By Perry Duffin
The Lamborghini, Rolexes and luxury hotels suggested the former captain of Ashfield Boys High had struck it big with his fledgling betting company. However, police allege it was all a “heinous” scam to extract millions of dollars from his fellow students.
Court documents obtained by the Herald allege that Chao Wang, aka Charlie Lotzke, had been living in Thailand for less than a year but was already wanted by local authorities when he slipped out of the country and flew back to Sydney.
Ashfield Boys High former captain Chao Wang, aka Charlie Lotzke, has been charged with ripping off his schoolmates – to the tune of $2 million – using a fake betting website to fund a life of luxury. Credit:
It was welcome news to NSW Police detectives, who had been waiting for almost two years to take Wang into custody. They finally got their wish last month, shortly after he landed.
It was a dramatic fall from grace for the 2019 captain of the inner west school. Wang’s friends told police he was “intelligent, charismatic and well liked”, but he allegedly confessed a massive gambling problem.
Police documents claim that, in 2021, Wang had been asking school friends to invest in his new company Lotzkebets, which he passed off as an online gambling platform.
“He would promise large returns on investment and produce falsified documents from banks and other businesses to gain the confidence of would-be victims,” the documents say.
Many of Wang’s friends, some of whom had known him since primary school, poured in tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars each as investors, police say.
Charlie Lotzke, real name Chao Wang, has been charged with fraud over an alleged fake gambling company that he used to con his mates out of millions of dollars.Credit:
Wang allegedly used the fake documents to show he had secured large returns, which were ready to be transferred, and then asked his victims to pay an “administrative fee” to unlock their money.
One of Wang’s closest friends had sent him $5000 to invest in Lotzkebets in late 2022, but over the space of several weeks was tricked into sending him $450,000, police allege.
All up, Wang would allegedly convince 13 people, mostly friends, to hand over $2,092,075.
“[Wang] lived a life of luxury at the misery of his victims,” the police document says.
“[His] conduct is made more heinous by the fact that he exploited his friends’ trust to defraud them, he fully knew that his victims were borrowing from their families to satisfy his own greed.”
But by 2023, Wang’s backers were losing patience.
One allegedly defrauded friend and his family sued Wang to recover the near-half million they had signed over to Lotzkebets. He paid them back less than a quarter.
‘[Wang] lived a life of luxury at the misery of his victims.’
NSW Police, in court documents
Another of his schoolmates poured in $80,000 and was given a Rolex watch, unaware it was a fake, to satisfy the debt.
Wang was allegedly using the money to live in luxury hotels in the CBD under a false name and even had a private driver.
His driver, who he had met playing online games in 2022, had put $223,000 into Lotzkebets and had been told to expect a massive return.
The man, hoping to hasten his payday, drove Wang around in a rented Lamborghini Aventador almost every day.
However, the relationship was souring, the documents suggest, when Wang told his driver he had scraped the bottom of the Lamborghini in an underground car park and would need to pay $150,000 to repair it.
Wang leant the Aventador to another business partner and claimed, similarly, that he had to pay $120,000 to fix an engine problem.
A Lamborghini Aventador similar to the one rented by Wang.Credit: Getty Images
When both men protested, Wang turned to threats.
“The accused states he is a member of an organised crime group and that, if the debt is not satisfied, members of the Hamzy crime family will attend (the driver’s) home and murder him,” the police document says.
“The accused threatened (the business partner) claiming that his father was a member of a Triad organised crime group and that he would be shot if the payment was not made.”
The driver had secretly been recording their encrypted conversations and walked into a police station to report Wang in July 2023.
Police took out an arrest warrant and ASIC deregistered Lotzkebets, but it was too late to stop Wang, who had moved to Thailand days earlier.
While in Thailand, police allege, Wang talked yet another person into handing over the equivalent of $47,000 to Lotzkebets.
Wang also continued to allegedly contact his old school friends, including one mate who he owed almost $40,000, and offered to repay his debts – all he asked for was a $2655 upfront fee.
The friend declined.
Police allege Wang also contacted witnesses, offering payment if they stayed silent and did not co-operate with the investigation.
But Wang’s time in Thailand came to an end after he allegedly began forging letters from Australian law firms and sports betting company Bet Right to reassure his investor in Thailand.
The investor contacted Bet Right and the Australian Cyber Security Centre, triggering the investigation that allegedly forced Wang to flee back to Sydney.
“His entire adult life has been spent committing fraud and gambling,” police warned the courts in their document.
“He has demonstrated a willingness to flee. Additionally, he states he has access to 1.5 million USDT [cryptocurrency] which can fund his escape.”
Chao had his bail refused by the courts on multiple counts of fraud, forgery and demands with menaces. His matter is expected to return on July 30.
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