Busting a billion dollar British scammer cartel | Part 1 of 2 | 7NEWS Spotlight Documentary

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Published 2023-05-16
In the most explosive investigation of the year, 7NEWS Spotlight’s award-winning broadcaster Liam Bartlett busts open a billion-dollar British crime cartel that is fleecing Australians of more than $4 million each and every week.
The staggeringly sophisticated crime syndicate, run by British con artists with the backing of Russian mafia, has been targeting Aussie investors they have cruelly dubbed “mugs with money”, safe in the knowledge authorities here can’t – or won’t – touch them.

In the joint expose with investigative reporter Ross Coulthart, Bartlett will take viewers inside “Operation Tropicana” led by Australian fraud and cybercrime specialist Ken Gamble and his IFW Global operatives.

Across 24 simultaneous raids, in association with Malaysia’s anti-crime commission, the scam busters make more than 80 arrests, including Brit king pin Andy Peters, aka “Peg Leg”, who lived a life of luxury at the expense of duped Australians.

Bartlett said: “I have been embedded with crime fighting groups from various countries over the years, but this operation was on a scale like no other. As it turned out, it needed to be. The criminal syndicate was the biggest scamming group ever to be raided by any global authority.

“The results spectacularly demonstrate the abject failure of our Federal Police to act effectively against the scourge of this ever-increasing threat to Aussie consumers; and we have to demand that things are done better,” he said.

It is a 7NEWS Spotlight exclusive every Australian must see.
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All Comments (21)
  • @j.d.445
    Documentaries like this should be televised in every country at least once a month. It would educate and prepare people for new kind of scams to watch out for.
  • @nenau574
    I am an Australian. So proud of Spotlight Australia! Well done!
  • @DefyingTheOddsYT
    I'm in USA and happened to stumble across the spotlights taking down the scammers! Thank you for your great work and coverage..
  • @richardewels6280
    Disgusting how much misery these evil people cause and how inept Australian authorities have been.
  • @bolehtahan
    please do a follow-up piece on how these scammers are getting on after a year in jail. thanks.
  • @ozgal6929
    Beautiful work. The rest of the world needs to get on board to stop these huge crime syndicates.
  • @AJL04B
    Congrats MACC. I'm Malaysian and I'm ashamed this happened from our beloved country. May all the victims get justice and all the scammers put in jail for a long time.
  • @balance3201
    Time for all governments to get serious about this problem.
  • Impressive how Spotlight was able to get the scoop and 'capture' the raid. Nice work.
  • That Brit Ian made me feel ashamed to be British!! Sorry to all the victims ,I promise you we are not all like them low lives that stole your money. Hope that get what they deserve 🙏
  • @phil4977
    Well done. Keep bringing these people to justice. Crime does not pay!!
  • Spotlight is a very brave at bringing scammers to justice. They did what the Australian authorities should have done themselves in the first place. The media brought the scammers to justice with no fanfare only shearing with the public when it was all over with no excuses or apologises
  • Great job! Wake up call to all authorities around the world to be more vigilant on scamming. This is going on everywhere. I feel for these people who loose all their life savings.
  • There's hundreds of these boiler rooms in the Phillipines unfortunately the authorties are as Corrupt as the Scammers.
  • @MC-mv2wr
    Its a shame that the Australian Government is lacking. Congratulations to 7news & of course the excellent work of Malaysia’s anti-crime commission , I cannot even imagen how much work, investigating and planning that went into putting this together. This is Journalism at its very best & the reason that we too need to be support Journalism, Thanks.
  • @ericcss7
    Shame on the Australian government 😕
  • This is a great day and justice for innocent Australians who have been duped in the most elaborate scam of all time. I am also speaking representing my Malaysian friends who have also fallen into this scam. (although much warnings have been given but greed conquers all) Unfortunately, these scammers knows "bits and pieces" of tactics on how to hide below radar with the assistance of some corrupted Malaysian officials as well. (I sincerely hope that these corrupted officials are caught soon)

    I am so proud of MACC (backed up by special forces from various branches) for making Malaysia proud and respected. I am sure, by now, more trails of money have been discovered - possibly laundered in projects, various industries, black market, money exchange, FOREX, properties and so much more. Of course, we can't eliminate everything but at least we have crippled them serve to send a strong message to all other so-called sophisticated scammers not to mess around with the Malaysian authorities.

    Congratulations again to : Liam, Michael, the unsung hero Andre and many more. Including Malaysian Immigration, Malaysia Communication and Multimedia Commission, Malaysia Cyber Security, Telekom Malaysia, Company Commission of Malaysia, Tenaga Nasional Berhad and Inland Revenue/Income Tax Board.

    My hats off to the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission.
  • Well done! Good job guys. So satisfying to watch being a recent victim of losing 30k.
    Thank you for your great work and I hope this is just a beginning of taking all those companies down one by one!
  • @darkhorse7022
    Please please don’t tell me that in a few months these pathetic creatures have lawered up and are back on the streets. My biggest fear is that they will work with corrupt officials and find a way to avoid the punishment they so deserve.
  • Great documentary by channel 7 spotlight.. Job well done by Malaysians & Australians collaborations. Keep up.