Mudasir Mohammed Naseeruddin fronts court for scamming potential investors

A cunning con artist lured trusting mum-and-dad investors into his financial web of deceit, taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in their savings and superannuation.

Mudasir Mohammed Naseeruddin has admitted duping seven investors of more than $520,000 and withdrawing $550,000 for personal use.

A dodgy financial adviser fleeced six mum-and-dad investors of more than $520,000 by convincing them to rollover their superannuation into self-managed funds.

Mudasir Mohammed Naseeruddin pleaded guilty in the County Court to two counts of dishonest conduct and another two of failing to discharge his duties as a director in the best interests of a company.

He also dishonestly used his position as a director of Secure Investments Pty Ltd to withdraw over $555,000 from the company to purchase shares in a security company for his own benefit.

The 33-year-old was sentenced on Wednesday to four years’ and four months’ jail with a non parole period of two years and nine months.

Among the people he duped between May 2015 and January 2020 was a schoolteacher and a pharmacist who were told their superannuation would be invested in property developments throughout Victoria.

Naseeruddin encouraged investors to rollover their superannuation money into newly created self-managed superannuation funds and to lend those funds to his two companies, Secure Investments Pty Ltd and Aquila Group Pty Ltd.

Just over $5000 of the more than $520,000 he fraudulently obtained was recovered.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) investigated Naseeruddin’s conduct and referred its findings to the Director of Public Prosecutions which laid the charges.

By law, Naseeruddin and his companies did not have a licence to sell financial products such as property developments.

Naseeruddin’s arrest came after ASIC took civil action to obtain interim court orders to preserve the assets of his companies.

One of his victims described Naseeruddin’s actions as “financial terrorism” that prevented him from having a proper sleep for months.

ASIC took Mudasir Mohammed Naseeruddin to court for duping six investors of more than $520,000.

Another victim said she has had to obtain financial and emotional counselling in order to navigate her way back to normalcy.

His third victim said: “(I) Lost entire super life savings. Could not draw on emergency super account during lockdown as it was all gone. Family and friends loaned us money which we could not repay.”

Judge Fiona Todd said Naseeruddin was persuasive and manipulative and in some cases, he exploited relationships of trust with people in his own Muslim community.

She said Naseeruddin must have known his victims, who earned modest income and were not were wealthy, had money in their super accounts that they saved painstakingly over the years.

Judge Todd said he has brought shame to his family through his financial ventures that were beyond his capacity.