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Investigation & Fraud News – Week ending 2 August 2024
Former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian fails to overturn ICAC’s serious corruption conduct finding – 26 July 2024
Former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian has failed to overturn the finding that she engaged in serious corrupt conduct.Last year, the Independent Commission Against Corruption found Ms Berejiklian breached public trust, while serving as state premier, during her secret relationship with former NSW MP Daryl Maguire.Ms Berejiklian has long insisted she always acted in the public interest, beginning legal action shortly after the corruption watchdog released its report.
Anti-corruption principles unveiled for public sector watchdogs – 31 July 2024
A framework for legislation and policy governing anti-corruption and integrity commissions overseeing the public sector has been released by the NACC, two years after a collaborative review into best practice principles. The 12 principles were announced by ten independent agencies at the Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference in Darwinand are listed in this article.
CFMEU-busting law being prepared, new minister says – 31 July 2024
The CFMEU’s construction wing will be steamrolled with new laws if it resists being put into administration, the new workplace relations minister said. The Fair Work Commission said it not yet made a court application for an administrator for the embattled division after allegations of organised crime links, but the federal government has warned the union not to fight the move.
Former AFL players agent Ricky Nixon to fight memorabilia fraud case – 31 July 2024
Former AFL powerbroker Ricky Nixon has revealed he will fight allegations he knowingly sold counterfeit memorabilia with forged signatures. He was charged in November last year with 10 counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception and later with nine counts of make or use false documents related to the alleged fraud. The false document charges relate to certificates of authenticity sent alongside the footballs to buyers.
Scammers are targeting myGov accounts during tax time. How can users protect their ATO refunds? – 1 August 2024
Criminals are changing phone and email details to prevent users from receiving myGov notifications – before altering tax returns and bank account details. The ATO says more than $557m was paid to scammers engaging in identity fraud between July 2021 and February 2023.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/aug/01/ato-mygov-tax-return-refund-scam
Access to digital version of the guardian required to read article
Public sector whistleblowers should be ‘immune’ from reprisals: anti-corruption chiefs – 1 August 2024
The heads of Australia’s anti-corruption agencies have called for fundamental protections for public service whistleblowers and witnesses in a new set of principles.
Access to digitial version of Canberra times required to read article
Billionaire former Glencore oil trader charged with corruption in West Africa – 2 August 2024
The UK’s Serious Fraud Office has charged Glencore’s billionaire former head of oil trading with conspiring to make corrupt payments to benefit the commodities company’s oil operations in West Africa. Alex Beard, who ran Glencore’s oil division from 2007 until his retirement in 2019, will face charges alongside former Glencore executives Andrew Gibson, Paul Hopkirk, Ramon Labiaga and Martin Wakefield after a long-running investigation into allegations of bribery at the company.
Arrest over alleged fraud – 2 August 2024
A man’s been arrested over suspected fraudulent activity at Gen-U in Geelong.. allegedly involving millions of dollars. The activity is alleged to have occurred over about five years and involves several million dollars. “Detectives have obtained financial and business records from the organisation and these continue to be forensically assessed.
https://www.bay939.com.au/local-news/charges-over-alleged-fraud/
Big name towing director defrauds insurers of $32k – 2 August 2024
A Ballarat towing business director engaged in “double-dipping”, invoicing twice 50 towing jobs and taking more than $32,000 from insurers.
Access to digitial verison of Herald Sun required to read article
Microsoft down: Outage was caused by cyber attack, company says – 2 August 2024
Microsoft said initial problems on its Azure cloud platform had been triggered by a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, where bad actors try and knock a platform offline by flooding it with traffic until it can no longer cope. The company confirmed its initial investigations had found that an error in the rollout of its own defences to prevent the attack “amplified the impact of the attack rather than mitigating it”. The incident came less than two weeks after a major IT outage knocked global infrastructure including transport and healthcare services offline because a flawed software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike affected Microsoft devices.
https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/microsoft-down-outage-not-working-cyber-attack-hack-b2589042.html
Founder of collapsed social media site charged with fraud – 2 August 2024
Authorities in the US have charged the founder of the former social media company, IRL, with a $170m fraud. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accuses Abraham Shafi of defrauding investors by making misleading statements about the company’s growth. IRL – which was once considered a potential rival to Facebook – took its name from its intention to get its online users to meet up in real life.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgxqw505pq4o
Investigation & Fraud News – Week ending 26 July 2024
Geraldton financial advisor Thomas ‘Graham’ Greenaway jailed for $2.9m Aboriginal trust theft after retrial – 19 July 2024
Thomas “Graham” Greenaway was found guilty of 33 stealing charges relating to taking $2.9 million from the Yugunga-Nya people’s trust while he was trustee. Greenaway was imprisoned, won an appeal in 2022, and in a retrial in May a jury again found him guilty. Greenaway was sentenced to a total of five years and nine months’ imprisonment, backdated to July 2023.
How criminals are exploiting digital technology like video games to launder money – 21 July 2024
New digital technologies have offered more sophisticated — and surprising — ways of making dirty money clean. Article details the three steps of money laundering which are placement, layering and integration.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-21/digital-technology-and-money-laundering/104081836
Sydney man, 43, charged with allegedly trafficking 17-year-old girl from Indonesia to work in brothel in major AFP investigation – 23 July 2024
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has charged a south Sydney man with trafficking a child from Indonesia to work in a brothel after seven potential victims were removed from sexual exploitation. AFP Commander Kate Ferry said human trafficking is an under reported crime, with issues such as distrust of authorities or language barriers hindering the reporting of it.
ASIC hits ASX pump-and-dump crew with criminal charges – 23 July 2024
The corporate watchdog has filed criminal charges against four alleged ring leaders of a penny-stock pump-and-dump scheme, run through the Telegram messaging app, during the pandemic lockdown market mania. Each faces fines of more than $1 million and up to 15 years in prison, if found guilty of conspiracy to commit market rigging and false trading, in a market co-ordinated manipulation scheme.
Banks Stole Money From Dead People. Why Weren’t They Put Into Administration? – 23 July 2024
Australia has one set of rules for white collar crime, and a whole other set of rules (and sanctions and penalties and public floggings) for blue collar crimes… particularly when a union is involved. Lawyer Alana Heffernan weighs in on the obvious hypocrisy.
ASIC launches investigation into cold callers offering superannuation reviews – 25 July 2024
ASIC has launched an investigation into cold callers offering superannuation reviews. Three people say they were sent on to a financial adviser and then pressured to switch funds. Advocates want ASIC to move quickly and have urged people to be careful before changing super funds without additional financial advice.
Australian National University underpaid casual staff $2 million over 11 years due to timesheet error – 25 July 2024
The Australian National University has self-reported to the Fair Work Ombudsman, an error that saw 2,290 former and current casual staff, miss payments totalling about $2 million during the past 11 years. The National Tertiary Education Union says with wage theft “rampant across higher education” the announcement was “disappointing but not surprising”.
Australia’s ANZ fires staff amid multiple dealing room investigation – 25 July 2024
Australian bank ANZ said it has fired or suspended traders from its markets business, over allegations of inappropriate behaviour and warned an investigation into the unit, may have consequences on staff all the way up to the CEO. Media reports have said the corporate regulator was investigating suspected misreporting of trades in government bonds by the bank’s staff.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/anzs-prelim-analysis-bond-trading-232916622.html
Instagram and Facebook remove 63,000 sextortion accounts after shocking deaths – 25 July 2024
Instagram and Facebook’s parent company Meta says it has finally taken down about 63,000 Nigerian Instagram accounts running sextortion scams. According to research by cyber intelligence analyst Paul Raffile, a group of West African cybercriminals known as “Yahoo Boys” are largely responsible for the 18,000 per cent surge in sextortion targeting children that has caused at least 39 deaths in the past two years.
Investigation & Fraud News – Week ending 19 July 2024
Brisbane couple charged with spying for Russia in alleged attempt to access defence secrets – 12 July 2024
Two Russian-born Australians Kira and Igor Korolev are facing espionage charges after being arrested in suburban Brisbane. AFP commissioner Reece Kershaw said a 40-year-old woman on long-term leave from the Australian defence force and her 62-year-old husband were charged with one count each of preparing for an espionage offence, which could lead to up to 15 years in prison.
Police threat for Jackson – 15 July 2024
WHISTLEBLOWER Kathy Jackson is likely to be referred to Victoria Police for possible crim¬inal prosecution as the Health Services Union amasse misuse of union credit cards, cash, cheques and general accounts exceeding $660,000.
Digital version of AFR required to read article
Westpac wins $15m fruit stand fraud case – 16 July 2024
The owners of a western Sydney fruit stand and their staff fabricated financial records for more than five years to steal $15 million from Westpac. The money was used to expand a Northern Territory farming empire and pay down mortgages on houses in Sydney’s leafy inner-west.
ANZ suspends traders for alleged misconduct amid markets prob – 16 July 2024
Two ANZ traders have been suspended from the bank amid an internal investigation into misconduct within the company’s markets division. The traders were also among those who worked on a $14 billion bond sale for the federal government in April last year, a transaction now the subject of inquiries from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, which is investigating whether the market was manipulated.
Scammers target Australian real estate sales through payment redirection scams – 17 July 2024
Lily lost about $26,000 to scammers when she sold her two-bedroom apartment in southern Sydney. She and her agent, HT Wills Real Estate, were the targets of a payment redirection scam. Cyber fraud investigator Dan Halpin says Australia is a highly profitable target for scammers.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-17/scammers-target-australian-property-sales/104103298
Australia’s greyhound racing industry battles new claims of abuse – 18 July 2024
Greyhound Racing New South Wales (GRNSW) – the epicentre of the sport in the country – is back in the spotlight for alleged abuse, due to the work of one whistleblower. In an explosive report made public by lawmakers, the organisation’s former chief veterinarian has described the industry as a hotbed of “exploitation and suffering”, claiming that dogs are being raced at “barbaric” rates, euthanised without cause, or left to rot in metal cages when they can no longer compete.
MediSecure reveals 12.9 million Australians had personal data stolen in cyber attack earlier this year – 18 July 2024
About 12.9 million Australians had their data stolen in the MediSecure hack earlier this year, the eScripts provider has revealed, placing it among the largest cyber breaches in Australian history. Medisecure’s statement, released recently said they were “unable to identify the specific impacted individuals despite making all reasonable efforts to do so due to the complexity of the data set. Also doing so, would have come at a “substantial cost that MediSecure was not in a financial position to meet”. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-18/medisecure-data-cyber-hack-12-million/104112736
History lessons on union corruption – 18 July 2024
Business demands royal commission into ‘abhorrent’ CFMEU conduct
Australia’s trade unions and construction industry have long been plagued by alleged corruption, which has been the subject of several royal commissions as far back as the 1980s. Successive Labor and Liberal Governments have tried to stamp out corrupt elements of the union movement with seemingly little success. Amid fresh allegations against Australia’s most powerful construction union, the CFMEU, workplace experts say the Federal Government must avoid repeating past mistakes.
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/am/history-lessons-on-union-corruption/104112154
NSW law enforcement watchdog finds senior officer engaged in serious misconduct after crashing police car – 18 July 2024
A senior NSW police officer was charged after crashing his unmarked police car while under the influence of alcohol in May 2023. The NSW law enforcement watchdog found the detective engaged in serious misconduct and was treated “leniently” by his superior. The officer, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-18/sydney-police-officer-misconduct-car-crash-watchdog/104113628
Former broker permanently banned following fraud convictions – 18 July 2024
ASIC has permanently banned Aleksandra Frizzell after it was found she dishonestly obtained funds from an employee, clients and people purchasing goods on Facebook Markplace. After pleading guilty to 17 charges – which reportedly resulted in home loan customers losing hundreds of thousands of dollars through mortgage ‘scams’ – Frizzell was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment (with a non-parole period of two years and three months).
Uber Eats has warned of a new scam. Here’s what to watch out for – 8 July 2024
Uber Eats customers have been warned of a new scam circulating on WhatsApp.
Scammers purporting to work for the food delivery platform had contacted customers via the messaging app. The scammers invite message recipients to join a “promotional team” and offer “rewards for liking or bookmarking merchant stores. Australians have filed about 143,000 scam reports and lost nearly $140 million to scams in the year to June, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s Scamwatch service.
Geraldton financial advisor Thomas ‘Graham’ Greenaway jailed for $2.9m Aboriginal trust theft after retrial – 19 July 2024
Thomas “Graham” Greenaway was found guilty of 33 stealing charges relating to taking $2.9 million from the Yugunga-Nya people’s trust while he was trustee. Greenaway was imprisoned, won an appeal in 2022, and in a retrial in May a jury still found him guilty. Greenaway was sentenced to a total of five years and nine months’ imprisonment, which was back dated to July 2023. He will be eligible for parole after two years and nine months.
Investigation & Fraud News – Week ending 12 July 2024
Cutting-edge technology is being deployed to stop the illegal trafficking of Australian wildlife – 8 July 2024
Wildlife trafficking is the fourth-largest organised crime globally, worth over $450 billion a year, according to the Wildlife Crime Research Hub. It’s estimated thousands of Australian species are being traded internationally, with cockatoos and lizards particularly popular. Australian scientists have created tools to detect and trace wildlife being smuggled out of, and brought into, the country.
Boeing will plead guilty in investigation of two fatal crashes – 8 July 2024
Boeing has agreed to plead guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge to resolve a US Department of Justice investigation linked to
two fatal 737 MAX crashes. The plea, which requires the approval of a federal judge, would brand the plane manufacturer a felon and make them pay a criminal fine of $360 million.
How criminals use property to launder money – 9 July 2024
Drug traffickers, people smugglers, terrorists and fraudsters who rip off government programs are laundering billions of dollars through Australia’s property market, banks and casinos – according to a national risk assessment released recently. The Government wants to impose new regulations on real estate agents, accountants and lawyers to crack down on the crime – but it’s facing resistance.
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/am/how-criminals-use-property-to-launder-money/104073778
‘Jason’ was beaten repeatedly with a baton in a watch house. An investigation found the use of force was ‘reasonable’ – 10 July 2024
A teenager has been beaten with a baton by police in a watchhouse after swearing at officers. Commissioner Natalie Lewis has seen the footage and labeled the use of force as “abhorrent” and “distressing”. She has called for a more transparent and comprehensive investigation. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-10/indigenous-teenager-beaten-brisbane-police-watch-house-cctv/104070840
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-11/queensland-brisbane-watch-house-youth-baton/104080720
Australian Federal Police officer charged with perjury, concealing evidence and perverting the course of justice – 11 July 2024
ACT Policing Detective Leading Senior Constable Trent Madders has been charged with perjury, perverting the course of justice and concealing evidence. Prosecutors allege Trent Madders committed the offences between 2019 and 2020.
Two women arrested as part of Echo Taskforce investigation into false nominations – 11 July 2024
Detectives from Taskforce Echo have arrested two women as part of an investigation into the false nomination of drivers for penalty notices. Police will allege that the woman, who was previously working for a third-party contractor, used her position to access information and then receive payment for false nominations of penalty notices.
https://www.police.vic.gov.au/two-women-arrested-part-echo-taskforce-investigation-false-nominations
‘Those involved will be held accountable’: ANZ boss amid scandal – 11 July 2024
ANZ has engaged two major law firms as it investigates workplace misconduct and inappropriate trading in its markets division, even as the corporate regulator looks into whether the bank manipulated the price of government bonds.
Law Council calls for anti-money laundering carve-outs – 11 July 2024
Proposed anti-money laundering reforms will impose a significant compliance cost burden on law firms and could “make inroads” into client-lawyer privilege, the Law Council of Australia has warned. The peak body for lawyers has called for carve-outs for “low-risk” practice areas and exemptions to protect client privilege, but says it supports “risk-based and outcomes-based legislation”.
Digital access to AFR required to read article
Two Australian citizens charged with an espionage-related offence – 12 July 2024
Two Russian-born Australian citizens accused of obtaining Australian Defence Force material to share with Russian authorities will face Brisbane Magistrates Court after being charged with an espionage-related offence.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-12/two-russian-born-australians-charged-with-espionage/104090430
Scammers are using our scam awareness against us — so watch out for unsolicited offers of help – 12 July 2024
Many of us are now at least a bit wary of scams and it appears scammers are using that to their advantage. They’re posing as assistance organisations for scam victims or pretending to be an agency that can reclaim money lost to scammers to trick people into handing over their money. The National Anti-Scam Centre (NASC) is a federal government organisation that works to protect people from scams.The centre says some criminals have been posing as NASC employees warning you about a scam — but it’s all a lie.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-12/scammers-impersonating-scamwatch/104052282
