By Blair Speedy
AUSTRALIAN Federal Police are investigating a US-based website purporting to represent Macquarie Bank in order to defraud investors.
The website, for a company calling itself Macquarie Securities (USA) Inc, carries the Macquarie Bank logo and claims to assist offshore citizens wishing to invest in US securities.
Macquarie said yesterday the site had no connection with the Macquarie Group. A spokesman would not say how many people had been duped, but confirmed the fraudsters had been contacting investors in an attempt to get them to trade in shares under a "like kind exchange" program.
Like kind trading is when property is exchanged for similar property, such as bonds for bonds or shares for shares. However, investors have been duped before into trading their own shares for worthless stock in fake companies. "This is an elaborate operation, purporting to operate under the protection of an anti-fraud task force," the spokesman said.
In what appears to be an attempt to allay suspicion, the company claims to have its own fraud investigators and carries warnings about criminal penalties for money laundering.
"We thank you for your patience and hope you will support us in our efforts to deny terrorist group access to America's financial system," the site concludes.
Calls to the contact number listed on the website went unanswered.
The scam follows a number of fraudulent email campaigns purporting to be from Australian banks which fooled recipients into supplying their account details and security codes.
The matter was now being investigated by the AFP's High-Tech Crime Centre and had been referred to US authorities, Macquarie said.
Source: The Australian
; "Turks and Caicos")
; "Macau")
; "Lake Geneva")
; "U.S. Virgin Islands")
; "Monaco City")
; "Bill Cara")
; "Russian Coat of Arms")
; "Vatican Coat of Arms")
; "Gordon Brown")
; "Singapore")
; "Sir Allen Stanford")
; "Isle of Man")
; "Seychelles location")
; "Offshore")
; "Seychelles")
; "Income Access")
; "Offshore Living and Investing")
; "The Islands of the Bahamas")
; "The Bahamas Coat of Arms")
; "MasterCard Debit Card Offshore")
; "Safe and Secure Internet Gambling")
; "Gibraltar Map")
Leave a comment