Andrew Fraser-Scott swindles thousands from Gold Coasters in dodgy car deals
A professional polo player swindled Gold Coasters out of tens of thousands of dollars by making dodgy deals on used car sales, a court was told.
Crime and Court
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A PROFESSIONAL polo player swindled Gold Coasters out of tens of thousands of dollars by making dodgy deals on used car sales, a court was told.
More than 250 complaints were made about Andrew Charles Fraser-Scott and his company AFS Corporation between November 2016 and late last year.
Fraser-Scott, 28, pleaded guilty in the Southport Magistrates Court yesterday to 77 charges, including making false or misleading representations regarding the price of goods, acting as a motor dealer while not licensed and making false representation about goods while a motor salesman.
Forty-five of those charges were laid against AFS Corporation, which traded out of Southport as The Cartel Dealer and Brisbane Dealer Auctions.
Magistrate Pam Dowse fined Fraser-Scott $30,000 and the company, for which Fraser-Scott acts as sole director, $20,000.
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She ordered AFS Corporation pay $33,269.52 in compensation to the victims in the next six months.
“Unfortunately the penalty pales into insignificance when you look at the number of people buying cars which are not very good, very old second-hand cars and having to pay a lot more for them,” she said.
Office of Fair Trading prosecutor Andrew Blain said Fraser-Scott would ask prospective car buyers the maximum they wished to spend buying a second-hand vehicle.
He would then buy the required vehicle for much less than the client’s maximum limit.
Mr Blain said Fraser-Scott would then add unspecified fees to the purchase price, bringing it up to the buyer’s maximum limit.
The court was told in one instance a woman paid more than double the value of a second-hand car.
On average, customers were paying about 29 per cent more than the value of the car, the court was told.
Mr Blain said Fraser-Scott lost his motor dealer licence in 2017 but continued to sell cars.
He said Fraser-Scott and AFS Corporation would also provide reports about second-hand cars but leave out vital details such as the car’s VIN, that rust was present and the previous use of the vehicle.
Barrister Robert Gordon, instructed by Moloney MacCallum Abdelshahied Lawyers, said Fraser-Scott has made a “significant error of judgment”.
“He was running a number of businesses,” he said.
“He wasn’t focusing properly on his business.”
Magistrate Dowse said she did not find that lack of focus “very encouraging at all”.
Mr Gordon said Fraser-Scott, who now describes himself as an entrepreneur, was also a professional polo player who had been sponsored by McLaren and Ferrari.
Mr Gordon told the court Fraser-Scott’s fiance is expecting their first child later this year.
Fraser-Scott has also had his real estate licence revoked.
No convictions were recorded against Fraser-Scott or the company.
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