Fugitive conman Peter Foster was running dead-man scam

Peter Foster was allegedly running a new gambling scam involving a company set up in the name of a dead man.

Fugitive conman Peter Foster is apprehended by the AFP near Gisborne on Tuesday

Australia’s most notorious conman, Peter Foster, was allegedly running a new gambling scam involving a company set up in the name of a dead man when he was arrested by specialist federal police fugitive hunters on Tuesday.

After more than six months of Foster being on the run over an alleged multimillion-dollar fraud, the law finally caught up with him at a luxury rural estate near the town of Gisborne in Victoria’s Macedon Ranges.

The arrest of a dishevelled and barefoot Foster by the AFP’s Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team followed a hi-tech chase involving the tracing of financial trans¬actions and covert tracking of communications.

A shocked Foster tried to escape heavily armed tactical officers by hiding under a deck.

He had to be coaxed out with threats of force, then started writhing around on the ground, complaining of a medical condition, sources said. Paramedics were called and took him to Royal Melbourne Hospital for assessment as a precaution.

Foster vanished in May after Queensland authorities moved to take over from a NSW case against him for defrauding a former fighter pilot of almost $2m. The AFP tracked him to, and arrested him at, a six-bedroom farmhouse in Short Rd, Gisborne, with 360 degree views over a picturesque valley. It was being rented for about $1200 a week.

“He was living quite comfortably where he was located,” AFP Assistant Commissioner Nigel Ryan said. “Mr Foster did try to evade police. He didn’t get far from the back door.”

A dual hunt had been under way to find the 59-year-old fugitive. It involved the official police chase on one hand and private investigator Ken Gamble on the other. Mr Gamble is working for the pilot allegedly defrauded by Foster.

In July, about six weeks after Foster fled, Mr Gamble informed Queensland detectives he -believed the conman was about to move into a property at Tamborine Mountain, south of Brisbane.

The property was believed to have been leased under false names.

Surveillance conducted by Mr Gamble’s firm IFW Global established Foster’s sister Jill and his two dogs were at the property. Foster himself did not appear.

In September, the private investigator found out that Foster was being supported by people in Victoria and was believed to be somewhere in the state.

It also emerged Foster was recruiting Vietnamese staff for a new scam, using the name Icon Sport Exchange, Mr Gamble said.

To facilitate bank transactions, Foster created UK companies registered in the name of a man who was deceased. It was still in the marketing phase.

By November, Mr Gamble had information Foster was in Gisborne – at the same property at which the AFP separately and independently found the conman through their investigations.

He had private surveillance at the property last week and was trying to confirm Foster was there so police could be notified, when the fugitive strike team swooped.

In August last year, Foster was crash-tackled by police in a dramatic arrest on a Port Douglas beach in far north Queensland. He was extradited to Sydney to face charges for allegedly defrauding Hong Kong-based pilot Konstantinos “Dino” Stylianopoulosas of almost $2m.

The money was collected via bitcoin through a gambling scheme called Sport Predictions.

Foster had been facing 16 charges in NSW, including five counts of publishing false and misleading material to obtain advantage and 10 counts of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception.

Foster was due to appear in court on the fraud charges in May when NSW police were alerted to a problem with the ankle bracelet tracking him as part of his bail conditions.

The device was traced to Sydney’s CBD, but Foster had removed it and NSW police issued a public statement saying his whereabouts were unknown.

With Foster missing, NSW withdrew the charges to allow Queensland to issue an arrest warrant for the same offences.

Mr Gamble said the threat of harsher penalties in Queensland for the fraud charges prompted Foster to flee.

Assistant Commissioner Ryan said Foster’s arrest involved the AFP and Queensland police working together closely.

Queensland police would seek to extradite him, with further investigations to be conducted into his time on the run, he said.

The fugitive apprehension strike team was set up this year to target offenders wanted for serious crimes. It is targeting fugitives in 22 countries, Assistant Commissioner Ryan said.

Police found another man at the property, who knew Foster but was not arrested.