Who the hell is Hamish? podcast: victims seek police review over conman’s fraud spree

Hamish McLaren’s victims want a review of the processes that allowed the conman to go undetected for decades.

Hamish McLaren.

Hamish McLaren’s victims hope to see a review of the police and Australian Securities & Investments Commission processes that allowed the conman who fleeced them of millions of dollars to go undetected for nearly three decades.

McLaren’s fraud spree began in the 1990s but it wasn’t until 2003 that he was first dealt a blow by authorities.

Yet his three-year suspension as an investment adviser or ­futures broker by ASIC for “washing sales” — where the seller and purchaser of a stock are the same — did not deter him for long.

McLaren, 48, popped up on the radar of the NSW police in 2007 when a dossier was sent to them by a victim. Police say the letter writer did not continue to press the complaint and they dropped the investigation because they needed an official statement.

It is that protocol that Tracy Hall, who lost $317,000 to McLaren in 2017, wants to see reviewe­d. “If their hands are tied because of the process, then perhaps­ a review of the process, the policies and the law is required­,” she told The Australian.

In a statement, the NSW Police Force said victims of fraud could report it to their local police station, but a formal statement was also required: “It is also vital that, where sought, victims agree to provide written statements as the basis for formal investigations into such crimes.”

The man who wrote the 2007 letter has told The Australian he did not recall being asked to provid­e a formal statement and believes he would have done so because he was determined to bring McLaren to justice.

McLaren, born Hamish Watson­, was eventually arrested by Manly detectives in 2017 and has pleaded guilty to 18 fraud charges for stealing more than $7 million from various victims between 2011 and 2017. He will be sentenced on June 13.

As revealed in The Australian’s chart-topping podcast Who the hell is Hamish?, the conman’s fraud spree went back to the 90s and continued until he was eventually arrested in mid-2017.

Ms Hall, who was dating McLaren at the time of his arrest, believin­g him to be Max Tavita, said it was difficult to believe police could not have investigated McLaren of their own accord.

“Why didn’t the police follow it up anyway?” she said. “If that (letter­) landed on someone’s desk, even if they couldn’t follow it up straight away, a quick search should have uncovered myriad public documents about stuff Hamish had done already.”

Fashion designer Lisa Ho, whose successful civil litigation prompted the eventual criminal charges against McLaren, said it was clear he had worked out how to avoid detection by authorities as he ripped off his victims.

“He obviously developed a method, a pattern or a formula and he just repeats it,” she said.

Ho, who backed a review of the processes that allowed McLaren to go unpunished, said her high-profile litigation against him in 2015 prompted a number of other victims to contact her. “I think there’s a lot they (the police) could learn from it,” she said.

“For so many people to say they were turned away …

“There’s nothing stopping police from going to his (McLaren’s) property and getting a statement from him.”

Miner Glenn Pickard, who lost his life savings, praised the detectives whose investigation led to McLaren’s eventual arrest, but he said police told him there was nothing they could do when he first reported the crime.

“I had been to the police before and I got a call back to say that there was nothing they could do about it,” he said.

In a statement, ASIC said ­McLaren had been “on (its radar) as a result of his previous mis­conduct.

“If new information or evidence­ was provided to ASIC about Mr Watson/McLaren’s conduct that fell within ASIC’s jurisdiction, we would assess and determine whether to take regulatory­ action,” it said.