{"id":1071001,"date":"2026-07-06T01:05:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T01:05:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1071001\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T01:05:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T01:05:28","slug":"first-guardian-master-fund-and-shield-master-fund-melbourne-womans-nightmare-after-losing-500000-in-twin-superannuation-collapse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1071001\/","title":{"rendered":"First Guardian Master Fund and Shield Master Fund: Melbourne woman\u2019s nightmare after losing $500,000 in twin superannuation collapse"},"content":{"rendered":"

Exclusive:<\/strong> Thousands of Australians are potentially unaware their retirement savings<\/a> have been wiped out, with victims of the First Guardian and Master Shield<\/a> twin collapse issuing a warning about postcode hotspots for lost money.<\/p>\n

Victoria<\/a> ranks as one of the three hardest-hit states in the $1.1 billion crisis. <\/p>\n

Data released by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) listed four Melbourne<\/a> postcodes as among the ten most impacted areas.<\/p>\n

ASIC found the suburbs of Cranbourne, Cranbourne East, Cranbourne North, Werribee, Hoppers Crossing, Truganina and Craigieburn have the highest concentration of victims.<\/p>\n

Fellow investor and advocate Melinda Kee said many investors \u201cstill don\u2019t even know they\u2019ve been affected\u201d.<\/p>\n

Melbourne woman Susy Zjak, 54, had just lost her mother when she discovered her $574,000 superannuation balance had dwindled to almost nothing.<\/a><\/p>\n

The former Qantas worker\u2019s retirement fund had been funnelled from her former airline industry fund into First Guardian in 2022 after she took advice from a financial advisor at Venture Egg.<\/p>\n

That advisor has since been banned by ASIC from being involved in a financial services business or engaging in credit activities.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Susy Zjak pictured with her mother.\u00a0 Susy Zjak <\/p>\n

\u201cI had gotten a redundancy, I wasn\u2019t working, the super fees were high and I was thinking about my future,\u201d Zjak told nine.com.au.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe all want our retirement to be nice and easy.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I didn\u2019t have much of a working career to gamble money into a high-risk fund.\u201d<\/p>\n

After switching funds, Zjak\u2019s nest egg initially performed well. <\/p>\n

The scheme delivered her a healthy boost from about $395,000 to $574,000 over the next two years.<\/p>\n

But following First Guardian Master Fund\u2019s sudden collapse in 2024, almost every dollar disappeared overnight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought I was going to have a massive heart attack. I thought my life was over,\u201d Zjak recalled.<\/p>\n

The account was drained, leaving her just a few thousand dollars to transfer into another active super fund and start virtually from scratch.<\/p>\n

Zjak has battled cancer and is recovering from a severe hand injury and is unable to work to recoup some of her losses.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The former Qantas worker, 54, lost over $500,000 in the collapse.\u00a0 Susy Zjak <\/p>\n

About 6000 Australians lost their super or had their funds frozen in the First Guardian blowout.<\/p>\n

ASIC is conducting multiple investigations into conduct connected to the First Guardian Master Fund, which was operated and managed by Falcon Capital Limited.<\/p>\n

Another 5800 were impacted by the Shield Master Fund investment scheme collapse.<\/p>\n

It is understood these schemes attracted thousands of investors due to cold calls from lead generators, who then connected potential investors to financial planners.<\/p>\n

ASIC alleges these financial advisors convinced people to invest their super and funnel hundreds of millions of dollars into the Shield and First Guardian funds.<\/p>\n

The funds and some associated advisors have been accused of financial misconduct, which led to the collapses.<\/p>\n

Kee, who runs the investor advocacy group SOS Save Our Super<\/a>, lost around $368,000 after the First Guardian disaster.<\/p>\n

She has worked to identify the highest concentration of First Guardian and Shield investors across Australia, many of whom live near Zjak.<\/p>\n

The next step is demanding local MPs in these electorates to speak to communities and warn potential victims to check their supers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are not just postcodes,\u201d Kee said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are communities\u2026 families. Retirements that have been shaken.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now there are people going about their daily lives, not knowing their retirement savings may be at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Melinda<\/p>\n

Melinda Kee leads the SOS Save Our Super Facebook page.\u00a0Supplied<\/p>\n

Nine.com.au<\/a> has contacted the state MPs for the impacted postcodes, Ross Spence, Sarah Connolly, Ros Spence and Pauline Richards for comment.<\/p>\n

Zjak said she has become \u201cobsessed\u201d with telling friends, family and acquaintances to check their own retirement funds and become empowered to understand how investment schemes work.<\/p>\n

Her vanishing next egg has forced Zjak to rethink her retirement.<\/p>\n

She has lodged a complaint with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) and is now waiting for any news of recovery.<\/p>\n

Other First Guardian investors are waiting to be paid back their investments from successful AFCA determinations.<\/p>\n

AFCA has so far fielded 3343 complaints regarding Shield and First Guardian and has issued 89 decisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what can be recovered, but I hope I get something back,\u201d Zjak added.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve worked all my life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t wish anyone to go through what I went through.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The collapse of the First Guardian and Shield superannuation funds has devastated the lives of thousands of Australians. \u00a0Nine<\/p>\n

A spokeswoman for Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino previously told nine.com.au.com.au the government was concerned for investors and welcomed ASIC\u2019s continued action.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government is committed to ensuring that investor interests are safeguarded and the regulatory framework governing the investment landscape is fit for purpose,\u201d the spokeswoman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cASIC has taken steps to commence enforcement and protect investors, including freezing assets and cancelling financial licences where appropriate.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs these matters are before the Federal Court and part of ongoing investigations by ASIC and the liquidators, it would be inappropriate to provide further comments or speculation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Exclusive: Thousands of Australians are potentially unaware their retirement savings have been wiped out, with victims of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1071002,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3093],"tags":[51,474,2499,16,15],"class_list":["post-1071001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-finance","tag-personal-finance","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116870352041736608","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1071001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1071001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1071001\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1071002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1071001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1071001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1071001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}