Australian authorities arrested a mother and daughter duo in Sydney earlier this month after they allegedly scammed almost A$46 million from victims in a fortune-telling scam.
Authorities claimed the pair targeted “vulnerable” victims with Vietnamese backgrounds, as part of a fraud and money laundering syndicate.
The 53-year-old mother and her 25-year-old daughter allegedly convinced victims to take out loans by telling them it was seen there was a “billionaire” in their future. After they took out the large loans, the pair were said to have kept a share for themselves.
The mother, who faced 39 charges including directing the activities of a criminal group and dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception, was denied bail earlier this month, while the daughter was granted bail and given a court date in January.
The daughter was charged with seven offences, including recklessly dealing with the proceeds of crime and being part of a criminal group.
The duo was arrested in an early morning raid on their multi-million-dollar mansion, the same mansion where police seized luxury handbags, a 40-gram gold bar, casino chips, financial documents, and mobile phones.
Sydney freezes assets of criminal ring
Investigators have since frozen the A$15 million in assets, bringing the total seizure to A$75 million as part of efforts to take down the wider syndicate.
“Recovering assets is not just about punishment – it’s about restoring confidence and returning value to the people of NSW,” NSW Crime Commission Executive Director Darren Bennett said.“Our role is to ensure that crime does not pay. Every dollar we recover is a dollar that won’t fund further criminal activity and can instead be redirected to benefit the community.”
The criminal syndicate allegedly used fraudulent identities to get loans for luxury cars that did not exist.
"What began as an investigation into fraudulent car financing has expanded into uncovering one of the most sophisticated financial crime syndicates I have seen in my career at the helm of the Financial Crimes Squad," said Det Supt Gordon Arbinja, commander of the financial crimes squad.
Police claim the group defrauded major Australian banks of up to A$250 million.