Fraud & Scams Watch

A Gold Coast filmmaker accused of multimillion-dollar fraud will face a fresh trial after a judge dismissed the jury on Tuesday. Judge Glen Cranny discharged the jury in Brisbane's District Court following late evidence introduced by the prosecution.

Luke Sparke, 42, has pleaded not guilty to 17 counts of fraud over offences allegedly committed between February 2017 and November 2019. The charges relate to loans secured to make his movies while he was a bankrupt, according to The Age reporting.

– With The Age

Tampered gift cards are being sold across Australia's major supermarkets, according to an ABC investigation published on Monday.

Police have laid criminal charges over the issue, the ABC reports.

A 16-year-old boy using a sophisticated counterfeit driver's licence gambled at Sydney casinos on 22 separate occasions, prompting $2.25 million in combined fines to Crown Sydney and Star Sydney, The Age reports. The teenager also visited at least seven clubs and pubs where he played poker machines and entered tournaments, but those venues have not been penalised, partly because they lack the mandatory card-based identity systems required at casinos.

Liquor & Gaming NSW said it is making inquiries into the non-casino venues but did not pursue the allegations as vigorously as it did at the casinos. The agency would need to review extensive CCTV footage to build a case, which may no longer exist. Clubs NSW said venues should not face penalties if a minor used a convincing fake ID and staff took reasonable steps to verify identity, and called for stronger action against ID manufacturers.

Home insurers are overwhelmingly paying cash to settle claims rather than managing repairs, leaving vulnerable Australians to shoulder unexpected costs, according to a report released on Monday by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

The corporate regulator reviewed a sample of home building claims from Cyclone Jasper, which hit far north Queensland in December 2023, and found cash settlements were used in more than 63% of final claims.

"The easy option for insurers can be the expensive one for homeowners," ASIC commissioner Alan Kirkland said, adding that consumers were often left paying the difference out of their own pocket when payouts fell short, Luca Ittimani reports for Guardian business.

Commonwealth Bank is warning customers about callback scams that use automated phone menus and hold music to mimic legitimate banking channels, Central Queensland Today reports.

Shannon Brown, CommBank's fraud and scams industry, intelligence and disruption senior manager, said scammers often cite the first six digits of a card to build trust, though those numbers are standard bank identification numbers common across card types.

Australia, the US, Canada and New Zealand backed a package of UK-led measures on Wednesday to strengthen international action against online scams and fraud networks. The agreement was reached at the Five Country Ministerial in Sydney, according to the UK Home Office.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said in a statement that criminal gangs do not respect borders and that international cooperation must be deepened to track down fraudsters. The new measures include faster intelligence-sharing to identify cross-border fraud operations and coordinated action to shut down criminal accounts and communications channels.

– With MercoPress

The Securities and Exchange Commission warned the public on Thursday against an advance-fee loan scam involving an individual impersonating a representative of Bestloan Finance and Leasing Inc.

An individual introducing himself as Urise Loteryo Lean used falsified notarized loan contracts and required borrowers to pay processing fees to a GoTyme account, according to the corporate regulator, Inquirer business (PH) reports.

Marith Khao, 34, was sentenced in Hamilton District Court on Wednesday to 18 months in jail for money laundering, receiving stolen property and using a document for pecuniary advantage across three separate incidents over two years.

In the first case, scammers impersonating ANZ Bank convinced a 77-year-old Christchurch woman to transfer $24,000 into Khao's account by claiming her account had been compromised. The caller, claiming to be "Robert Diego", spent four hours persuading the victim and used her voice as a security override. Khao then distributed the money across his accounts. A third party made withdrawals totalling $21,478.70 the same day.

In the second incident, Khao used a stolen Westpac Mastercard from a 39-year-old man's wallet to make two purchases totalling $295.90. In the third, he received $17,658 from a stolen Sharesies account after one of his associates stole a 43-year-old man's phone; Sharesies recovered $3000 of that amount. Khao also admitted deliberately crashing into a victim's car, causing $3500 damage.

Judge Glen Marshall said Khao's offending was "particularly callous" and showed "little empathy" for victims, RNZ reports.

A Singapore businesswoman lost $1.6 million when she used her own money to pay other investors in an attempt to salvage a failing investment, according to a report by The Straits Times.

Tan Ooi Boon reports that the woman believed the company would reimburse her with interest.

– With The Straits Times

Scammers are using artificial intelligence to generate fake photographs and incorrect life details of Australian Holocaust survivors on Facebook to drive clicks and revenue, according to an AAP FactCheck investigation published by Yahoo News Australia.

Meta's page transparency feature revealed the posts originate from a network of spam accounts operated out of Pakistan, AAP reports.

Investors face millions in losses buying non-existent overseas homes after failing to make independent checks on unknown developers, according to a report published on Aug 29, 2026, by The Straits Times.

Buyers should avoid investing in overseas properties simply because they are cheaper than similar ones in Singapore, the publication reported.