Sharon Warns of Disgraceful Scam Hitting Super
BY DI SNEDDON
Sharon Marzol is not one to take the spotlight, but she is so furious after being hit by scammers that she felt compelled to speak out.
Sharon’s superannuation was the target of an attempted $31,000 theft and it is only due to her vigilance that she got on top of the situation early.
Even so, she has been left absolutely shattered by the experience.
“I can’t sleep, I feel really on edge, having had my identity stolen I just don’t know if it is over, if it will ever be over,” Sharon told The Hunter River Times.
It all started on April 19 when she received a text message around 8am from her superannuation fund to say that her personal information had been ‘processed and changed’.
Sharon called them immediately to say she had not changed any information and told them to change it back.
Later that afternoon she received another text from her fund saying her claim to release funds under compassionate grounds had been lodged and approved and she would receive it in three to five working days.
She called again to say she had not lodged any application and called for it to be stopped. The fund told her to call the Australian Tax Office because that was where the claim had come from.
The ATO told Sharon her details with them had also been changed.
Sharon’s heart sank, her entire identity had been stolen. She has followed advice and lodged a full report with cybergov.au and has been in contact with ID Care and made a report through Centrelink as well as a police report.
While her money is still in her superannuation account for now, Sharon is not confident moving forward.
“It is not just the money, my whole life has been stolen,” Sharon said.
The really sickening aspect to all of this is that Sharon has a very rare cancer for which she has been receiving radical treatment and the scammers knew this, using it as the reason for her ‘compassionate release of funds’.
“It is just horrible, I cannot believe people would do this, I wouldn’t want it to happen to anyone and just wanted to put the warning out there for people to be extremely careful,” Sharon said.