Crypto scams surfacing in SMSF audits
An SMSF auditor is urging trustees to undertake thorough research before investing in crypto assets, with a number of scams being detected in audits recently.
Speaking to SMSF Adviser, Tactical Super director Deanne Firth said she had seen a few instances this year of funds losing cryptocurrency assets either from the collapse of exchanges or as a result of scams.
While some of the scams she’s encountered in SMSF audits have been simpler in nature, others, she said, have been more deceptive.
“We’ve come across scams where it’s just been some templates and certificates within a PowerPoint file. However, there are others that have really been quite clever and sophisticated,” she warned.
Ms Firth stressed that SMSF trustees planning to purchase crypto assets need to think carefully about what platform they’re going to use or how they’re going to invest.
“We provide clients with information on what exchanges they should use and also what we don’t want to see,” she said.
“I think its important to promote those exchanges that are doing the right thing because it does make such a difference on the audit side of things.”
Ms Firth noted, for example, that some exchanges only provide reports for 90 days, which doesn’t meet the audit requirements.
She also reminded trustees on the importance of checking that their trust deed allows for investment in cryptocurrencies and ensuring it’s in their investment strategy if they are going to invest in these kinds of assets.
Speaking in a webcast earlier this year, Cadena Legal director Harrison Dell warned that the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has been seeing increased scam activity in the cryptocurrency space involving SMSFs where trustees are putting their super into certain assets or certain wallets and losing ownership of it very quickly.
Crypto Tax Calculator chief executive Shane Brunette previously warned trustees that it’s still very much a case of individuals doing their own research and taking on their own individual risks.
“[There’s still] a lot of people making money out of advice, which perhaps they shouldn’t be giving in terms of investment strategies, and a lot of this leads back to scams. We see it all the time,” Mr Brunette said.
Despite some of the recent setbacks in the cryptocurrency space, Ms Firth said she expects that cryptocurrency will likely continue to attract interest from SMSFs, given that some estimates indicate that around of quarter of Australians hold crypto assets in their personal name.
A recent study by Independent Reserve involving 2,000 respondents estimated that around 25.6 per cent of individuals currently hold some form of cryptocurrency.
Roy Morgan released research earlier this year in April, which suggested the percentage may be closer to 5 per cent.
Over time Ms Firth said she expects that the level of investment in cryptocurrency by SMSFs may climb closer to the proportion for the overall population.
The ATO statistics for the June 2022 quarter indicated there was $1.37 billion in cryptocurrency assets held by SMSFs.
This represents more than a fivefold increase from the $241 million invested in crypto assets back in June 2020.
