[]Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) and Queensland Police Service (QPS) are seeking to speak with victims of an investment fraud scheme.
On 17 August, four men were placed in custody and two active boiler rooms shut down following a joint CCC-QPS investigation. Operation Unwind was established in March 2015 to investigate an alleged crime syndicate known as the ‘Irish Boys’ which was suspected of operating organised and sophisticated cold call investment frauds from the Gold Coast. Alleged victims of this syndicate are located throughout Australia and are believed to have been defrauded of at least $4 million over an 18-month period.
A boiler room refers to an outbound call centre where victims are persuaded through false, misleading and deceptive information and practices to invest money in financial management schemes or computer software that will never achieve the promised returns.
The companies that have been the focus of Operation Unwind include:
- LTC Services Pty Ltd (LTC)
- AIC International Pty Ltd (AIC)
- Sansar Connect Pty Ltd (Sansar)
- Synergy Financials Pty Ltd (Synergy)
- Adamson's Financial Services Pty Ltd (AFS)
- Compass Capital Group Pty Ltd (CCG Markets)
- PH Trading Pty Ltd (Patterson Harvey).
These websites are still active despite the operations centres being shut down and consumers are advised to not use these sites.
- AF Services - http://www.afservicespl.com/
- AFS Investments - http://www.afsinvestments.com.au/about.html
- Compass Capital Group - http://www.compasscapitalgroup.com.au/about.html
- PH Trading Pty Ltd - http://www.phgtrading.com/index.html
- Patterson Harvey - http://www.pattersonharvey.com/
The operation has identified victims throughout Australia.
If you think you have been scammed
Investigators from the joint CCC-QPS taskforce are interested in speaking with any person who believes they are a victim of these companies.
If you think you are a victim of this scheme, please contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or email op.unwind@ccc.qld.gov.au .
More information
For more information on Operation Unwind, read the joint CCC-QPS media release.