—as well as payments made to cold-calling companies.

Commissioner Kirkland states that ASIC is prepared to take action to protect consumers and calls on financial adviser licensees and superannuation trustees to take more measures to weed out unethical actors and reduce harm to consumers.

Financial adviser licensees should ensure they establish adequate monitoring and supervisory arrangements to detect concerning behavior and ensure their advisers act in the best interests of their clients.

Similarly, ASIC expects trustees to be vigilant to the potential erosion of pension balances and to ensure they establish robust systems and processes to oversee financial adviser fees in member accounts. ASIC recently reviewed how trustees oversee the charging of adviser fees and will be releasing a key insights report.

ASIC has also launched a consumer awareness campaign encouraging consumers to "hang up immediately" when contacted by cold-calling operators and to "immediately ignore" bait advertising on social media.

Regulatory action has been taken since 2020, with the revocation of the Australian Financial Services (AFS) license of Smart Solutions Pty Ltd and bans imposed on the adviser and responsible individuals. Since 2020, ASIC has concluded other matters related to this behavior, including multiple adviser bans, cancellations of financial adviser licenses, regulatory orders, and criminal convictions for the illegal sale of financial products—namely, unsolicited marketing and sale of financial products.