Tony Papagiannopoulos was scammed out of $200,000 following multiple conversations with a phony adviser over the phone, with JP Morgan telling InvestorDaily last week that they notified ASIC in April as soon as the firm became aware of the scam.
An ACCC spokesperson told ifa on Tuesday that Mr Papagiannopoulos’ is not the first case they have seen of that kind on their Scamwatch website.
“Scammers create high quality prospectus documents using images and documentation available on the websites of these legitimate companies. They then change the email and phone contact details to their own,” the spokesperson said.
“We’ve also seen instances of romance baiting, where scammers meet their victim on a dating app and convince them to invest.”
ACCC shared the below tips with ifa on how people can best protect themselves and their clients from scammers:
- If an opportunity sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Be suspicious of investment opportunities that promise a high return with little or no risk.
- Never give your details to an unsolicited caller or reply to emails offering financial advice or investment opportunities – just hang up or delete the email.
- Always obtain contact details from a company’s official home page. Be aware that scammers may create fake websites with stolen logos to imitate well-known companies.
- Do not respond to emails from strangers offering predictions on shares, investment tips, or investment advice, especially if you’ve met this person online.
- If a romantic prospect suggests an investment company to you, navigate to the website independently by searching for the company name. Do not use links they provide.
- If you are going to make an investment, check that the investment company you have been recommended is licensed by ASIC.
- Don’t feel pressured to act quickly. If you are thinking about investing, always seek independent legal and financial advice.
- You can check if a financial adviser is registered via the ASIC website. Any business or person that offers or advises you about financial products must be an AFS licence holder.
- The Moneysmart website has a list of steps to take to prepare for investing. It also contains a list of companies you should not deal with.
Financial services ombudsman AFCA has warned that these types of scams are becoming “increasingly common and sophisticated”.
Still waiting to hear how this is somehow the fault of licensed advisers and ASIC needs to bump up their levy to help fix scenarios like this never happening again. A hint you can’t. If only the scammer was forced to do the FASEA exam, that would fix everything!
Dear Adviser, it’s your fault because your fees are so high, you’re buried in red tap and can’t see clients, buried in taxes and Government bureaucracy, levies and compliance, and the ability for people to get advice and enter the industry has become UN-attainable. He actually rang your office, but you turned him away. Whilst you were studying your FASEA exam this guy went the easier route… It’s your fault because you allowed this to happen…and you probably just renewed membership fees of some association too, that largely contributed to the mess we’re in.
It’s a sad reflection on the gate keepers of the Advice industry being Financial Planners, that they have placed Australians in this position to be taken advantage of by allowing the advice industry to become so over regulated, so much red tape that Australians are able to be easily taken advantage of in this manner. This red tape, is because of the lack of leadership of Adviser Associations and their mandates to allow advisers to be the punching posts and scape goats of large insto’s.
If only Advisers had stood up, and demanded from their industry representatives in no uncertain terms that this industry is so over regulated that it’s ruining the lives of Australians by limiting access to affordable advice. Renewing your FPA or industry membership without making it conditional that your industry body only represents you and only you reflects poorly on Advisers.
I think you meant to say the gatekeepers of the Advice Industry being Financial Planning ASSOCIATIONS,,,,,
but it was on TiK Tok…it must be sound..
Can’t help but think ASIC played a role in this. With the persecution of Advisers, poor media releases (calling Melisa Caddick an Financial Adviser), their compliance burden and ultimate huge increase in fees, people wont turn to Financial Advisers. They end up in scams, poor investments (mayfair), getting dody/conflicted advice from unlicensed social media fintwits. The regulator has a role to play in increasing public confidence in the Advice industry, yet they seem to be doing the opposite from some (ideological) reason.
It’s ok they issued a press release so they have done their part to fix it in the future
“If you are going to make an investment, check that the investment company you have been recommended is licensed by ASIC.”
What does this mean?
That it has an AFSL. Not that it helped people scammed by Melissa Caddick or such sophisticated scams as this one as they just steal and use someone else’s AFSL and ASIC has no idea until it’s way to late.
I don’t think that is it, because they have this “You can check if a financial adviser is registered via the ASIC website. Any business or person that offers or advises you about financial products must be an AFS licence holder.”