Australian companies are being used in scams and authorities are struggling to catch the culprits

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Legitimately registered Australian companies are being used to shift scam victims' money overseas and it's proving a challenge for authorities trying to figure out who's responsible.

Legitimately registered Australian companies are being used to allegedly shift scam victims’ money overseas and the directors are not being prosecuted.

"Hello, can you hear me?" he asked, the comical disguise the elephant in the virtual room, as the connection slowly established.Victoria police say nine scam victims have reported losing almost $1.7 million after paying Supercheap Security. He's raised concerns about Australian companies being used to launder stolen funds with few serious consequences.

Supercheap Security remains registered with the corporate regulator, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission . Banks also have strict obligations to properly identify customers and conduct additional verification checks. He denied any involvement in the investment scam or the money transfers and police later dropped the charges against him, insisting they did so on legal advice."Victoria Police has progressed available information on alleged offending overseas with foreign partners through the Australian Federal Police – INTERPOL Bureau," the statement said.

But documents obtained by the ABC show ASIC wasn't advised Mr Mehdi had resigned until three months later. "I went to house … then a couple of weeks later, Hassan Mehdi goes to the ASIC website and backdates his directorship to May," Ms O'Brien said. Mr Waheed told us he took over Supercheap Security in May 2022, describing it as a "spare" company belonging to his friend, Mr Mehdi.Mr Waheed said he took over Supercheap Security because an acquaintance in Dubai told him he was starting a business selling tech products in Australia, and needed a local company "with a good reputation" and a bank account.

But they show Usman asking for "any updates" on the account and Mr Waheed sending photos from an NAB branch and an email from the bank addressed to Hassan saying "we've received your application" to open a business account. He told the ABC he offered to repay the scam victims $500,000, later explaining in an email why he could easily afford such an amount:

"Most of those fraud cases really only become successful if you have somebody telling you what they did and why they did it."Mr Waheed claimed he was to blame for Mr Mehdi's three-month-late resignation because he had failed to lodge the ASIC paperwork. "I will be lauching a formal complaint to Vic police including AFP and i shall give them all that information … i suggest you should stick to your domain instead of trying to be a detective," Mr Waheed wrote.Authorities, industry scrambling to keep up with scammers" asked me, did I want the phone number for Lifeline? And I actually felt sorry for him because he sounded far too young and unprepared to be ringing customers up and giving them that sort of information," she said.

In response to a series of questions about CBA's handling of Ms O'Brien's case, the bank spokesperson said it was "actively engaging in the AFCA complaint process". Senior NAB executive Chris Sheehan defended the bank, saying investigating company accounts can be a slow and complex process. In a statement, the regulator ASIC said suspicious activities involving bank accounts were monitored by AUSTRAC, and that Supercheap Security had "maintained the administrative requirements to remain registered."

 

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