A mother and her daughter – the former claiming to be a fortune teller and feng shui master – have been charged after allegedly defrauding people “vulnerable” from the Vietnamese community in Australia, earning almost 70 million Australian dollars (46 million US dollars).
PHOTO Video capture Australian police
The 53-year-old woman was arrested on Wednesday in the exclusive Sydney suburb of Dover Heights, along with her 25-year-old daughter. Police say the two were part of a fraud and money laundering ring “extremely sophisticated”.
She allegedly persuaded the victims to take out loans – keeping some of the money for herself – telling them that “see” in their future one “billionaire”the BBC reports.
The woman was not granted bail and was due to appear in court on Thursday. Her daughter was released on bail with a court date set for January. The mother faces 39 counts, including coordinating the activity of a criminal group and obtaining financial advantage by deception.
The daughter is charged with seven offences, including reckless handling of the proceeds of crime and membership of a criminal group.
During the dawn search of the pair's multi-million dollar villa, police seized financial documents, mobile phones, luxury handbags, a 40 gram gold bar valued at A$10,000 ($6,500; £5,000) and casino chips worth A$6,600.
How the scheme worked
According to the police, the woman was an influential and trusted member of her community, and as a fortune teller she offered clients séances. “reading”, some of them revealing to him that they are going through financial difficulties.
She would then have predicted to them that a billionaire was going to help them, and this “it will happen sooner rather than later” if they will take a loan.
“Operation Myddleton”
The police launched “Operation Myddleton” to investigate a criminal group that was using stolen identities to obtain financing for “ghost cars” – luxury automobiles that did not actually exist.
“What began as an investigation into fraudulent auto loans expanded into the discovery of one of the most sophisticated financial crime networks I have seen in my career leading the Financial Crimes Division”said Chief Commissioner Gordon Arbinja.
Police say the group's activity includes “large-scale personal, business and real estate fraud committed against multiple financial institutions”.
According to an investigation by the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH), the two women are linked to what the media called “The Penthouse Syndicate”as the alleged leader of the network lived in an A$18 million penthouse in Sydney.
According to SMH, police say the group defrauded major Australian banks of up to A$250 million with the support of corrupt bank employees who approved loans to help the syndicate purchase multiple properties in Sydney.
