Common sense the best defence against fraudsters: forensic auditor
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Sharlene Anderson, a consultant for Veritas Auditing, says on the latest ASF Audits podcast that SMSF trustees and finance professionals should follow the “age-old adage” that, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.
As another collapse of an investment scheme, Australian Fiducaries, hits the headlines, and the ATO upping its warnings over similar scams, spotting a fraudulent scheme doesn’t require fancy tech or complicated investigation, Anderson said.
Australian Fiduciaries was put into liquidation in July owing 660 investors up to $170 million. Similar to the 12,000 people who sunk more than $1 billion into First Guardian and the Shield Master Fund, investors in Australian Fiduciaries ended up with their superannuation locked in complex and risky illiquid investments, many of which were controlled by related parties.
ASIC has been investigating all three schemes, a collective failure that is bigger than the $1 billion collapse of Storm Financial in 2009, or the $450 million collapse of Dixon Advisory in 2019.
“You're not going to see consistent returns all the time. We all know about Bernie Madoff and his Ponzi scheme that was producing 12 per cent returns year-on-year and it was an FBI algorithm that pointed it out, through a lot of testing,” Anderson said.
“No matter where you put your money, you couldn't get that return. I'm not suggesting that any SMSF professional is going to have those sorts of algorithms, but we've got common sense.”
Anderson continued that SMSF professionals can do some basic analytical procedures to determine if fraud is occurring, and one of those is just looking for something that is consistently the same.
“[Ask the question] should it be? And how does that compare to the other funds you may be working with.”
“That's the first part. The next part really comes back to using common sense and looking at the documents in front of you and ticking them off.”
Anderson gave an example of a recent CommSec bank statement she had been asked to review from the Melissa Caddick case, which was dated 24 December as the period end for the statements.
“Now, I'm yet to see any sort of statements that end, unless they're weekly statements which CommSec don't issue on Christmas Eve, so that straight away should have been a red flag to anybody looking at that document.”
“You have got to do your general checks and balances. Check for signatures, check for last year's documents compared to this year's documents, maybe even something for you to use as a bit of a benchmark.
“Or have you got another fund with a similar investment? Do the documents look the same? Just follow your nose and be sceptical because that professional scepticism really needs to come in at this point, and when you're doing your audits, and make sure that you focus on not what looks right, but what perhaps looks wrong.”
Shelley Banton, head of technical for ASF Audits, said the Caddick case is a good example of things being too good to be true.
“I think the clever or tragic aspect of that case, apart from everybody losing their money, is that she really just targeted her friends and family and that brought that up to an extra level of trust as well,” Banton said.
Anderson said schemes like Trio Capital are far more sophisticated scams and harder to detect.
“Hindsight is a great thing. When you look back and go, I can't believe they were able to do that, but it was a failure by the regulators in so far as the scammers were able to buy a small country financial planning business and take control of that, and with that came the AFSL license,” she said.
“So it was legitimate, unlike Melissa Caddick, who didn't have an AFSL license and just had a bogus number on her paperwork. Trio Capital's AFSL license was valid, so if you had a check site, you wouldn't have picked it up.”
In that case, Anderson said the scammers targeted accountants and “wined and dined” them so they would then start referring their clients.
“And people trust their accountants, which they should. So when your accountant says, ‘this is safe and it's a good investment,’ they jump in.”
“From a fraudster’s perspective, they just sat back. They'd found a hole in the system that allowed them to get a legitimate business, then they targeted accountants as the weakest link between SMSF and superannuation funds.”
Anderson said in the Trio Capital case, the scam netted in excess of $180 million, none of which was ever recovered.
“That's a level of sophistication that we haven't seen before, and hopefully we won't see again.”
Michael Campbell is the founding Director of Portfolio Professionals. He is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professional with a wealth of experience, having commenced in the financial services industry in 1996.
Michael began his financial planning career with Colonial First State and then moved to Sunsuper. At Sunsuper Michael was responsible for establishing and building their financial planning arm. During Michael’s time at the helm the number of clients grew from one to many hundreds.
Michael then went to ING where he was the State Manager for Distribution. During his time with ING, Michael used his planning skills and managerial skills to help planners to improve their business.
Michael’s passion for planning and helping clients has driven him to form Portfolio Professionals. He strives to help clients empower themselves with strategies and advice that makes sense.
Michael Campbell
Senior Financial AdviserDip. Fin Plan., BEd., BEcon., MBA (Accounting), CFP®, ASCPA
Michael Campbell
Michael Campbell is the founding Director of Portfolio Professionals. He is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professional with a wealth of experience, having commenced in the financial services industry in 1996.
Michael began his financial planning career with Colonial First State and then moved to Sunsuper. At Sunsuper Michael was responsible for establishing and building their financial planning arm. During Michael’s time at the helm the number of clients grew from one to many hundreds.
Michael then went to ING where he was the State Manager for Distribution. During his time with ING, Michael used his planning skills and managerial skills to help planners to improve their business.
Michael’s passion for planning and helping clients has driven him to form Portfolio Professionals. He strives to help clients empower themselves with strategies and advice that makes sense.
Patricia Kristjansson
Senior Financial AdviserDip. Fin Plan., BBus (Marketing), BEcon., Grad Dip Fin Mkts
Patricia Kristjansson
Tricia has been with the team since 2013.
She has held a number of roles within the Financial Planning industry over the past 28 years.
Tricia commenced her career with a large Insurance and Superannuation company before moving into a Financial Planning role with a large Queensland Financial Planning practice. Tricia enjoyed providing tailored financial plans aiming at helping her clients achieve their financial goals.
Tricia then moved into senior management roles where she performed specialised support within Funds Management and Marketing.
Tricia has qualifications to support her practical experience. She holds a Bachelor of Economics, a Bachelor of Business (Marketing), a Post Graduate Diploma in Financial Markets and a Diploma of Financial Planning.
Tricia enjoys helping clients to achieve their financial goals.
Kim joined Portfolio Professionals in 2023. Kim has been a financial adviser since 1999, starting her career with Lend Lease Financial Services, which eventually became NAB. She remained with them for 20 years.
Kim builds strong relationships with her clients, with many having started their planning journey with her over a decade ago. She enjoys providing comprehensive, holistic advice after realising the difference it can make in her client’s lives.
Kim’s goal is help clients make sound financial decisions today so that they can have the retirement they deserve in the future.
She is a Certified Financial Planner and has completed her Diploma of Financial Planning as well as a Bachelor of Commerce and a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment.
Kim is a highly qualified and experienced financial planner who is passionate about helping her clients achieve their financial goals.
Holly Hudson
Client Services Coordinator
Holly Hudson
Holly has 3 years’ experience in Financial Services, Holly’s role is to assist our clients and the advice team in delivering high quality service that exceeds their expectations.
Holly is quite often the person our clients talk to first when they call, she prides herself on ensuring that they receive a great experience and have their questions answered.
Outside of work Holly is continuing her education through university studies and is very active in the community.
Ken Bunney
Private Client AdviserBachelor of Business, Advanced Diploma of Financial Services (Financial Planning), Certified Financial Planner
Ken Bunney
Ken joined Portfolio Professionals / My Super Future in January 2022. Ken has been a financial adviser since 2004, starting his career with NAB Financial Planning, where he remained until 2021.
Ken builds strong relationships with his clients, with many having started their planning journey with him over a decade ago. Ken provides comprehensive, holistic advice, realising the difference it can make in his client’s lives.
Ken is a highly experienced financial adviser who is passionate about helping his clients make sound financial decisions today so they can enjoy the financial freedom they deserve in the future.
He is degree qualified (Bachelor of Business, Accounting major), with an Advanced Diploma of Financial Services, and is also a Certified Financial Planner (CFP).
Memberships
Financial Advice Association of Australia (FAAA)
Brett Matheson
Personal Risk AdviserDiploma of Financial Planning, Diploma of Management.
Brett Matheson
Brett has over 35 years’ experience within the financial services industry. His work experience is extensive and has included a variety of roles in the financial services industry. His customer service philosophy has never changed and remains simple; He will provide quality professional advice and will work with you to develop a strategy tailored to your business and personal needs and being there for you when it counts at claim time.
As a member of the Portfolio Professional, Brett has the knowledge and experience to assist you in determining the most effective protection solutions for you and your business.
Roger Abbott
Chief Executive OfficerDiploma of Financial Services (Financial Planning), Margin Lending
Roger Abbott
With nearly 30 years of experience in the financial services industry, Roger has had the privilege of leading and managing large teams across major corporate environments. Over the years, Roger has developed a deep understanding of what clients truly value in a financial relationship, clarity, trust, and genuine connection.
At Portfolio Professionals, Roger now leads a boutique firm that brings us closer to our clients and their goals. Our environment is built on personal relationships and tailored advice, where clients consistently tell us they feel more confident and secure about their financial future.
Whether it’s through a single meeting or a partnership that spans decades, our team is committed to ensuring every client walks away feeling better off. We also collaborate with like-minded professionals in mortgage broking and estate planning to provide a seamless, full lifecycle financial experience
Lily Tabari
Paraplanning Operations SpecialistDiploma of Financial Planning
Lily Tabari
With over 11 years of experience in the financial services industry, Lily has spent the past 6 years supporting financial planning teams across a range of roles. She works closely with advisers to ensure the smooth delivery of high-quality advice by preparing documentation, managing client workflows, and maintaining compliance standards.
Throughout her career, Lily has developed a strong understanding of the financial planning process and takes pride in delivering reliable and detail-oriented support that helps clients move confidently toward their financial goals.
Lily enjoys being part of a team that values client outcomes and is committed to making a positive impact in people’s lives.
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My Super Future Limited AFSL 411440 is located at 2/15 Mayneview Street, Milton QLD 4064.
Complaint Resolution
If you have any complaints about the service provided to you, you should take the following steps.
In writing to: Australian Financial Complaints Authority, GPO Box 3, Melbourne, VIC, 3001
AFCA provides fair and independent financial services complaint resolution that’s free to consumers.
Time limits may apply to lodge a complaint with AFCA, so you should act promptly. You can check the AFCA website to find out if a time limit applies or when the time limit relevant to your circumstances expires.
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This privacy policy outlines our policy on how we manage your personal information. It also sets out generally what sort of personal information we hold, for what purposes and how we collect, hold, use and disclose that information.
Collecting Your Personal Information
Your personal information will be collected and held by Portfolio Professionals, who is an authorised representative of Godfrey Pembroke Limited trading, an Australian Financial Services Licensee, for the purposes of
providing you with the advisory services that you have requested;
managing our relationship with you, including management and administration tasks such as answering your requests and concerns, conducting market research and taking any required legal action;
completing documentation and forms, including identifying you or verifying your authority to act on behalf of a customer;
to protect our business and other clients from fraudulent or unlawful activity;
to comply with relevant laws, regulations, and other legal obligations;
to help us improve the products and services offered to our clients, including contacting you about products and services in which you may be interested; and
for any purpose for which you have given your consent.
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To enable your financial adviser to provide you with financial advice you request that is suitable for your investment objectives, financial situation and particular needs we need to obtain and hold personal information about you. This includes:
your name, contact details and date of birth;
employment details and history;
financial details including information about your financial needs and objectives, your current financial circumstances including your assets and liabilities, income, expenditure, insurance cover and superannuation;
details of your investment preferences and risk tolerance;
family circumstances and social security eligibility; and
any other information that we consider necessary.
The personal information collected may include sensitive information such as health information and memberships of professional or trade associations.
If it is reasonable and practicable we will only collect your personal information from you. Generally your personal information will be collected when you meet with your adviser in person, provide your adviser with information over the telephone or with written material. We may need to collect personal information from third parties, such as your accountant.
We may receive personal information about you when we have taken no active steps to collect that information. We destroy all unsolicited personal information, unless the personal information is relevant to our purposes for collecting personal information.
How Your Personal Information is Held
Your personal information is generally held in client files or a computer database. Your personal information may also be held in a secure archiving facility.
We take reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information that we hold is protected from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification and disclosure. Some of the measures that we have adopted are having facilities for the secure storage of personal information, having secure offices and access controls for our computer systems.
We will also take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently de-identify personal information that we no longer need for any purpose for which it may be used or disclosed under the Australian Privacy Principles.
Using and Disclosing Your Personal Information
Your personal information may be disclosed for purposes related to the provision of the financial advice you have requested. The types of service providers that may be provided with your personal information are:
other financial advisers and organisations involved in providing the financial advice you have requested (which may include ongoing service) such as fund managers who assist us in providing financial advice and paraplanners;
insurance providers, superannuation trustees and product issuers in connection with the provision to you of the financial advice you have requested;
organisations that assist in operating a financial planning business such as those that provide administrative, financial, accounting, insurance, research, legal, computer or other business services;
your representatives or service providers such as your accountant, solicitor, tax agent, stockbroker or bank;
organisations involved in a business restructure or a transfer of all or part of the assets of our business or the due diligence procedures prior to any such sale or transfer;
government authorities and other organisations when required by law; and
organisations that you have consented to your personal information being disclosed to.
In addition to the purposes of collection set out above, your personal information may also be used in connection with such purposes.
We will seek to ensure that your personal information is not used or disclosed for any purpose other than:
the primary purpose for which it was collected or a related secondary purpose;
where you have consented to the use or disclosure; or
in other circumstances where the Australian Privacy Principles authorise the use or disclosure such as when it is required by or authorised under law.
We may disclose your personal information to third parties who provide services to us, in which case we will seek to ensure that the personal information is held, used or disclosed consistently with the Australian Privacy Principles.
Organisations outside Australia
Currently, we do not share your information with organisations outside Australia.
We may store your information in the cloud or other types of networked or electronic storage. As electronic or networked storage can be accessed from various countries via an internet connection, it’s not always practicable to know in which country your information may be held. If your information is stored in this way, disclosures may occur in countries other than those listed. Overseas organisations may be required to disclose information we share with them under a foreign law. In those instances, we will not be responsible for that disclosure.
We will not send personal information to recipients outside of Australia unless:
we have taken reasonable steps to ensure that the recipient does not breach the Privacy Act and the Australian Privacy Principles;
the recipient is subject to an information privacy scheme similar to the Privacy Act; or
the individual has consented to the disclosure.
Accessing your Personal Information
You can gain access to your personal information that we hold. This is subject to exceptions allowed by law such as where providing you with access would have an unreasonable impact upon the privacy of others. If we deny a request for access we will provide you with the reasons for this decision. To request access please contact us (see “Contacting Us and Privacy Issues” below).
Correcting Your Personal Information
We take reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information that we collect, use or disclose is accurate, complete and up-to-date. If you believe that any of the personal information that we hold is not accurate, complete or up-to-date please contact us (see “Contacting Us and Privacy Issues” below) and provide us with evidence that it is not accurate, complete and up-to-date.
If we agree that the personal information requires correcting we will take reasonable steps to do so. If we do not correct your personal information we will provide you with the reasons for not correcting your personal information. If you request that we associate with the information a statement claiming that the information is not accurate, complete and up-to-date we will take reasonable steps to comply with this request.
Contacting Us and Privacy Issues
You can obtain further information on request about the way in which we manage the personal information that we hold or you can raise any privacy issues with us, including a complaint about privacy, by contacting us using the details below. We are committed to resolving your complaint.
Michael Campbell
Financial Adviser
PO Box 1350 DC
TOOWONG QLD 4066
(07) 3871 1671
If you still feel your issue hasn’t been resolved to your satisfaction, then you can escalate your privacy concerns to AFCA or the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA)
In writing to: Australian Financial Complaints Authority, GPO Box 3, Melbourne, VIC, 3001
AFCA provides fair and independent financial services complaint resolution that’s free to consumers.
Time limits may apply to lodge a complaint with AFCA, so you should act promptly. You can check the AFCA website to find out if a time limit applies or when the time limit relevant to your circumstances expires.
