Jennifer Ellen Curtis: Hope Island mum’s boiler room scams took thousands from customers, court hears
A Hope Island mum who was involved in scam telemarketing companies that rorted hundreds of thousands of dollars from misled customers - including one that promised financial returns from a professional wagering team that did not exist - has pleaded guilty to fraud.
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A Gold Coast single mum involved in three scam telemarketing companies that rorted hundreds of thousands of dollars from misled customers will be serving time behind bars.
Jennifer Ellen Curtis, 62, appeared before the Southport District Court on Friday, June 13 after pleading guilty to three counts of fraud.
Curtis was involved in BBC Global Pty Ltd, a telemarketing scheme to buy horse racing membership plans for customers and guaranteed a passive, tax-free income.
It claimed its financial returns were made as a result of the company’s professional wagering team with extensive knowledge and experience in the racing industry.
In reality, no such team existed; a co-accused with no experience in the industry set up sports betting accounts for the victims and traded on the accounts.
When the co-accused couldn’t place the bets, Curtis and co-offender Danielle Hicks would place them despite also lacking experience.
The company began when Curtis and co-offender Christine Jones purchased an aged stock company and changed its name with ASIC in March 2018.
Jones, counselled by Curtis, was set up as the “dummy director” of the company; she was listed as the director but was not in control of the business.
The court heard Curtis held phone roles, co-owned the company with co-offender Susan Hicks and sent induction emails with numerous dishonest representations.
In 2019, a rift between Susan Hicks and Curtis ended BBC Global Pty Ltd, which evolved into two new companies.
Co-offender Debra Keane, a salesperson at one of the company offices, registered a new business; D & K Australia Group Pty Ltd.
It operated similarly to BBC Global Pty Ltd but did not have a dummy director.
The court heard although Curtis controlled and managed the company, she had less involvement than Keane, described as the architect of the scheme.
Curtis directed website design and emailed inducement material with dishonest representations similar to BBC Global Pty Ltd.
Across the two companies, Curtis obtained SIM cards for telemarketers, sourced lead sheets containing potential victim names and contact details, used an alias to hide her identity and fabricated the track record of the companies.
Her named co-offendersin both companies have already been dealt with by the courts. In December 2023, Keane was sentenced to three years jail with parole release in September 2024, with Susan and Danielle Hicks dealt two year’s jail wholly suspended. Danielle Hicks was also given a two year probation order. In November 2023, Jones was sentenced to two years in jail, suspended after three months.
In the third scam, the court heard Curtis was approached in October 2018 to set up the Australian arm of a UK-based scam that encouraged customers to buy a stock market software program and accompanying data package that claimed to simplify techniques used by major banks.
Curtis established Starbrite Traders Pty Ltd (SBT), which promised customers through the program a reliable source of passive income.
The court heard Curtis approached a co-accused to be the company’s dummy director and later resigned from SBT in February 2019.
The court heard investigations revealed a WhatsApp group chat involving Curtis, discussing company set up, dummy directors, misleading information to ASIC and banks, and inducement material.
Curtis sent messages to the chat including “the PO Box may show a bit of credibility, law courts and all. Up to you guys” and “we can use this to our advantage to sound very legal”.
There are a number of co-accused charged in relation to SBT still before the courts.
BBC Global Pty Ltd took $165,000 from 24 victims, D & K Australia Group Pty Ltd claimed $72,000 from 15 victims and SBT rorted $542,452 with 44 victims.
The court heard the total amount could be higher but police had exhausted contact with potential victims.
Curtis’ defence counsel David Carlin told the court his client is a single mother who experienced domestic violence with her child’s father.
He said there were domestic violence issues during Curtis’ offending and she turned to the offences because of poverty.
Mr Carlin said that Curtis, who sold her home in 2017 to cover debts, committed her crimes out of need, not greed and had been trying to establish a legitimate AI business.
He asked that Curtis, who has a family history of heart problems, be given a wholly suspended sentence, noting her low risk of reoffending, lack of prior history, behaviour on bail, and the impact of incarceration would have on her child.
Judge Deborah Holliday KC sentenced Curtis to four years imprisonment with the sentence suspended after serving nine months in actual custody.
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