The corporate regulator has raised concerns with Treasury about legal loopholes that allowed social media advertising to be used as cover for scammers to call vulnerable investors and dupe them into switching their superannuation into highly speculative schemes that have since blown up.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission is investigating high-pressure sales tactics from websites, call centres and advisers who convinced 11,000 victims to transfer nearly $1 billion into the collapsed First Guardian Master Fund and Shield Master Fund managed investment schemes.