Michelle Lowry, mum-of-three, from the NSW coast, was devastated when her husband Mark died in a car accident at the end of 2019.

The schoolteacher sold her husband’s business in the wake of the tragedy for $250,000. She was looking to invest the $250,000 as well as pool $500,000 from her and her husband’s self-directed super fund.

It was there that she came across EQR Securities, which was selling government bonds with a slightly higher yield than she could find elsewhere.

After lots of back and forth, including checking business details with her accountant, she transferred her money just before Christmas.

However, by early last month, the website – along with its money – was completely gone. She realized it was all wrong.

A real EQR Securities exists, but that was not it. The cybercriminals impersonated the company and even stole its corporate numbers.

“For me, I was just coming back from a really good break, it was part of my healing process, I was finding a new path,” Ms Lowry told news.com.au.

“It just threw me back into this crazy world, this big black hole, [now I’m] trying to find my way back.

News.com.au has previously reported on this same group of scammers, posing as Barclays and Macquarie Bank, as well as an ANZ entity called Capel Court. As far as this publication knows, these fraudsters stole $2.3 million from five Australian victims.

Want a streaming service dedicated to current events? Flash lets you stream over 25 news channels in one place. New to Flash? Try 1 month free. Offer ends October 31, 2022 >

Ms Lowry filled in an expression of interest form on the bogus EQR Securities website in November last year and was contacted by a man with a British accent who went by the name William Hughes.

This British man is a recurring presence among all the victims, using several aliases including David Jones, Ben Davis, Jacob Price, Oliver James and of course William Hughes.

He was “not pushy at all”, Ms Lowry recalled, adding that there were “no red flags” as far as she could see.

“We did our due diligence.”

In fact, Ms. Lowry’s accountant helped her enroll in the bond program and even engaged in a three-way call with her and the scammer, Mr. Hughes, to discuss her investment.

Finally, at the end of December, Ms Lowry transferred her money in two installments of $250,000 and $500,000 to buy Commonwealth Treasury Bills and Commonwealth Bank Bonds.

Do you have a similar story? Contact us | [email protected]

Ms Lowry went to her local NAB branch and teletransferred her money to a bank account from an instant payment system called Cuscal.

“It was Cuscal, we checked, Cuscal was an APRA approved ADI [authorised deposit-taking institution],” she added.

On the website portal immediately after, the bonds appeared in his account, prompting him to think that everything had gone well.

Four months later, in April, William Hughes called her to confirm that EQR Securities had the correct details to deposit its dividends at the end of May.

“I don’t know why, it was a very tense conversation,” she said, explaining how it made her want to immediately check her money.

“That’s when I found out the website was down, I tried ringing, everything went to voicemail.”

She realized it was a very elaborate scam.

“There was panic, tears, I was like ‘what can I do?’, ‘What have I done?'”

It was early May at the time, so it had been four and a half months since she had deposited her money.

Ms Lowry said her funds were transferred from Cuscal to a cryptocurrency exchange called ED Australia. From there, he entered international accounts and disappeared.

“My husband and I, we’ve both worked hard our whole lives,” Ms Lowry continued. “It put a huge dent in our super.

“Essentially the proceeds from the sale of the business are gone.”

Ms Lowry has filed reports with the police and the NAB fraud team.

She also approached the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) as she believes more protections should have been put in place with her bank.

Simon Smith, an Australian cyber expert and investigator, is assisting Michelle with her AFCA and cybercrime complaint and told news.com.au: “I am confident the bank will step up, learn from this case, improve its processes and recognize the importance and responsibility they have to their customers and all Australians.

“Australia’s cybercrime epidemic is endemic and, in my experience, banks are the first and best equipped to recognize, deter and prevent early signs of online fraud and scams.”

Sadly, this is not the first time this scam syndicate has duped Australians out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

They scammed a Melbourne man out of $700,000, another teacher out of $500,000, a retired couple lost $200,000 and an accountant fell for it too, losing $160,000.

In October last year, Antje and Bardhold Blecken, a retired couple from Queensland, had $200,000 robbed when they mistakenly believed they were investing in a Barclays Bank term deposit.

Then, in March, Melbourne man Andy* was thinking of investing $700,000 in bonds with the ANZ Capel Court entity. It was wrong and he lost all his savings.

Robert*, an accountant, also sunk $160,000 into the Capel Court fraud group while NSW couple Jody and Corey Bridges lost $500,000 in the same scam.

“They’ll do it again if they’re not behind bars, these guys are smart,” late 40-something Robert warned news.com.au earlier this month.

The Bridges said they nearly went bankrupt while the Blecken couple now have to make do with an old-age pension.

Last month, news.com.au reported on Melbourne widow Jacomi Du Preez, who lost $760,000 of her husband’s life insurance payout in an elaborate Macquarie term deposit website Bank which turned out to be a fake.

Fortunately, Mrs. Du Preez realized it was a scam within a day and was able to get all her money back.

It is likely that she was targeted by the same group as she dealt with a “clever” man with a British accent named Mark Dickinson.

How to spot investment scams

Investment scams have “exploded” in the past two years against the backdrop of Covid-19, according to a cybersecurity expert.

Low interest rates have sent Australians looking elsewhere to put their money and the scammers are only too happy to oblige.

So far in 2022, Australians have collectively lost $157 million to investment scams, according to the ACCC’s Scam Watch.

Nick Savvides, chief technology officer for APAC at Forcepoint, told news.com.au that these particular scams were so “sophisticated” and “well endowed” that it was likely that a group of at least 20 people worked together to steal large sums. money from Australian victims. The money probably ended up overseas.

There are ways to spot investment scams, he said, including calling numbers independently, checking everything with a financial planner and insisting on a face-to-face meeting.

“Never go to a website that they [the scammers] control,” Mr. Savvides explained. “Find the organization’s website independently, search for a website on Google, don’t follow any links on the emails they send you, don’t trust the phone numbers they give you, look for them on the main website of the bank or financial institution.”

Investment companies must file a prospectus on the ASIC website outlining how they can provide financial security to potential investors, which means the prospectus the scammers give you won’t match the reality.

“If the scammer provides a prospectus, look for it on the ASIC offer bulletin board,” Savvides explained. “They’ll give you a very detailed prospectus, they’ll make it look really good, check that everything matches an existing offer.”

ASIC also lists companies you should not do business with, as well as naming and shaming fake regulators or exchanges.

“If you were asked to transfer to different destination accounts, that’s a sign that the mule accounts have been closed,” he continued. “An investment bank will only ever ask you to deposit money into one receiving account.”

He also said to insist on coming to the office at least once to check it out.

“There are scammers who will meet you face to face, but the chances of getting caught are much more likely. If they still give you an excuse [not to meet] become very, very suspicious.

The police and the banks react

NSW Police said they would not comment on the case as an investigation was still ongoing.

Chris Sheehan, NAB Executive Group Investigations & Fraud, told news.com.au in a statement: “This matter is currently under review by the AFCA and NAB is cooperating to ensure the complaint is investigated. thorough.

“We have seen a significant increase in scams in recent years and it is heartbreaking to see the devastating effects these can have on affected victims.

“Investment scams in particular continue to feature in the top four types of scams reported by our customers, alongside romance scams, business email compromise and remote access scams.

“We will always do everything we can to prevent these scams and recover funds where possible. However, once the funds have left a victim’s account, it can often be difficult to recover them due to the sophistication of these criminals.

“We encourage everyone to stay alert and aware of what to watch out for to protect themselves from scams. We have a dedicated team that monitors client accounts 24/7 for suspicious activity, provides dedicated training to our bankers, and holds regular client education webinars with tips and advice on what to look for.

“Never be forced to pay immediately for anything during an unsolicited call or conversation, and be sure to confirm the identity of the person you are sending money to before completing a transaction. It’s best to treat these transfers as if you were handing over money to someone you don’t know.

“If anyone thinks they’ve been scammed or notices fraudulent activity, take action and contact your bank immediately.”

*Names withheld for confidentiality reasons

[email protected]