Busting the Scammers Part 2: Scam victims confront Government| 7NEWS Spotlight

Part two of 7NEWS Spotlight's global investigation into a British scammer cartel.
In the most explosive investigation of the year, 7NEWS Spotlight’s award-winning broadcaster Liam Bartlett busts open a billion-dollar British crime cartel that is fleecing Australians of more than $4 million each and every week.
The staggeringly sophisticated crime syndicate, run by British con artists with the backing of Russian mafia, has been targeting Aussie investors they have cruelly dubbed “mugs with money”, safe in the knowledge authorities here can’t - or won’t - touch them.
In the joint expose with investigative reporter Ross Coulthart, Bartlett will take viewers inside “Operation Tropicana” led by Australian fraud and cybercrime specialist Ken Gamble and his IFW Global operatives.
Across 24 simultaneous raids, in association with Malaysia’s anti-crime commission, the scam busters make more than 80 arrests, including Brit king pin Andy Peters, aka “Peg Leg”, who lived a life of luxury at the expense of duped Australians.
Bartlett said: “I have been embedded with crime fighting groups from various countries over the years, but this operation was on a scale like no other. As it turned out, it needed to be. The criminal syndicate was the biggest scamming group ever to be raided by any global authority.
“The results spectacularly demonstrate the abject failure of our Federal Police to act effectively against the scourge of this ever-increasing threat to Aussie consumers; and we have to demand that things are done better,” he said.
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[@AlreadyShort]

just dump that smug jerk who said "good luck with that" in the river. no loss

[@namewithheldbygoogleforsec673]

The major problems began when telecommunications companies, credit card companies, and other big businesses off-shoring their call centre jobs to foreign countries. I am not happy my personal details are in the hand of foreigners. When i call my credit card supplier, I am speaking to people in The Philippines, and they are the legitimate company, not scammers. When i have enquiries about my credit card, I should be speaking to people in Australia, who are supervised by Australians, and same for my phone service provider, and any other company i need to call. Same for people in America, the Uk and European countries. They should be talking with people in the countries they live in, not someone living thousands of miles across the oceans.

[@rainbowmom7582]

I agree completely!

[@maheshtamrakar7572]

I agee.That will creat a job here and then more profit for these company too. ASIC need to be more toughter and take people's complain seriously as well.

[@Soapartisan875]

This … I just posted a similar comment regarding whether american credit card companies are legitimately using indian call centers.. hopefully someone who knows can answer that question..

[@fatwallet13]

As a Brit my heart goes out to all these poor people who were scammed by these pieces of filth, I hope they get long jail sentences & every day is like hell for them. Sadly there are to many of these scumbag about & every country are targeted by them & it's often the most venerable who the prey on.

[@ezewezy]

Britz are the originators of scams we all know this, no matter how your race try to hide the atrocities yall have been committing for decades the truth will definitely come out. If they were Africans, indians or other race the whole world and news channel this would be their frontline. But let’s not forget who taught them how to scam and defraud

[@prizecowproductions]

As a Aussie who stayed in Britain for 3 years I can say most of the Poms were great sharing and caring people. These scammers are scum we get that. The biggest shock is that Malaysian gaols aren't very nice places re hiegene and personal space. If these Brit Scammers survive 20 years in these places they will be broken men. Now that is justice. Aussie Jeff Moore

[@omicSheep]

Whoever loses money to scammers does NOT deserve what they own. Simple......

[@fatwallet13]

@@omicSheep idiotic comment!

[@rashiedaabrahams3946]

😂, 😮😮esome

[@robl417]

This should have been cleaned up years ago. All talk and no action by the politicians and public servants.

[@caseyHunter]

Its so surprising to see UK citizens scamming. They have no excuse apart from wanting to live the high life and nothing else. its not always Indian and Nigerians that are scamming.

[@ezewezy]

Lol they blocked my comment hahha

[@keithawhosoever5384]

More surprising or maybe less surprising , is the UK government fleecing the nation for all it's got . Illegals coming in unchecked , and put up in hotels with all the benefits of a UK citizen . 😮🇬🇧

[@faustini69]

Private KZbinrs have been more productive at bringing down scammers than the entire Australian Government

[@PL-lt3wz]

It beats me as weird that governments are not doing much to protect their people from scammers. Every cent taken out means loss of currency to the country. I take my hat off to the M.P. for not running away from a challenging interview. Many others in a similar position would have refused to continue the chat. He can only do what is possible with the resources available to him.

[@HyperRide79]

🤣 They know it's a problem that has been happening for decades, Still nothing....

[@PauloRauhauser]

I wouldn’t say the government aren’t trying their best, they helped me catch a Ghanian scammer that scammed me $38,000 last year and recovered my money for me

[@MrDavidc]

Maybe the International community should get together a task force, so they can go in and arrest the scammers in their respective coutries.

[@elijahakinpariolaalaje1428]

I thought that was what INTERPOL was meant to be...

[@A_Pt_9298]

Aren't they called INTERnational POLice, no? 🤔 Or that's what I thought they're called anyway....

[@MrDavidc]

@@A_Pt_9298 You don't hear much about them these days.

[@daisukesaitama155]

a goog start make the scambiters....

[@SuuniKamae]

Maybe people need to stop harbouring prejudices. How do you lose your life savings to an accent?

[@aquajuwel7098]

Love reporting like this, this is what it should be all about, helping people. But do I trust that politicians will do anything, or this minister? No……..it’s all talk and no action…..

[@HyperRide79]

Incompetence at it's finest. They are too busy throwing shade at the opposition. BOTH SIDES of government are as corrupt as these scammers.

[@philliptropeano8399]

Australian government is the laughable country in the world wake up minister's 😂😂😂

[@keithawhosoever5384]

The US and UK are on the same level 🇺🇲🇬🇧

[@cracknoir8397]

Such A wonderful lot of politicians we have in Australia I wonder how he'd feel if the scammers took his money We work hard and pay taxes all of our life and get treated like SHT The skulduggery of this planet

[@wildnfree101]

People, don't put ALL your investments into ONE company spread it around, and DON'T use KZbin and Facebook to get investment advice. Also remember if most investment companies are offering 8% to 10% per year, and the Christian Minister or some flash Harry or new software off KZbin are offering 16% to 20% per year. Remember the saying 'If something is too good to be true in appearance, it probably is too good to be true in reality.'

[@Lorimars319]

Well said!

[@PuissantPeacock]

Is that Minister for real? He's completely clueless! LOL!

[@Aprilsraven629]

He won't do anything, his token gestures and smugness makes my angry...they need someone with a backbone, has the tenacity to fix this epidemic problem and they need to repay from the coffers of these scammer's all the money back to the victims ...sell there homes, cars, jewellery, land everything strip them bare and take there dignity away too...Great job all who brought down this sydicate

[@andrewattenboroughtwothumb4697]

I still get bogus calls a lot a month from scammers and still today

[@cassetoi09]

Peg leg is gonna have a hell of a time staying balanced in the prison showers!

[@stefanjohansson2373]

The action starts when he drops the soap in the shower… 😂💩👊

[@Lorimars319]

This is absolutely heartbreaking. My heart aches for all of them but particularly that older woman who lost $800,000 of her life savings I can’t help but cry for her. How could anyone be so evil, HOW!

[@ShaneBulls]

Im not being funny how many. More gullable people. R gonna keep getting scammed a mean who on earth. Would hand their money over

[@keithawhosoever5384]

​@@ShaneBullsHow many people in 2020 fell for the worldwide scam , that has put their lives at risk 💉❓ People are too trusting in governments and institutions supposedly formed to serve and protect .🤯

[@freedomofspeech766]

@@ShaneBulls I agree ...to hand over your money on internet without ever having met the people who are supposed to be investing it ... I wouldn't even send them one dollar ... people need to be more prudent. Their money would have been safer under the mattress at this point.

[@angels0auras]

Love how obvious this guy is at blame shifting and gas lighting 🙄

[@AstralDezign]

Fairly obvious with his body language he couldn't care less, nothing more than "lip service" :/

[@Desire_of_Ages]

Minister of Finance: "I am so sorry..." (Sorry feelings will not bring back her moneys)

[@isanargh5504]

you are true heroes to catch these crooks well done

[@noelhanigan9628]

So now May 2024 what has changed? the Social media companies are still allowing the advertising, because they are making money from those ads.

[@DuncanMaddux]

Where is part 3?! We all want to see the scammers get the book thrown at them; caned; and rot in jail. More importantly, we want to see money returned to the victims. They need to air a follow-up (in six months) detailing the outcome and if that mealymouthed M.P. ever produces any results.

[@milimiki92]

mostly the scam “callers “ were only sent to the immigration detention center, then get deported from Malaysia after a month and banned for a few years into coming to Malaysia. only the ring leaders were sent to jail but only 22 months and 16 months each, with the fine only costs less than the amount of money they have scammed, around RM 180.000 😅

[@TheButtons15]

It is a bit bloody rich telling this Minister that he has had 12 months to clean up the scammers on behalf of Australians. He lost all credibility with that attack. What did the LNP do during the 9 years they were in power?

[@vincentmorris6439]

It’s good when you have brave journalist like this that put lazy palpitations that don’t care in the hot seat to take actions that better their citizens in any way possible with benefit & remove problems before they arrives.

[@shireenshah6312]

I believe the victims should take legal action against the Australian authorities for their failure to warn and assist. Once a victim has made a report the least they could do is flag the complaint as under investigation so that others may exercise caution. There is no excuse for allowing others to fall into the same trap.

[@Andersonstree]

I’m not sure I agree with Liam’s take on this. I’m not a labourite but in their defence they are a new government and $87m is a start. Maybe or hopefully the program will make police and government take more action especially police services. Horrible tragic for the victims, very upsetting indeed.

[@Rina-wv4ek]

Well done to the Malaysian and Australian Scam Catchers. Too good alright. Hoping those who were scammed get their money back and those thieving criminals get locked up for a long long time.

[@kpmKpom]

The scammers were smart, why couldn't they channel it to legal enterprise?

[@LouiseMackenzie-c1h]

The Best Investigative Journalism of 2023 . Flippin Heroic. AFP must get involved. 6 months is laughable. Just admit it. Provide a solution not excuses. Thank you ALL for not backing down. 😆👍🏻👍🏻

[@lisalee8771]

Agree ASIC watchdog needs to OWN this so Aussies dont get targetted

[@peter.sanchez]

Have you got help from anyone yet

[@Frank-rx8ch]

No matter what security devices are installed, scammers will always full the government.

[@AwesomeAngryBiker]

That finance minister is a weasel

[@OilBaron100]

I was thinking the same thing.

[@geoffreythomas2938]

Bringing scammers to justice is a brave thing to do. The program showed Spotlight is gutsie at this. Spotlight is brave at holding a minister responsible for his neglect. I noted how the minister manipulated distancing himself, a mark deep down he didn't care. Brave spotlight went after theses crims for him with no fanfare only shearing with the public when it's all over with no excuses.

[@WorshipShed]

Fakest apology and hug from that minister, I have ever seen 😂😂😂😂

[@onepercentpermile]

I thank you for all your hard work! There is a NEW SCAM, however. They reply to comments left on religious channels. The scammer asks for money for an orphanage, and leaves a phone number, saying you will be blessed many times over.

[@babyspice0206]

My mom was also scammed of half a million Aussies from Thailand scammers. How can i reach out to your team for further investigations? No one is helping us.😢

[@richardb8492]

I honestly can’t believe this person Liam is interviewing is sitting there defending his government and himself meanwhile smirking, giggling and laughing. That is making a mockery of the Australian government and the Australian people and then he has the audacity to call them the scumbags. Pot Kettle….

[@grahamweb127]

Cnn, bbc wont show this because they are Brit, but if they are Africans the news will be on all major news.

[@MrBonafide]

Exactly!!!!

[@madeleineqiex6327]

Internet Specialists need to be hired by the government to catch

[@relaxwithme786]

That minister is a joke 🤣 a bloody embarrassment he literally has no clue I can't believe the government is actually going to waste all that money on a bullshit project

[@mjmjmj50]

86 million was scammed from Australians in the time it took for me to watch this video .The ACCC is as useful as a chocolate teapot.

[@GethelpwithBARRYCLLINTONonInst]

Report your case to the name above for immediate help☝️☝️☝️

[@rainbowmom7582]

The scammers are everywhere - even the comments! Time to step on it.

[@guy4469]

They had 100,000 dollars but wanted 200,000 its mad greed sorry but i know its sad but greed gets you burnt .

[@Mrdad3255]

If I had any of these invested amounts? Why would you invest in anything not TANGIBLE? And they do nothing to STOP 🛑 these SCAMMERS.

[@fongy200]

The guy in the blue T shirt was the man inside i reckon.

[@Billydevito]

It’s true. The ACCC is absolutely USELESS. As is this GUTLESS, double talking minister. Blame the previous guy, tell them your doing something, but the FACT is he’s doing sweet FA !

[@lucymcdonald1307]

Even Australia’s Westpac Bank scammed our money. The bank too powerful and we can not get money back. This is Australia and we call is a home.

[@phil4977]

With a PM of the quality we have at the moment. All I can say is god help us. Albo is a man way out of his depth.

[@andrearomano4871]

Your comment is ignorant. Most scams occurred during Scomo as PM. If there is going to be any investment for Australian customer population it’s going to come from Labor.

[@balance3201]

Deer caught in headlights

[@travp7688]

Absolutely true. Governments are not committing resources to these cases. As soon as money goes offshore, too bad for the true victims. And criminals do get treated better and act like victims when they get caught. And true, police would rather you report and go away. A paper warning is issued and criminals are living the good life while many people are destroyed. And why, because there is no violence involved, so police and governments treat it as a civil matter, not criminal. Except, lawyers won't touch cases below 100k and take minimum 25% if they can find them through the false companies and shell companies. If crypto, then totally forget it. More stores in what victims lost than actual information on scammers and arrests. Getting worse every year. Only Germany has really gone after scammers overseas. UK and Aussie victims are hooped!!

[@sistagalsistagal8136]

I was scammed once. I was more concerned about my vulnerabilities then the tiny amount I lost. As we see, they are extremely clever, my scammer wasn't, yet I was still fooled. My heart goes out to these poor souls, loosing everything. I am speechless as to the braveness of one of the scammers. One consolation is that where he is going for a long time will be dog eat dog world, and I'm betting he must have been pooing his pants as soon as he realised there was no way out. KARMA 😂

[@Maru2010Lu]

I would like to know what they did with all the money and properties they confiscated, do they return some money to the victims? Will be the outcome I want to see, get a percentage to each of them, better than nothing. We need more information. Please

[@A_Pt_9298]

That was an absolutely short dampening outcome, what happened? 9 minutes of a hug and an 'apology' but not really, and that poxy amount of $86 million AUS is so ridiculous, what is that going to get you? Not a lot really, maybe a few more well paid hugs? 🤨

[@enrik2]

I like this kind of journalism! Its 2024 and i wish you more years of success in this kind of passionate work.

[@Tucker8087]

Part 2 but only 10 mins long and didn’t really say much different from the 1st one.

[@mscherylb7950]

Makes me ashamed to be English. When are we going to stop being a human being and start to be human kind.

[@KiwiInPhilippines]

This Minister, if he really wanted to effect a change, could be on national TV tomorrow, speaking directly to Australian savers, and warning them about the type pf scamming that is occurring, and giving them a means to verify that these callers are genuine. He could run that advertisement as a public service announcement every day for the rest of the year, as could the Police and all other crime fighting authorities. But he will not, because they are locked into fighting back through a tired unresponsive bureaucratic system. Please wake up Minister, and speak to Australians.

[@mobilemanchete5270]

The question is - Where are these arrested SCAMMERS now??? How many years they have got of JAIL??? Should be an EXAMPLE - 25 YEARS of JAIL for everyone. From the lowest scammer to the BOSS 25 YEARS of JAIL. Set an EXAMPLE.

[@neutralgrounds07]

Peg leg got 6 months prison sentence... 😢😢😢

[@KuyaCalvin]

@@neutralgrounds07 source?

[@lisalee8771]

yes sad all that hard work done and Pegleg only got 6mths jail & $180k fine so piddly & shocking

[@bear02128]

I want to cry listening to these victims.

[@mariahewitt9787]

Let's blame the former government for everything!

[@lifestooshortforcraziness3079]

Hell , what is the responsibility of the People themselves rather than blaming the Gov't !!!!!??? Sometimes greed doesn't feed , it could bring you to your knees .

[@manelcosta4983]

Banks, credit cards, invester companies are the best scanmers on planet. The others use the same method to do the same and taken all money from you.

[@rushswift6720]

that minister answers are despicable.... like he is part of the problem....

[@HavasenReddy]

that useless comment hurt the minister badly lol

[@elexbeats]

The old crooks in charge are way too corrupted themselves to prevent all sort of crimes so people should take measures themselves and NOT BE IDIOTS investing their 20 years worth of work into something from a phone call.

[@freedomofspeech766]

how naive could these people be ... pressing that button to transfer their life savings with a click without having met any of these people in real life is something I can't get my head around ...

[@sergeantcrow]

How about a National 'buffer' department that for a fee acts as a portal for investments.... ? Guarantee to avoid scams within certain parameters...

[@chinsoo369]

The police are useless and rude most of the time. They will run for their lives in an actual situation. They will fine you heavily when you fail to stop at the stop, issues parking fines etc. ACCC is useless too, when you can consult them in relation to investments, they said they cannot help because it is not a retail shop. When you call them a few more times, they ignore you.

[@QUIGS102]

Interviewer is a star

[@missmissregisterhit-kv6bg]

Great job guys!

[@bosvigos9165]

What happened to the scammers caught in the raids we saw? I hope they are locked up for a very long time...?

[@25052007]

Better off handing out the money to the scammed folk who the bank did not help.

[@johnnyralf3453]

Having watched this program i was filled with sadness for the victims, but became jubilant when watching these scumbags being busted. I hope they rot in jail. I feel ashamed as i am a Brit. These people are not human, they are vermin and should be treated as such.

[@howdeedoodee6603]

Very sad, that there is no follow up of processes, jail terms i.e. - to show only the raid means nothing, what are the results of this hyped operation ?

[@adamsky77]

ACCC probably outsources to india or philipines lol

[@petrotesta2585]

Poms are really good at this

[@darrendarcy2297]

My God listen to clown just a joke

[@stephencolley5231]

Fund the AFP they are a beast on the international scene everywhere they are funded right

[@niyonsabaleduc5736]

50 years of savings. This is so sad.

[@notimeliketoday9414]

The lack of conviction by police in this country to find thieves is disgusting, my business was a victim of police not doing their job, I had police in my house when I was report crime on my premises with security footage of a man on our property, the Queensland police answer, let’s taser the caller reporting the crime on the property, lucky for them they didn’t

[@mobilemanchete5270]

EVOLUTION IS REQUESTING THAT A WORLD POLICE ESPECIAL FORCE IS CREATED TO TACKLE ALL THESE SCAMMERS IN ANY PART OF THE WORLD.

[@keithpilkington3122]

This government stuge is a DISGRACE He Has Done Nothing And He WOULD Do Nothing If He Was Not DISGRACED !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@northeastcoastalan]

Look at his F***ing socks.

[@peterskliprigby]

Also possubly only invest with organisations that are registered under the Australian Financial Services Authority. Its really bad to get scammed by scum bags but, individuals do need to take accountability.

[@elizabethtuazon129]

Wow heartbreaking, 😢

[@peter.sanchez]

I just got help out of this same issues i will show you the person that help me out

[@peter.sanchez]

His name called ZEETOOLX

[@peter.sanchez]

On Instagram

[@peteypops]

“We will put obligations on….. “, what a load of rubbish…typical political spinning….well done Liam…keep niggling at them.

[@tg3902]

ASIC helped the criminals launder money, and got exposed... nothing happened to that ASIC managements team

[@eleonorelemonnier9277]

I hope that we are going to get other results than the minister of finance cuddling an old lady who has lost her life savings.

[@douglachman7330]

Unfair journalism not valuing what has or is being done as opposed to the value reaped by scumbags. The minister has time and money wasting to plan. Give the resources to the AFP, ASIC, APRA and establish a 2000 seat federal only prison.

[@chrishuffman5829]

Did that financial officer/rep act weasely??? Maybe he could be a good guy,, but his demeanor seems very "ohhhh nooooo" (who cares in his brain) , type of guy!! We have those types of "tell them what they want to hear" ignoramuses here in Ohio! The "there there dear lady" pat on the shoulder he was giving that poor lady made me cringe because something tells me they know where the money is at all times and these scammers pay big bucks to keep from being in trouble

[@MrOzwinner]

I feel for the older lady but how do people in their 40’s - 50’s fall for this shit, and hundreds of thousands of dollars deep? So avoidable with basic common sense, bare minimum online awareness!?

[@lmh4186]

The minister is pathetic. Omggggg

[@keithawhosoever5384]

The 'Honorable' Stephen Jones .... That title is a red flag in itself . I wouldn't and don't trust these 'powers that be' in government to be honorable , let alone fit for purpose. 🤯 🇬🇧🆓

[@Greg-l2w9l]

How do u tell people there thick

[@kimmaddison8686]

Omg gow do peaple fall for love scammers

[@Spencersjacketsfit]

That DIShonorable Stephen Jones MP 1)Finds this Criminal Activity against the Australian people funny, 2)He is saying and doing as politicians do & say: lip service only AND faking caring to the 3 ladies there AND all of the other victims that were not there in person. We all know that if this Criminal Activity was done to him OR any of his family members, the Criminals would have been found within hours, arrested, put on trial, then sentenced to several years in prison.

[@stefanjohansson2373]

It’s all about greed…

[@balance3201]

Minister cant do his job. Get rid.

[@smallies7154]

how they will tackle the scammers when the biggest ones are IN GOVERNMENT ? they wont tackle themselves

[@GregDunne-zf2ep]

The adds are still running so he is full of crap its 2024 and adds are still running i got a callin February after being hassled for 12 months they have my identity so im waiting to see what they do next

[@unchainedmelody4533]

Need to educate people not to invest online otherwise they gonna lose money. Tell the people through media about scams.. so pity those victimes they lost their savings and their ret8rement

[@Torontozeen]

put ads on news channels spread the word and peoople wont fall for it thats the way to stop it

[@Mrdad3255]

FOLLOW THE TRAIL OF MONEY THE SELF EMPLOYED & CORUPT POLICE.

[@dinokoh59]

Not election times yet so he is not going to do anything.