 Good morning, thank you for attending this press conference. My name is Brian Hay, Detective Superintendent of the Fraud and Corporate Crime Group and I'd just like to share with you some of the efforts and work of members of the Fraud and Cyber Crime Group that recently they have been working on a syndicate that has targeted the precious metals industry and also backpackers and tourists coming to this country to use them as guinea pigs and money mills and exploited them in so far as these people thought they were obtaining some legitimate employment only to have their passports taken from them used to it'll be alleged to establish bank accounts and to move money. Essentially it'll be alleged that the people involved in this criminal syndicate were trading from fake gold and other precious metals to members of the precious metals industry to then obtain the money which would be transferred it'll be alleged into the accounts that were opened with the compromised passports. As we go further into it we found weapons, we found counterfeit notes, we found instruments of forgery, our investigations are continuing we understand that this group has been operating at least since 2012 targeting the Cairns, South East Queensland and Brisbane areas. It wouldn't be of any surprise if it extended further than that but we've only recently commenced this aspect of investigation. The work to date by the members of the Fraud and Cyber Crime Group has been exceptional. As you can see from the exhibits at the back, it's quite an array. He was sophisticated to the extent that after the metals had been treated that they would actually be initially tested as authentic. So what we are seeking is information from the precious metals industry and from the backpackers and the tourist industries. If anyone has information that they may have been parted or have been recruited into this network unwittingly or if they have had their passport stolen or compromised we wish that they will come forward to share their information with us because the investigation is only in the early stages and we have a lot more work to do and any assistance that members of the public backpackers or the precious metal industry would be of great value to us. How many backpackers do you think? Roughly. In the, I would suggest over 20 at this point in time. How did this racket come to light? There were complaints received of fake, two aspects. One was fake gold, I understand, or fake precious metals being sold and the other was backpackers reporting the passport stolen. As part of the recruitment process they were actually asked to surrender their passport to them and they gave a number of reasons for that. What were the backpackers thinking that they were being employed as? How were they targeted? Sorry, how were they targeted at all? Were they thinking that they were being employed as? Was it advertised in the newspapers? They were the sales people. On behalf of this company to go and sell precious metals. Where were the backpackers from? We know they were being cans, Gold Coast and Brisbane. Adverts were put in, they were targeting Asian nationals. Adverts were put in Asian based community bulletins. Notes were put up at backpackers hostels. It sounds pretty unique and sophisticated. Have you seen anything like this before? No, this is very clever indeed. It will be alleged that the mastermind behind these operations has gone to some lengths to actually distance themselves as much as possible from getting their hands dirty, so to speak. Have you laid any charges? Proliminary charges have been laid in respect of the counterfeit currency, possession of influence of forgery, the possession of weapons and contravention of a direction. Do you think you have charged so far? Yes, we're confident we have a principle in custody at this point in time. A number of people sort of working under him? Yes, without doubt, without question. Once the money had gone into the accounts paid by the precious metal industry people, it's then been withdrawn in cash at a variety of ATMs and we've have evidence here that was different people undertaking those tasks. When did you start to park? Still physically taken from them and not returned, not simply copying them or both. It was taken and not returned and was also copied and then sometimes returned. The full extent, if you can appreciate the full extent of this, we are still exploring. Fake metals, to sell them to my family? That's correct. And we know they had evolved to a further stage of the deliveries were being made in the mail and that's why the fact that this operation could have extended outside the borders of Queensland is a possibility. He's got quite a lot of skill to be able to produce fake gold that tests as authentic. That's right, some metal skills would be appropriate. Metalergy, metalergy skills, I try to say that. Is he a trained metallurgist? We're still exploring that but there are some skills in the metalergy industry. Can you say that on the news? No, it's not. Mastermind has targeted backpackers because they do an easy target? Absolutely. And come to this country with an element of trust in the Australian way of life and also, of course, they're here for a short period of time. So if they are elements of the crime, they won't be in this country for such a long time as to hang around and possibly give evidence against that person. I mean, that could be seen as one of the motivations. If that's it, exactly, I don't know what time will tell. We are still going through that. You can see some of them are laid out the back. I think there's probably a good dozen there, but there are many more that we are still going through. Sorry, so these backpacks that have been targeted, they've been contacted through, you know, responded to an ad of this person. They've had their passports stolen. Are they then recruited still to go out and do the selling of this fake jewellery? That's correct. Trying to work out whether the stealing of the passport comes in? When they didn't get it back. Of course, they surrendered their passport as part of the employment process. Then, as they go and do their jobs and undertake their roles and functions, then the passport was not returned to them. Not that we know of at this time. We haven't spoken to all the holders of the passports. We expect that some of these people would have left and gone home. We know some of the passports have been apparently reported stolen, but we've got to undertake the status of where all these people are. If you ask these backpackers doing his work for and are you across the purpose of stealing the passports and what he's using that for? The passports will be alleged to have facilitated the opening of bank accounts, taking over identities, potential leads to take out loans. We have seen loan applications in the material and committed fraud then against banks and financial institutions in their name. If you think of these backpackers as using them to sell fake jewellery, then also they can't afford them for money, the laundry will be alleged. And for all, yes. How many people do you think are involved in this situation? Too early to say at this point in time. Not a large syndicate by any means and possibly the players have changed over the time the course that it's run. We know this group have been active since 2012, but we need assistance from the public to help shed greater light on the situation. The person that faces these charges, are they in Brisbane or up in Cairns? They're on the Gold Coast. Any idea of the weight of the fake gold that has been sold or seized? And the reality is I have no doubt that we have people in the precious metal industry with some of this fake gold in their position that have no idea that they've actually purchased. You tell us about the men that you have charged? 29 from Mermaid Waters will appear in the Southport Magistrates Court on the 26th, 22nd of this month. There's also a 23 year old Korean woman who was also involved this matter, more like an appearance again in the Southport Magistrates Court. And I'll get the date, oh sorry, the 5th of September. Was it Korean backpackers who, in particular, who were talking? Korean, it was one of them, but there were others. Agilities in general. That's correct. Yeah. A 29 year old man is here in Asian backgrounds? No, he is not. And have you found his whole operation from his mermaid waters department or house, is that? Well, we're still exploring all of that. We know the fact that they, we allege they were operating, information we have, or they were operating in other parts of the state, we've still got to put it all together. The majority of these are proceeds from his residence? That's correct. And was that an apartment or a house? An apartment. Are there reports of the stolen or the complaints about the stolen passports that triggered police inquiries? There was, yes it was, yes. Is one of the biggest challenges for police finding the victims because chances are a lot of them have gone back overseas? Absolutely. And that's why we have been in contact with a number of our Asian embassies to try and, two things, facilitate information and find out what the situation is, how many they, how many passports they've had to replace. But also we've got to look at providing some prevention and education warnings to tourists and foreign nationals coming here to be aware of this. Just some, that's correct. Just advices, travel advices, travel warnings, signs were applicable to get a message out there to the backpacker industry to resist, you know, to think about who they're putting in contact with their clients. What a way to do that because a number of hostels, hotels will all, you know, often, especially backpacks, require to see your passport and often take a copy of it. Would you recommend, you know, that they don't do that? What are some safeguards people can take before? Well, if I'm a minute, where is your next part with your passport? I mean, that's the bottom line. If someone wants to take a copy of it, I mean, I wouldn't let anyone just take a copy of my passport, for example, but never certainly let anyone take possession of your passport. Then the reality is you don't need, of course, advice, you do not need to surrender your passport for the purpose of any employment. That's nonsense. So is it the case that the backpackers just don't quite understand the requirements surrounding employment and that sort of thing in Australia and that's how they get into this trap? I would suggest that that's a reasonable assumption to make. If you look down the back, you'll see some simplest, it looks like some zinc metal, zinc coated wire strapping. You've got steel wire and there's some filings and shavings. The origin of the base metal, not so much important as the, as you'll see the paints and the powders that were used to coat it. We did end up with these. How can they tell if it is fake? Well, I need to look at, for example, who they purchased it from, how they paid, did they pay it into a foreign national bank account? Were these people on holiday? Did they have a conversation with them that need to do greater scrutiny on the material, do more extensive testing and ask them to give us a call at the Fraud and Cybercrime Group, double three, six, four, double six, double two, and we'll see if we can help them with their inquiries. Priorly, gold bars that you mentioned getting started in this, that surprised me if your job is to buy gold that you're going to be, you know, stitched up and buy fake gold. Yeah, it was like anyone, the principle of the business, of course, might have great skill in identifying gold, but new employees might not be so skillful. We're still exploring that. They were approaching the metal industry, precious metals industry. Was there some sort of workshop at the house where the man lived? Like, is that difficult to do to coat, jewelry or kind of processes? Well, it's not that difficult, apparently, but there is suggestions. The gentleman was, did have a background in metallurgy and certainly the paints managed that and coatings that were being used had this, were skillful enough to actually come up when tested as legitimate. You must frustrate or anger you that this bloke is targeting backpacks who, like you said, do places trust in the Australian community more often. Well, I think anyone that attacks visitors of this country gets frustrating for, as an Australian, as a Queenslander, that, you know, it tarnishes our reputation. And these people need to be stopped as soon as possible. It's very pleasing that this syndicate has been brought to a stop. Do you think that there are other members of the syndicate? Is that where you're going now? Are you trying to find a therapy? We are prepared to look at why lead the situation to see who else has been involved. We have to go through now and piece as much of this together as we can and the more information the public can give us to do. And you thought that you thought it was selling these stolen passports? Is that still happening outside of New York to sell? Passports are a commodity that are traded in various parts of the internet. Every hour of every day. Passports are worth the money. Depends what it is. I know there's a website in the dark market that specializes in calling for Australian passports. And I have no doubt that there would be other websites there for specialist Asian passports. A passport is worth money. No Australian passports. So if I had come across it, it's not so far. Anyone charged with? Charged with, I understand, fraud offences. But can I confirm that for you? To be explored. Do you have any idea of the quantum of money we're talking about through this? Again, further to be explored. We do have complaints there that are relative to about $30,000 worth of fraud. But I'll suggest to you that can only go up. Like one transaction of $30,000 or a series of? A series of transactions. Okay. And please, if you just get that message out.