Global share market boiler room scam busted after it netted over $1bn from Australian investors
One of the biggest global share market scams in Australian history which netted more than $1bn from mum and dad investors has been busted. See photos, video and hear the audio.
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One of the biggest global share market scams in Australian history which has netted more than $1 billion from unsuspecting mum and dad investors has been busted.
Australian investors are among those conned by the “boiler room” scam where fraudsters ran a string of fake share trading firms.
In some cases the syndicates have been running their operations for 15 years.
Boiler room scams operate using a call centre, high pressure sales people and dishonest tactics persuading investors to buy non-existent financial securities in fake companies.
But the scam came crashing down when the victims from almost every state and territory in Australia contacted NSW private eye and cybercrime investigator Ken Gamble, who launched an international investigation and busted the syndicate.
Mr Gamble’s company IFW Global represents 20 victims from NSW, Victoria, Queensland and WA who have lost $63 million between them.
But there are many more victims.
“This criminal group has left a path of destruction and financial ruin to the Australian victims,” Mr Gamble said.
“This is one of the most sophisticated and well-established scam syndicates we have seen in many years“.
More than 80 people have been arrested including the kingpin – a British con artist known as Peg Leg – and 24 secret offices and homes of key criminal suspects raided in an international take-down of the scammers, who operated across multiple countries and legal jurisdictions. More than $4.3 million in cash was seized during the raids.
Victims invested in what they thought were legitimate broking companies, which scammers made look real with impressive fake websites, even fake press releases which had placed with online news outlets to build legitimacy.
They were lured with pop-up ads on internet sites responding to searches for “investments opportunities”.
The ad would supply a form and say a broker would get in touch.
Then fake brokers were used over and over as the different companies were phoenixed and new ones started.
LISTEN TO THE AUDIO OF THE BROKERS:
The victims’ money were sent to “transfer agents” and “escrow accounts” in Hong Kong, but attempts to raise the alarm with Hong Kong banks got nowhere.
The accounts were controlled by a Chinese crime syndicate using hundreds of “money mules” who travelled from mainland China just to open accounts.
Within minutes the money disappeared laundered through Singapore and Thai banks with large volumes of cash transported across land borders into Malaysia.
Operation Tropicana followed months of covert surveillance and intelligence gathering by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) after a tip-off by Mr Gamble and his team.
IFW tracked the syndicate and gathered intelligence through their overseas operatives before sharing it with the MACC.
They had to avoid police involvement because the scammers were believed to have links to a Malaysian organised crime group with ties to current and past high-ranking police officials.
The MACC officers – with Mr Gamble present – launched the raid seizing sales scripts, financial documents, client lists, computers, laptops, mobile telephones, and cash.
These types of scams are notoriously hard to crack and some victims went to police only to be told they couldn’t help because their money had disappeared overseas.
So they turned to IFW Global which has brought down other South-East Asia scam syndicates and returned some of the lost money.
Mr Gamble also attempted to raise the alarm with the banks but they wouldn’t deal with anyone other than law enforcement.
SOME OF THE COMPANIES INVOLVED IN THE SCAM:
Monarch Broker
www.monarch-broker.com
AS Colins Continental
www.ascolinscontinental.com
Garner Tongyeong International
www.gtifinancial.com
Fujisawa Yoyama Group
www.ftgfinancial.com
Chiba Taiko Partners
www.ctpglobal.com
JK Marshall Mercantile
www.jkmarshallmercantile.com
S Venture Capital Advisors -
(Purported to be in Adelaide, Australia)
www.sventurecapital.com
Suncap Advisors (Sun Capital Advisors)
www.suncapadvisors.com
Inter Berner Dubois
www.ibd-credit.com
Aspen Asset Management AG
www.aspen-am.com
Julius Cohen Securities
www.jcstrading.com
Kingsman Investment Limited
www.kingsmanltd.com
Cullman Mutual Capital
www.cmadvisory.com
Tochigi Ontario Holdings
www.tohglobal.com
Charrington Pacific Group
www.cpgroupcorp.com
Lincoln Management Group
www.lincolnmanagementgroup.com
www.lincolnmanagementgrp.com
Agard Union Trading
www.autventures.com
White Oak Capital Asia
www.whiteoakcapital.asia
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