Revealed: Twisted tales behind Gold Coast’s biggest scams
Fraudsters have adopted some sophisticated methods to part Gold Coasters from their hard-earned cash. Here’s how some of the biggest scams the city has seen were pulled off. >>>
Police & Courts
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GOLD Coasters are continuing to fall for scams as fraudsters adopt more sophisticated methods to get their hands on your cash.
Bond University Criminology Associate Professor Wayne Petherick said the pandemic had also contributed to a rise in the number of Coast residents getting scammed.
“Over the past 12 months there has been an increase in the number of people falling prey to scams of different types,” Dr Petherick said.
“There are scams that are going around that are very specific to the time of year, such as the end of financial year.
“They deliberately use times where their story is deemed to be more plausible, therefore has greater chance of success.”
With that in mind, here are the Glitter Strip’s biggest scams over the years as a helpful reminder of what you need to avoid.
JUNE 28, 2021
A GOLD Coast concreter was furious after he lost $80,000 to scammers.
The business owner, who did not want to be named, said the money was for concreting work he had done for a builder he had known for a long time.
The man said scammers hacked his Microsoft Office 365 email account and used the RSS feed in the background to send emails to the builder who owed him money.
He said they sent the $80,000 invoice to the builder, but provided new bank account details. The builder paid the invoice into the new account and it wasn’t until the man asked where his money was that “alarm bells went off”.
The business owner said he wanted banks to take more responsibility when their customers were scammed.
JUNE 1, 2010
CHINESE nationals on the Gold Coast received death threats as part of an extortion scam.
Police encouraged members of the Chinese community to be vigilant following an incident which involved an extortion attempt on a Broadbeach business.
According to authorities, the business was targeted in a phone call early May 2010 and police from the Broadbeach Criminal Investigation Branch, along with the Asian Specialist Unit, began investigating.
It followed a string of extortion attempts made to members of the Queensland community in July 2009 delivered via phone calls and text messages.
NOVEMBER 8, 2011
AN American fugitive fleeced Gold Coast “mum and dad’’ investors of about $2.5 million before absconding to Mexico to set up a similar scam, a Brisbane court was told.
David Elliot Kennedy, 44, was jailed for six years after he admitted running his fraudulent scheme through a fake business called First Foundation Developments Pty Ltd.
The Brisbane District Court was told Kennedy set up the company, with bank accounts in various names, when he arrived in Australia in early 2002.
Most of the money had since been paid back to his victims but Kennedy, of Bundall, used $728,000 to live the high life, spending it on prestige cars and plush accommodation.
Prosecutor Paul Huygens said Kennedy arrived in Australia as a criminal, using his brother’s passport to enter the country because he had fled the US while on bail.
Kennedy was already wanted in the US for ripping off millions from more than 500 investors.
Once here, he created a fake prospectus and website and hired a telemarketing company to lure investors from across southeast Queensland, promising returns of more than 18 per cent.
Kennedy said the money would go towards lucrative developments on land parcels his company had acquired at Main Beach and Robina.
No such developments existed but, between August 2002 and April 2003, Kennedy obtained almost $2.46 million from victims, described in court as mostly “mum and dad investors’’.
He pleaded guilty to 11 counts of fraud.
Judge Michael Shanahan sentenced him to six years jail but ordered his release in February 2012.
The release date took into account the 21 months Kennedy has served in pre-sentence custody in Australia and in the US while awaiting extradition.
SEPTEMBER 29, 2012
JADA Bucca thought she was in luck, finding her dream home in a tough Gold Coast rental market – until she found someone else moving in.
Only by sheer luck the Tallebudgera woman managed to avoid falling victim to a private rental property scam, with the Residential Tenancies Authority warning potential renters to make sure they see all the relevant documentation before signing a lease.
Ms Bucca said she was all set to pay a $2000 bond to secure a house at Worongary when she discovered a woman claiming to own the house was running an elaborate scam.
“I put an ad on (classified site) Gumtree seeking a home for rent in the Worongary area and a woman from Malaysia contacted me almost straight away,’’ she said.
“It seemed to suit us, but a friend of my partner and myself was thinking of boarding with us, so I took her to see it before I paid the bond.
“The woman from Malaysia was very pushy and kept asking for the bond but I wanted my friend to see it first.
“When I took her to see it we were shocked to find someone was moving in.
“At first I thought `this can’t be right’ but there was someone moving in.
“We spoke to them and found out a local man owned the house.’’
MARCH 6, 2013
GOLD Coast accountant Philip de Figueiredo was sentenced to six years in jail for orchestrating one of Australia’s largest tax frauds.
It was a scam carried out across several countries that involved some of the country’s top entrepreneurs, celebrities and two of the Gold Coast’s high-flyers.
The 60-year-old father of two was stoic during sentencing, while his supporters held hands.
His legal team said after the verdict de Figueiredo was shattered.
In sentencing, Justice Debra Mullins said it was clear he was not the architect or promoter of the scheme, but described de Figueiredo’s role as essential and “not insignificant’’.
De Figueiredo pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to defraud the Commonwealth to cause a loss.
JANUARY 17, 1995
A GOLD Coast community leader was jailed for four years after a court was told he had defrauded elderly holiday unit owners of their rent.
Former Surfers Paradise Chamber of Commerce president Donald Stanley Riggs initially had faced more than 500 charges of misappropriation.
Victims at Southport District Court wept after hearing the verdict and several described Riggs as “the manager from hell’’.
“We are very happy with the verdict,’’ said former unit owner Tom Arthur.
“Finally we have got some justice after a long fight.’’
Mr Arthur said Riggs had preyed on “little old ladies’’ who lived interstate and could not keep an eye on their properties.
The court was told that Riggs, who had managed a Surfers Paradise unit complex for more than 10 years, did not pay unit owners their rightful share of money received from overnight guests.
Senior Crown prosecutor Jim Henry said Riggs had erased guest names from accommodation records and had kept payments from short-term guests in a tin under the counter, drawing from it at the end of the month.
JUNE 17, 2013
MORE than 100 schoolies fell victim to a booze cruise scam.
Teenagers who bought tickets to a three-hour cruise on the Nerang River turned up at the wharf to find they had been duped.
Police investigated the fraudsters who, having sold tickets for $35 each, pocketed more than $4000.
“(It’s) definitely concerning that they’re preying on schoolies,’’ Gold Coast police superintendent Jim Keogh said.
“Thirty five dollars is a lot of money for them and 116 tickets sold is a handsome profit.’’
Superintendent Keogh said the bogus cruise promoters appeared to have hired innocent sellers to pass out the tickets, all displaying the same barcode, and used the name of a legitimate cruise boat company to promote the scam.
OCTOBER 16, 2010
A GOLD Coast couple lost about $7 million in what police believed to be one of the biggest Australian individual losses as a result of an online international financial scam.
The couple went from living in a high-rise and owning millions of dollars’ worth of properties to having everything repossessed by banks.
The husband and wife, in their late 50s, sold jewellery and furniture to pay scammers in Australia and overseas.
They had been living on Centrelink benefits since early 2010.
The scam started in 2008 when the husband emailed lenders in the Yellow Pages, seeking a $6.7 million loan to pay off other loans against their multiple properties.
MARCH 29, 2010
A QUEENSLAND woman conned by a romantic internet scam was partially reimbursed in an Australia-first.
The 56-year-old woman, ‘Ann’, received a cheque from Nigerian authorities after losing nearly $45,000 to a Nigerian university student who posed as a middle-aged British widower.
“I just needed company … he really made me believe,’’ the Gold Coast retiree said.
During the two-year online relationship, Ann made numerous transactions to the suitor to help pay for `lifesaving surgery’ following a car crash.
But the scam unfolded when he sent Ann images of the crash which were found to be a fake.
Ann had recouped 25 per cent of her outlay.
Queensland police worked with Nigerian authorities to track down the 25-year-old offender. He was convicted of fraud last year and jailed for 19 years.
Police said Queenslanders were sending between $800,000 and $1 million a month to Nigeria `and unfortunately the vast majority is victims’ money’.
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