17 August 2015
Alleged crime gang of four men, known as “the Irish Boys”, are in custody for taking at least $4milliom in a “boiler room” investment fraud on the Gold Coast. Of the four in custody two are said to be Irish nationals. Queensland’s Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) confirmed that they were taken into custody after their offices connected to the alleged crime were raided by the police.
The ring leaders employed at least 45 people in outward call centre to attract innocent investors for their bogus investments. The CCC said, police will allege that the companies behind these syndicates used virtual offices, false identities, fake receptionists and fake testimonials, to attract innocent investors. The fronts for the scam included LTC Services, AIC International, Sansar Connect, Synergy Financials, Adamson’s Financial Services, Compass Capital Group and PH Trading.
They used “clean” shelf companies and offices with addresses far removed from the people they were targeting to avoid direct contact and provide a veil of legitimacy.
They also sold betting software priced at $9,000 to $39,000. It was touted that the software was a foolproof way to beat the bookies. But the software did not do that.
It was alleged that some former police officers might have given protection to the “boiler room” operations.
Nearly 150 Australians lost the $4million over the past 18 months.
Gold Coast emerges as a centre for ‘boiler room” frauds in Australia. Australian Crime Commission reported that at least $113m was swindled from victims up to 2012.
