Police arrested two people in Freshwater after a vehicle stop on 19 October. The driver allegedly returned positive drug tests and police allegedly seized drugs, knives and housebreaking tools. The driver was arrested and given a 24-hour licence suspension, and a 29-year-old passenger was charged with property, weapon and drug offences. Northern Beaches Police are also investigating alleged thefts at a Belrose store and warn residents about text message scams asking for money. An 81-year-old man transferred almost $10,000 after a scammer posed as his son.
Shares in buy now, pay later company Zip Co fell sharply on Friday after it disclosed a coordinated fraud attack in the United States. The company said the fraud cost $US7.2 million in cash operating expenses and disrupted transaction volumes and customer growth. Zip has notified authorities and lodged an insurance claim. Shares dropped 27.2 per cent to $1.51, a seven-month low. The company said its US customer base reached 4.7 million, and its US revenue rose 11.1 per cent to $259.7 million.
The NSW government has intensified its scrutiny of motor vehicle inspection services, with 207 operators facing licence cancellations or suspensions and 223 issued warnings for fraudulent practices. Inspections across Sydney and regional areas revealed widespread issuance of pink and blue slips without proper vehicle checks, compromising road safety. These documents, required for vehicle registration, were often marketed as convenient online solutions but posed serious risks by allowing unroadworthy vehicles to operate. Transport for NSW's regulatory team has removed 1300 unsafe vehicles from roads after identifying over 6000 defects.
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Former AFL footballer Nick Stevens has lost his Supreme Court appeal against his conviction. The former Carlton and Port Adelaide midfielder was jailed in June over a fraud scheme that cost six Mildura families a total of $170,000. Stevens took payments in 2017 to install pools without a builder's registration, permits or proper insurance. A jury found him guilty of 12 counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception and one count of using a false document. He was acquitted of one identical charge, which formed the basis of his appeal.
Vodafone's parent company, TPG Telecom, says more than 24 million scam calls to its customers over one year came via Symbio, a small internet phone company owned by Aussie Broadband. Vodafone's data shows 98 per cent of the calls originated with Symbio. Aussie Broadband says Symbio sells phone numbers in bulk to about 500 customers, who may on-sell them further, making scammers hard to stop. Symbio was warned by the regulator in 2022 and 2024. Stronger scam rules are due next year, with penalties of up to $11 million.
Former actor Erik von Detten has been accused of elder abuse and fraud in a lawsuit filed in May with the Superior Court of California. Shelia and Norman Greenberg, aged 85 and 97, allege that he and Rosland Capital, a now-bankrupt precious-metal firm, pressed them to buy gold they say was overpriced. The couple claim they paid more than $2.1 million for coins worth $1.3 million and invested a further $114,000 after their retirement funds ran low. They seek a jury trial and damages.
Australians lost more than two billion dollars to scams last year, with people aged 60 and over suffering the highest losses. The Tewantin Noosa Probus Club has invited Grace from the Queensland Office of Fair Trading to speak on scam awareness at its next meeting on Tuesday, 27 October. Grace said scams now often look like genuine messages from banks, suppliers or family members. She advised people not to reply to or unsubscribe from suspicious emails, and to delete them and report them to Scamwatch. Romance scammers often use rapid declarations of love and then request money, she warned.
Australian securities regulator ASIC is investigating whether a Sydney financial licence provider, MGF Capital, failed to properly oversee Main Group FX, an investment scheme alleged to be a scam. Investors fear losses of up to $138 million, and at least $2 million is linked to Main Group FX. MGF Capital's director, Matthew Starkey, declined an interview. The company later cancelled its membership of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, limiting victims' ability to seek compensation through that body. MGF Capital says it deplores the alleged scam.
Former National Gallery of Victoria IT head James Michael Hosking has appeared in Melbourne Magistrates' Court over alleged fraud. Victoria's anti-corruption watchdog, IBAC, alleges about $8 million worth of mobile phones were bought by the gallery between 2019 and 2025 and sold for personal benefit. Hosking faces seven counts of theft and one count of misconduct in public office, and is accused of using his position to conceal the conduct. He was granted bail with conditions including surrendering his passport and not leaving the country. He will return to court on January 22.
Noah Musingku, a con man who took millions of dollars from investors across the South Pacific, has died in his self-declared kingdom in southern Bougainville. A death notice posted online said he had been ill for more than three weeks. Musingku ran the U-Vistract Ponzi scheme from the late 1990s, promising 100 per cent monthly returns. After authorities moved against him, he declared himself King Peii II in his home village of Tonu. An investor and a constitutional lawyer said the money was gone and few payouts are likely.
Neighbours in Bayside, New York, say they banded together to have alleged squatters removed from an empty home. Vernon Glass and Lusascha Taylor have been indicted on burglary, grand larceny and criminal trespass charges, and both have pleaded not guilty. The home had sat unoccupied after its owner died in 2018, and authorities believe the pair moved in after hospital and funeral home notices did not reach the county public administrator. Neighbours signed a petition and contacted local media, and a Queens District Attorney says the defendants have been removed and the home secured.
A man who traded three fake gold bars for an electric mountain bike in Batemans Bay has been given a two-year community correction order. David Robert Meade pleaded guilty in August to dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception. His lawyer said he was addicted to drugs and owed money to drug dealers at the time. He must repay the $7,500 cost of the bike and pay a $1,500 fine. Judge Doug Dick said the man before him was not the desperate man he had seen at an earlier sentencing.
More than 90 charges were laid during an eight-day State Flying Squad deployment in Logan. Investigators charged eight adults with 73 offences and six young people with 21 offences. A German Shepherd puppy was returned to its family after police allege a 33-year-old Edens Landing man obtained it through a fraudulent transaction. He faces fraud, drug supply and theft charges and will appear in Beenleigh Magistrates Court on 5 November. A 26-year-old Buccan man, wanted on a return to prison warrant, was arrested and remanded in custody.
The NSW Court of Appeal has reduced the jail sentence of Lynne Maree Geoghegan, 60, who defrauded a building services company of about $2.4 million. Geoghegan will now serve five years and three months, with a three-year non-parole period, making her eligible for release in March 2028. She had originally been sentenced to six-and-a-half years with a four-year non-parole period. She pleaded guilty to dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception. The appeal court found the sentencing judge had not considered how her mental health disorders affected the weight given to general deterrence.
Senior Victorian public servants failed to report suspected fraud involving COVID-19 support grants, a corruption watchdog has found. The Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission said officials concealed key information from their department's secretary and the minister after the scale of the suspected loss became clear. The watchdog said grants totalling more than $285 million were paid to around 9,000 businesses that allegedly backdated their GST to qualify. Commissioner Victoria Elliott said the conduct fell short of public service standards. Premier Ben Carroll said he was surprised by the findings.
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Investigative journalist Mariana van Zeller's documentary Super Scam Me explores how romance scams blur the line between love and fraud. The programme premieres on National Geographic and streams on Disney+ and Hulu. To expose a fake Jon Bon Jovi account, van Zeller worked with an ethical hacker who used a fake bitcoin receipt. She also posed as a target, hooking a scammer who claimed to be a military general, and tracked him down using flyers. The Federal Trade Commission says romance scams cost Americans nearly $1.5 billion each year.
A Wollongong couple who pleaded guilty to forging a will will wait six more weeks to learn their sentences. Matthew Barnes and Magnolia Rose Farmer pleaded guilty to dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage by deception over the $6.7 million estate of Marino Mikleus, who died in 2023. The court heard Barnes stole identification documents from Mr Mikleus's home and used them to create a will naming himself as spouse. Farmer received $156,800 in cash from the estate, the court was told. Barnes remains in custody and Farmer is on bail.
American businessman Joshua Wander has pleaded guilty in a US court to a $US500 million fraud scheme. US prosecutors say he defrauded lenders and investors of the company that bankrolled Bonza, the budget airline that collapsed in 2024. Prosecutors allege he double-pledged assets, falsified bank statements and used the funds for purposes his lenders had not approved, including football clubs. Wander is due to be sentenced in March 2027. Former Bonza chief executive Tim Jordan declined to comment and is not accused of wrongdoing.
Three people who defrauded a Canberra business of about $500,000 have been sentenced in the ACT Supreme Court. Ricky John Byrne, Steven Quilter and Lisa Quilter were convicted over years of fraud against POPES Electrical & Data Supplies. The court heard the business closed two stores and cut its workforce in half. Gambling and drug addiction were among the motives, the court heard. All three were given intensive corrections orders, and reparations were ordered to be paid to the business.
