![\"Bans](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/d6210f40-4d96-11f1-bdff-c0516712006e.png\")
Bans on superannuation-switching ads on social media should be part of ongoing reforms, the industry says. (Source: Getty) <\/p>\n Bans on superannuation-switching ads on social media should be part of ongoing reforms, the industry says. (Source: Getty) <\/p>\n
A majority of Australians want to see tougher rules against predatory advertisements luring people into switching their superannuation fund<\/a>. The ads, which target Aussies on social media, have been at the centre of a recent scandal after workers lost more than a $1 billion in retirement savings in collapsed investment funds.<\/p>\n As the government works on reforms in the wake of the First Guardian and Shield collapses<\/a>, four in five Australians say they back tougher rules, including a ban, on such advertisements. According to a survey carried out by the Super Members Council (SMC), nearly half of Australians said they had recently been exposed to these types of clickbait ads on social media.<\/p>\n “These new insights show everyday Australians strongly want to see the government take action to make super safer for everyone. They want them to truly raise the bar on minimum safety standards,” the Council\u2019s CEO Misha Schubert said.<\/p>\n RELATED<\/strong><\/p>\n Social media ads and aggressive sales tactics have been used to lure in regular working Australians<\/a> into re-allocating their retirement investments. That was the case for Queensland woman Claire* who was encouraged to move her superannuation into a new fund and ultimately lost $165,000 when she later learned it had suddenly disappeared.<\/p>\n “It was along the lines of nine out of 10 super funds are underperforming. Is your’s one of them?” she previously recalled to Yahoo Finance. “It wasn’t dodgy looking.”<\/p>\n She clicked to find out if her super fund was on the list.<\/p>\n “To get the article you had to put your name and your phone number and your email in, or something like that,” she recalled.<\/p>\n But when she did, she didn’t get an article. Instead she got a call from a business on the Gold Coast.<\/p>\n A subsequent barrage of aggressive sales tactics and the promise of much higher returns eventually saw her relent and move her super funds over. Unbeknownst to her, they were later put into the investment funds that eventually collapsed.<\/p>\n Despite the high profile cases, the SMC survey found that 63 per cent of respondents were not aware that these types of ads were used to pull ordinary Aussies into the collapsed funds.<\/p>\n It comes after recent analysis by the industry group shows a sharp rise in younger, lower balance members being switched into potentially riskier and typically more expensive products which has coincided with a rise in these social media ads.<\/p>\n As part of ongoing government reforms to “deliver better financial outcomes”, the Super Members Council is calling for the strengthening trustee and adviser oversight on super switching, a crackdown on aggressive selling tactics through social media ads and cold calls, and true like-for-like comparisons at the point of switching including all returns, advice fees and costs, among other measures.<\/p>\n A recent deadline for victims of First Guardian and Shield to lodge a formal complaint with the ombudsman was pushed back in March<\/a>. At the time, there was still more than 9,000 workers who had lost money but hadn’t lodged a complaint to seek compensation, prompting the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) to indefinitely extend the usual cut-off date.<\/p>\n In a statement to Yahoo Finance at the time, the CEO of the national ombudsman, David Locke, said it was a long considered process to make the change as “the full extent of consumer harm continues to emerge”.<\/p>\n * Claire is a pseudonym to protect her identity<\/p>\n Get the latest Yahoo Finance news – follow us on <\/strong>Facebook<\/strong><\/a>, <\/strong>LinkedIn<\/strong><\/a> and <\/strong>Instagram<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Claire lost $165,000 in super after being taken in by an ad on Facebook. (Source: Supplied) <\/p>\n