Online fraud in financial planning growing

The threat of online-based fraud in the financial planning sector is growing and getting more sophisticated, a new report shows.

More than 270 suspicious matters were reported to the federal government's financial intelligence agency in the two years to March, according to Austrac's latest risk assessment of the industry.

Those that reported how much money was involved - about 150 cases - added up to almost $76 million.

Nine separate cases were for fraud worth more than $1 million while almost half involved less than $50,000.

Half of all the matters related to cyber-enabled fraud, such as the misuse and hacking of people's emails and online identity theft.

"Although this threat has been apparent in the sector for several years, it has been growing in scale and sophistication," the report released on Wednesday stated.

At least three cases of suspected terrorism financing were also reported, including one person who tried to transfer a large amount of money from a self-managed superannuation fund to a "high-risk jurisdiction".

One in five of the reported incidents related to potential money laundering, with roughly the same number of suspected cases of other types of fraud.

Only a small number of suspicious matters reported were about tax evasion and welfare fraud.

The report said the criminal threats facing the financial planning sector in Australia will almost certainly persist for years to come, but planners were well-placed to detect suspicious behaviour by their customers.