Skip to main content

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em

Shocking story from the Gold Coast, long known as the scam capital of Australia, where a former senior detective seemingly gave up trying to bust these scammers and got in on it himself!

Ex-cop Mick Featherstone pulled puppet directors’ strings in boiler-room scam, say police

A FORMER high-ranking Gold Coast detective allegedly masterminded a multi-million-dollar boiler-room scam, duping hundreds of people with the help of his wife and son.

Police allege Mick Featherstone and his wife, Zoei Keong, were key players in the scheme which involved manipulating vulnerable people – including a man with a brain injury – to become “puppet directors” of 12 scam companies.

Investors were cold-called and asked to pay between $500 and $1000 for a four-day trial of betting and investment software. After seeing fake profits, they then signed 12-month contracts, police allege.

But the companies linked to the investments would disappear before the year was up, it is alleged, and about 600 people lost a total of between $15 million and $20 million.

Featherstone is a former Surfers Paradise criminal investigation branch boss and fraud squad member who is said to have built connections at the highest levels of the Queensland Police Service.

Read the remainder of the article here

Sadly, this type of scam has been going on for years. It could be any industry they target, but the betting industry is the one which takes a hit because of pricks like this. Finally it appears that Queensland police are doing something about it as a few recent successes have hit the press after years of silence.

Major scam operation busted as police raid Gold Coast mansion, offices

Boiler room scam victims unlikely to get money back, police warn

'The biggest mistake in my life': how Gold Coast boiler room scams duped investors

Boiler room raids net four Irish Boys 'key operators' on Gold Coast

Gold Coast police raid boiler rooms linked to betting, investment scams

Fraud and cyber crime police target cold-call investment scams on Gold Coast

Comments

  1. samdell25 February 2016 at 14:16

    I got cold called by a company (ATM Investments) that was based in the Gold Coast and they were slick. The email and attached PDF file was very good and when you went to the website, the results were impressive and all rolled up in a slick spreadsheet. From the lady who did the original call to the gentleman who was supposed to be the manager who rang to offer me a special deal as I seemed like an "informed & sophisticated investor" never a gambler or punter, always used an investor.

    If not for the fact I have been my banking career of 30 years, I could have fallen for this very easy so I understand why people do. The police can only do so much but they cant stop greed/stupidity. I guess there just has to be continued education

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for your comments, but if you're a spammer, you've just wasted your time - it won't get posted.

Popular posts from this blog

Spot-fixing - you will never, ever be able to stop it

According to this report , IPL tournaments so far have been rife with spot-fixing - that is fixing minor elements of the game - runs in a single over, number of wides bowled etc. The curious part of that article is that the Income Tax department are supposed to have found these crimes. What idiot would be stupid enough to put down 'big wad of cash handed to me by bookie' as a source of income? Backhanders for sportsmen, particularly in a celebrity- and cricket-obsessed culture like India are not rare. They could come from anything like turning up to open someone's new business (not a sponsor, but a 'friend of a friend' arrangement), to being a guest at some devoted fan's dinner party etc. The opportunities are always there, and there will always be people trying to become friends with players and their entourage - that is human nature. This form of match-fixing (and it's not really fixing a match, just a minor element of it) is very hard to prove, but also,
Post a Comment
Read more

It's all gone Pete Tong at Betfair!

The Christmas Hurdle from Leopardstown, a good Grade 2 race during the holiday period. But now it will go into history as the race which brought Betfair down. Over £21m at odds of 29 available on Voler La Vedette in-running - that's a potential liability of over £500m. You might think that's a bit suspicious, something's fishy, especially with the horse starting at a Betfair SP of 2.96. Well, this wasn't a horse being stopped by a jockey either - the bloody horse won! Look at what was matched at 29. Split that in half and multiply by 28 for the actual liability for the layer(s). (Matched amounts always shown as double the backers' stake, never counts the layers' risk). There's no way a Betfair client would have £600m+ in their account. Maybe £20 or even £50m from the massive syndicates who regard(ed) Betfair as safer than any bank, but not £600m. So the error has to be something technical. However, rumour has it, a helpdesk reply (not gospel, natur
14 comments
Read more

lay the field - my favourite racing strategy

Dabbling with laying the field in-running at various prices today, not just one price, but several in the same race. Got several matched in the previous race at Brighton, then this race came along at Nottingham. Such a long straight at Nottingham makes punters often over-react and think the finish line is closer than it actually is. As you can see by the number of bets matched, there was plenty of volatility in this in-play market. It's rare you'll get a complete wipe-out with one horse getting matched at all levels, but it can happen, so don't give yourself too much risk...
33 comments
Read more