A seasoned investor is battling to recover the $700,000 he lost in the story after accidentally falling victim to a highly polished swindle.
Harold Scruby, the chairman of the Pedestrian Council of Australia, was forced to sue the organisation responsible for the slick investment promotion after putting hundreds of thousands of dollars into what he believed to be Deutsche Bank “Green Sovereign Bonds.”
The organisation also targeted other high-net-worth people, one of whom was successful in recovering her investment of $500,000 while losing $250,000 to the other.
Senior public worker Amanda Biltoft was only able to recover her $500,000 thanks to the valiant efforts of her bank manager.
Another individual, who cannot be identified, is a senior partner in a renowned legal firm and lost $250,000 to the same dubious investment plan.
Mr. Scruby revealed to Daily Mail Australia that he utilised a website to compare the goods provided by several banks when he was seeking to invest in March.
These websites, which include mozo.com.au, compare the investment products provided by banks and other financial organisations.
It all seemed authentic since Mr. Scruby said on the internet that “there was Westpac, there was NAB, there were all of things.”
He thought “Sovereign Green Bonds,” allegedly offered by Deutsche Bank with interest of 0.99 percent every quarter, seemed appealing.
Because the rate didn’t appear “too good to be true,” no alarms were raised.
When it comes to investing, I’m one of the most cautious businesspeople you’ll ever meet, Mr. Scruby told Daily Mail Australia.
Even on the Melbourne Cup, I don’t wager often.
It wasn’t significantly more expensive than some of the other banks; it was only marginally superior.
I so reasoned, “Green sounds nice.”
It had a very low interest rate and was insured by the government.
Mr. Scruby got a call from a guy identifying himself as Shane Porter and claiming to work for Deutsche Bank after clicking the link on the website.
Both the name Shane Porter and the assertion that he worked for Deutsche Bank were false.
Shane Porter, who had an English accent and was quite kind, was the person Mr. Scruby communicated with throughout the whole ordeal.
A colourful brochure promoting the “Sovereign Green Bond” was delivered to Mr. Scruby.
It was flawless. The prospectus has a very professional appearance, according to Mr. Scruby.
The introduction of the paper was purportedly written and signed by Glenn Morgan, CEO of the German bank, and had what seemed to be branding from Deutsche Bank throughout.
To provide the “government assurances,” Mr. Scruby was persuaded to contribute $700,000, divided between his firm and personal cash for himself and his wife.
It was only by accident that he referred the bond to a financial counsellor who raised questions, a month after he had put the money in a Bendigo Bank account.
The adviser questioned if the bond was legitimate; as a result, Mr. Scruby called Deutsche Bank, who informed him that they didn’t provide the instrument and that “Shane Porter” wasn’t employed there.
Mr. Scruby filed a lawsuit against the organisation that created the Sovereign Green Bond.
The money from Mr. Scruby’s Bendigo Bank account was moved in the case, which was heard by the NSW Supreme Court, and used to purchase Bitcoin.
Judge Geoff Lindsay ruled that the business must pay back the $700,000 plus pre-judgment interest of nearly $11,000 and all associated charges.
The business claimed that Mr. Scruby’s funds were utilised “in good faith” and that the plaintiff firm, which got a commission, would “be in a worse situation” if had to reimburse the plaintiffs.
Since then, Deutsche Bank has posted a fraud alert on its website.
The notice adds, “Deutsche Bank has become aware of fraudulent investment schemes that claim to provide a chance to invest in Sovereign Green Bonds and other Bonds.”
The website “Green Bonds Australia” (fixedtermbond.com) has been discovered as one of these websites that offers access to Sustainable Bonds or high yielding bonds. Targets of these scams have been contacted after providing their contact information to these websites.
Ms. Biltoft, whose tale is identical to Mr. Scruby’s, was a very attentive observer during the Supreme Court session.
But in her instance, it came to an almost miraculous conclusion.
When searching for an investment product in February, Ms. Biltoft came upon one she liked that was purportedly provided by Bendigo Bank after using Google to find a comparison website.
It was a fixed-term deposit for one year with a 2.5% interest rate.
Ms. Bilcroft exchanged emails with people she believed to be Bendigo Bank personnel over the period of around four to five weeks.
The two people who received her emails went by the names Mark Taylor and David Warner, which may have been rip-offs of two well-known Australian cricketers.
Ms. Biltoft was informed that Sovereign Green was the Bendigo Bank division that handled fixed-term deposits and that this was the account into which she should put her monies.
She had also been thinking about a bond offer that seemed to be being promoted by US financial behemoth UBS.
But when she started getting calls from people claiming to be from UBS and having “English accents,” she dialled the fund manager’s office and discovered that no one there had the same name.
After depositing her $500,000 with “Bendigo Bank Sovereign Green,” she had a bad realisation.
I discovered that it operated in a similar manner to the UBS one, Ms. Biltoft added.
After depositing the money, I immediately conducted a few more checks and discovered it was a hoax.
When I returned to my bank, Harley Jenkins, my wonderful bank manager, pulled out all the stops.
It was really incredible to see,
On the south coast of New South Wales, where Ms. Biltoft resides, Mr. Jenkins is the branch manager of Westpac Merimbula.
Mr. Jenkins informed Ms. Biltoft that he had done all he could but couldn’t give her any hope after frantically making phone calls.
Ms. Biltoft said that being duped made her feel “ashamed.”
“I was physically unwell for two weeks,” she said.
Ms. Biltoft began getting phone calls from a man identifying himself as “David Warner” the day after Mr. Jenkins attempted to freeze the accounts.
According to Ms. Biltoft, “it was quite evident there was something wrong at his end”—that is, there was a problem with the account.
“I was fairly sure that what had been picked up was that Bendigo had closed up, turned off, the account,” the speaker said.
Overall, the phoney “David Warner” called her three times.
He was obviously upset that something was wrong on my end, but I assured him that everything was fine, according to Ms. Biltoft.
‘I had it in my head that everything was OK.
I was very sure that the issue on their end was that he could only transfer out $100,000 each day.
Turning the tables on “David Warner,” Ms. Biltoft started.
She said that when she questioned him about why a bank couldn’t transfer $100,000, he made up these flimsy financial justifications.
‘
I told him, “Look, I’m extremely concerned about this – if you were a bank, as you claim, you should be able to transfer it, whether it’s $500,000 or $50,000,000, I want my money back.”
“See how you feel on Monday,” he advised.
I refused to modify my mind and demanded a refund, nevertheless.
When the man identifying himself as David Warner started questioning Ms. Biltoft about whether she had prior knowledge of intricate bank transactions, she responded that she didn’t.
“David Warner” assured Ms. Biltoft that he would send her all the necessary paperwork.
This was duly offered, but according to Ms. Biltoft, it was complete “bogus stuff.”
Because each Bendigo Bank is a franchise unto itself, the documents were headed with the incorrect Bendigo Bank insignia, according to her. He was also utilising the incorrect branding.
About two months after making the deposit, on June 7, Ms. Biltoft got a call from her bank manager, Mr. Jenkins.
When Harley called to ask me to check my bank account, I did so, and the $500,000 was there, Ms. Biltoft recalled.
“It was incredible.” I was simply unable to believe it.
In a situation like hers, Mr. Jenkins claimed he had never seen money returned.
“This manager’s efforts were the only thing that kept me alive,” Ms. Biltoft said.
Because it seemed like “free money,” I did go out and purchase a pretty posh automobile for myself.
Mr. Scruby and Ms. Biltoft both admitted that they were ashamed of being duped but are now alerting others by sharing their experiences.
Prior to making her deposit, Ms. Biltoft said she ought to have performed more checks.
“I didn’t make it, but all it would have needed was one phone call to Bendigo Bank to confirm the credentials,” she added.
She first resisted telling anybody what had transpired.
She stated, “I used to be too humiliated to tell anybody, but now I tell everyone.”
“People need to exercise caution,”
Only 13% of Australians who have been scammed are thought to report it, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the organisation that manages the official Scamwatch website, and shame may play a role in this.
Scams, in Ms. Biltoft’s opinion, are growing more dangerous for Australians.
We come upon this so seldom. We just expect to be treated fairly by the police and other government employees, she added.
“The digital technology behind this has outstripped our ability to handle it (scams) and unquestionably outstripped our legal procedures for detection, and we are basically running a major catch-up game,” the statement reads.
Mr. Scruby said that many persons had warned him against taking his case to court due to the expenses and likelihood of losing.
He remarked, “It was a terrifying experience.”
Mr. Scruby said that his ability to win in court was due to having “the greatest team of attorneys in Australia.”
Many others in his shoes, however, wouldn’t be able or willing to take their case all the way to the Supreme Court.
My good fortune is that I had enough money to pursue the matter to the Supreme Court, he remarked.
When approached by Daily Mail Australia, an ACCC spokeswoman refused to comment but directed to a news statement the organisation released in August.
That statement said, “Imposter bond frauds often imitate actual financial institutions or banks and purport to provide government/Treasury bonds or fixed term deposits.”
People often become victims of them after looking for investment possibilities online and submitting contact forms to phoney third-party comparison sites.
According to the most recent Scamwatch statistics, 228 impostor bond fraud complaints were made between January and June, compared to 82 reports in the first half of previous year.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission declined to comment on specific instances, according to a spokeswoman.
ASIC receives complaints of misbehaviour in confidence, therefore the spokesman said, “We can’t confirm or discuss any such reports that may have been submitted to us.”
“If someone has indicated to you that they have filed a complaint with ASIC, that is their right, but we cannot comment.”
Consumers have already been forewarned by ASIC about an increase in investment bond frauds.