Summary
Romanian authorities became suspicious of a man in Australia who was transferring millions of dollars to a business in Romania. They asked AUSTRAC to investigate the man’s financial activities, which showed that he was the victim of an ‘advance fee’ investment scam.
What to look out for
- High volume of international funds transfers from Australia for no apparent reason.
- International funds transfers to a high-risk jurisdiction.
The crime
An Australian came to the attention of Romanian authorities for transferring millions of dollars to a business based in Romania.
Upon request, AUSTRAC investigated the financial activities and found the person was the victim of an ‘advance fee’ investment scam. In this type of scam, victims are approached and deceived into sending ‘advance fee’ payments or giving their bank account details with the promise of money from unlikely sources such as overseas lottery wins or inheritances.
The Australian, a man in his 70s had been withdrawing large sums of money from his retirement savings to make the transfers, which AUSTRAC discovered were being made to five businesses in Hong Kong, Bulgaria and Romania.
AUSTRAC found multiple complaints about these businesses online, alleging their involvement in an advance fee fraud. A review of their international funds movement revealed another 125 Australians who were likely to be victims.
AUSTRAC’s role
AUSTRAC shared financial intelligence with our Fintel Alliance partners, alerting them to the scam and leading them to blacklist the five overseas businesses. We also provided intelligence to our counterparts in Romania, Hong Kong and Bulgaria to enable them to carry out criminal investigations and help Australian banks and the victims to recover funds.
This guidance sets out how we interpret the Act, along with associated Rules and regulations. Australian courts are ultimately responsible for interpreting these laws and determining if any provisions of these laws are contravened.
The examples and scenarios in this guidance are meant to help explain our interpretation of these laws. They’re not exhaustive or meant to cover every possible scenario.
This guidance provides general information and isn't a substitute for legal advice. This guidance avoids legal language wherever possible and it might include generalisations about the application of the law. Some provisions of the law referred to have exceptions or important qualifications. In most cases your particular circumstances must be taken into account when determining how the law applies to you.