Reporter tracks down scammers in dramatic raid | 60 Minutes Australia

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schadenfreude is a German word that describes pleasure derived from someone else's misfortune it might be a brutal emotion but tonight I guarantee you'll enjoy watching the misery of the men you're about to meet they're a bunch of criminal scammers who've been tricking ordinary Australians out of millions of hard-earned dollars but no more these lowlifes are busted red-handed arrested and imprisoned it's an important victory for the good guys this should make all Australians very happy professional con men undone by their own arrogance and greed gentlemen scamming a few Aziza for months this less-than-impressive office in Manila in the Philippines has been the headquarters for a sophisticated scam but you know is going on notice you're making illegal money Anthony over here we're fraudsters have cold cold thousands of unsuspecting aziz and Gaston training and trick them into handing over their life savings for fake shares in real companies but today the game's up the fraudsters that are running these operations are professional confidence tricksters the gorillas are very good liars they sell the dream and a lot of Australians are looking for the dream why did you make it a hit I don't we said shares I don't sell shares watch shares you still can't suffice are you so sorry I'm so sorry for you borrow Kearney of you've like 70 Shire these fast-talking frauds have been brought down thanks to months of covert surveillance by Australian private investigator Ken gamble this is transnational organized crime at the highest level it's devastating to the victims it's enormous in size it involves hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars and it's also funding and feeding other organized crime so these are the boos where they work these are their workstations you can see all the scripts they've got all their even though these expatriates from the US and UK are in Manila they tell callers they're working for an investment firm in Australia and that they have a deal too good to refuse our cold core people and they will give them some very basic questions are you interested in investing would you mind if we sent you some information so it's like a traditional telephone sales operation it is exactly that these people have been doing it a long time they're very professional and they put a lot of pressure on the investor to make decisions quickly so do you think these are all Australian names or not they are they're all Australians these are all Australians that they're only targeting Australia this whiteboard shows the sad truth the latest Australians who have been sold the dream and the hundreds of thousands of dollars they have scanned and as we go through the documents we'll get in contact with them and know that they've been a victim of the scam give them the bad news give them the bad news that's not gonna be suppose no it's not some of these people probably invested all the money they had into the into what it is now just nothing to scare thousands of kilometers from the Philippines in the New South Wales town of Griffith Robert coy is out on the morning milk run at 69 he already hoped to be retired but a cold call two years ago lured him into the scammers trap now his superannuation is all but blown all up if I can ask you directly how much money have you paid to them they're probably at number three hundred thousand three hundred and fifty years and I roll three million dollars fifty thousand that's an awful lot of money to lose yeah Robert that's a heck of a lot of milk though this is a sales invoice with obviously bogus name a large chunk of Roberts money was deposited into the ANZ account of Timberhill group here in Australia to buy shares a hundred and eighty thousand dollars for these years Robert yeah Jesus a lot of money in one head and $10,000 for that one cunningly the Timberhill group name was close enough to other legitimate companies using the name Timberhill but this one was a scam for novice investors like Robert their website looked impressive too its headquarters are supposed to be at this high-rise building in central Sydney Robert the Timberhill address that's on this fake letterhead 65 York Street in Sydney did you ever think about going there yeah it's only an hour away in the airplane you never thought about visiting the head office sadly a simple check would have revealed the company does not exist at this address do you feel sorry for the victims I do feel sorry for them because you know a lot of them are hard-working their family people family men mostly once they believe it's real there's no turning back really do they do that because of stupidity or is it greed pushing them along there is a combination of greed some people yes they want to try and make an easy buck there's no doubt about it on the other hand there are people that are simply trying to do the right thing and make money and build a future for their family it's almost impossible to put an exact figure on the number of victims being caught up in these stamps but what we do know is the rate at which life savings are being conned is phenomenal in just the first three weeks of this year no less than fifteen million dollars has been sent by Aussies living in country towns just like this one to crime gangs and con men in the Philippines single and newly retired 70 year old Ken Briggs was the perfect target when the scammers called him out of the blue in his Manship well I got a phone call a few things down as well Chickie's it you had enough tucked away that you thought well I can use that and maybe make some money yeah yeah the former Queensland bus driver wanted to make a better return on his savings than keeping it in the bank so what's the difference why did this outfit get you well I think it was just the spiel they put in in the first instance soon that that you're actually talking to somebody and I can give you some factors as you believe that effects I think really what second me so it was the confidence it's one thing to build a person's confidence but this scam is all about walking a person right down to the bank in less than four weeks Ken deposited $60,000 for fake shares into to a in said bank accounts how much actually a lot of people never ever admit they've been taken by these people well you can understand that can't you absolutely they must be very good at making you feel as though you're almost a friend absolutely well I think I don't think you've even paid that much for for a car of my life I'm usually pretty frugal with my money so they get sucked in like then I just can't believe to show you exactly how they sell the scam I need to do a bit of scamming myself it's just days before the manila office is going to be raided by Ken gamble and the police so I phoned that so-called office of Timberhill group pretending to be a prospective customer is that Timberhill he doesn't know it but John Anderson has been under surveillance for months his real name is Paul carne an expat from the United States the key to his confidence trick is convincing callers their money is safely invested in Australia okay so that so my money effectively would stay here in Australia Anderson plays to a script he offers me a deal on the same fake shares in a real company purchased by Robert coy and Ken Brees if I was to put in somewhere between 20 to 50,000 I mean how long before I see some sort of decent return you're talking six months twelve months that's pretty impressive ninety two hundred and twenty days that's that's that's impressive all right well I'll go ahead and fill in that online application and I very much look forward to meeting you John and dealing with you coming up busted the faces behind the fraud hey is there Remo 20 to 50 K lies damn lies have you spoken to Australian investors no no and no apologies for these scams because they're stupid that's next on 60 minutes building Aussie investigator Ken Gamble's plan to bust the scammers he's in its final days there on the 24th floor they don't have any signing on the office it's just a doorway for weeks he and his team have been tracking the daily movements of the scammers where they live what time they arrived for work and when they get paid okay so that's them right there that news is a new day here's a new African guy hundreds of Australians would have received calls from these men today they absolutely know that it's a scam they're all in on it together all the workers they know what they're doing is illegal they know that they're conning people the case got its break when Ken was contacted by an insider willing to rat on his colleagues whistleblowers in the Philippines trading in very dangerous territory when they start ratting on on the people that they're they're working with and I'm aware of a number of cases where whistleblowers have been either killed or seriously injured Peter as we'll call him is prepared to take the risk and tell Australians why he did it you get your first cell you see the money no you get excited so it just drives you more to keep doing it and doing it you know you get a guy on the phone e you're talking to him and you're pitching him and you know he's telling on you know I'm not convinced and you finally end up convincing Herman sit him giving you 30,000 he's like okay well you know here's 200,000 was there a feeling in the office about Aziz yeah I mean there was a few talks about it I mean in are we we have a choice you know we can either contact Australia New Zealand Europeans and everyone just folded those to stay in Australia you know that's what we have the most success because it's easy work correct and even though they've taken a loss again the greed is what attracts them you know they here's an opportunity to hopefully win back what they lost and they jump on it Peter says he was given the names and numbers of 200 Australians to call every day day to day how much business did you see going through the place probably closer maybe a quarter million dollars a day quarter of a million dollars yes but with your Commission at this stage how much were you making a week roughly anywhere from 3000 USD up to 11,000 USD at week $11,000 a week yes that's a very big incentive to keep your mouth shut is a guilty conscience doesn't exactly fit the profile of a con man but Peter tells us he's now given up scamming so you made a mistake a feeling sorry for the victims correct I guess just too many stories you know hearing customers complaining you know they lost their life savings to families Condor they lost a house they're homeless now just because of someone just like me we know that these people are responsible for defrauding dozens and dozens of Australians these fake fake shares in a secret location in central manila ken is briefing his team on a plan to scam the scammers this guy here how in sterling he's the boss he's been under investigation for some months now this is his son nathan is also working in the in the operations we expect to find scripts banking information most importantly a full list of the victims in Australia the people that are actually being defrauded inside this high-rise building the scammers are just starting work when these officers burst in it's a day to forget for these crops including John Anderson that's John eNOS that's him the smooth-talking American I spoke to a few days earlier this is our email who there's 20 250k just made notes it's pretty compelling evidence they're completely brazen are they what are you holding your hand over your face for funny because I don't want to be on the camera really yes good life for that it hasn't sunk in yet but these men will spend tonight in a crowded jail cell the you blokes have been happy to rip off hundreds of Australians you're not looking particularly happy this morning for these scams because they're stupid for a con man John Anderson doesn't have much deciphering so let's see what's your real life business yeah have you spoken to Australian investors no no no this is your desk isn't whatever whatever whatever write it down whatever America I see typical reaction from people that are placed in this situation I know they've been caught red-handed was lovely to meet you mr. Anderson lovely to meet you have a great time back in Australia the news of a police raid is bittersweet for victims like Ken Briggs it's confirmation he's been duped and probably lost his entire savings is that a sense of disappointment in yourself or is it just a sheer frustration yeah I think that's there is a really big sense of disappointment in myself just kind understand that I couldn't see through it in the first place what makes it even harder to swallow is the revelation that Australian banks were unwittingly used to scam the money your parent or an account here in Australia you think where all the monies and into it an Australian company and being one of the big four banks hey that gave you confidence as well oh yeah definitely so we tracked down the A&Z account holders who made it all possible to Australians living in Melbourne it turns out the sole director of Timberhill group is this man 28 year-old Miroslav Lunt his day job is concreting industrial sites like this one Murrah slab when we caught up with him to ask him about his ANZ account Miroslav Lord that allowed crime gangs in the Philippines to launder money you got a minute first murder slab he wasn't keen to chair just like why are you the second ANZ account being promoted by the scammers in the Philippines belongs to this man 47 year-old Joseph kulia the managing director of property confidential group mr. Coolio was not at home when we visited in suburban a befell Dee but both men have since denied knowledge of a scam most of the victims will never see their money again even with law force in action even putting these fraudsters in prison the money's gone ken gamble is doing all he can to recover the money for Australian victims it's a job he wishes had the attention of the Australian government it's not something the government has taken much of an interest in this is large-scale organized crime and the government has to put financial crime up there with drug trafficking murder for hire there all of the traditional mafia related crimes that we see out there they have to put this up as a very high priority or in in due course we're going to see the profits being used to fund other very serious activity including terrorism hello I'm Liam bartlett thanks for watching so keep up with the latest from 60 minutes Australia make sure you subscribe to our Channel you can also download the 9 now app for full episodes and other exclusive 60 minutes content

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Channel: 60 Minutes Australia

Views: 1,380,773

Rating: 4.7783227 out of 5

Keywords: 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes Australia, Liz Hayes, Charles Wooley, Tara Brown, Liam Bartlett, Allison Langdon, Tom Steinfort, Ellen Fanning, Peter Overton, Karl Stefanovic, Ray Martin, Peter Stefanovic, Jana Wendt, Jeff McMullen, Jennifer Byrne, Mike Munro, Richard Carleton, Tracey Curro, Paul Barry, Peter Harvey, Michael Usher, Ross Coulthart, George Negus, Ian Leslie, Gerald Stone, cold call, scammer, money, life savings, fraud, police, raid, Philippines, Manila

Id: vzSXPW4wZB4

Channel Id: undefined

Length: 19min 3sec (1143 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 04 2019

Reddit Comments

That was fun to watch! Thanks for sharing!

👍︎︎ 1 👤︎︎ u/TimeForHugs 📅︎︎ Feb 13 2019 🗫︎ replies