Peter Correy thought he was buying Treasury bonds from an Australian oil company, but instead, his money was sent offshore and the company refused to give it back.
A scammer posing as a UBS banker provided Mr Correy the details for Newtech's bank account and told him to transfer money into the account to pay for Treasury bonds. Newtech describes itself as an "independent trader" with access to a global supply network, mainly across the oil and gas sector. "They said, 'But we've got all this signed documentation from yourself wanting to invest in Newtech.'"
A signed agreement to send $100,000 of Mr Correy's money to a Polish-Ukrainian organisation in Poland Mr Correy was surprised and confused to find amongst the documents the company sent to him a letter asking the CBA to reopen the account. Newtech describes having worldwide headquarters in Australia at a small office complex in Queensland's Gold Coast.
Another source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told the ABC a listing which spruiks a partnership between the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Newtech and another company in 2017 was also inaccurate. "She advised me that he maintained he had nothing to do with it and was told to leave it alone by his other directors," Mr Correy said."We were scammed, he was scammed … there's nothing I can do about it.""By the people who took the money off of him, told us that it was a legitimate deal that he was involved in investing … that's what it is.
Neil Jeans has decades of experience investigating financial crime. He says Australia's money laundering laws are in urgent need of reform.He wants the corporate regulator ASIC to be far more active in overseeing what some of those companies might be getting up to. "What frustrates me more than someone being arrested is that someone hasn't been made accountable," Mr Correy said."The police said, 'Look, you can report it to ASIC, but our experience is they don't do anything about these things.
Most money mule accounts are either created using stolen identities, or set up legitimately by people who are recruited to transfer money, move it offshore, withdraw it or convert it to cryptocurrency, usually for a commission. Under Australia's current AML/CTF regime, lawyers and accountants, who are regularly involved in processing company paperwork, are not required to report suspicious criminal activity to the authorities.
Last month, FATF released a report which was critical of Australia for not meeting a number of its key obligations.