Police investigate $1.6m super fraud

By Mike Taylor

Fraudsters have struck a superannuation fund linked to the NSW coal industry by stealing rollover cheques worth around $1.6 million.

The fraud was perpetrated against Auscoal Superannuation, which had the cheques stolen from its post office box at Warners Bay, NSW.

According to a spokesman for Auscoal, the perpetrators registered a business with the Australian Securities andInvestments Commission with a name similar to that previously used by the fund and established a bank account using what are believed to have been false documents and stolen identities.

It is understood that around 100 cheques were obtained by the fraudsters involving $1.6 million, with $640,000 being frozen in the account once the crime was detected.

The other $950,000 remains unaccounted for.

A spokesman for the fund said the fraud was believed to have taken place in a two-week period earlier this month and that the fund and the police were investigating how the fraudsters had gained access to the cheques, which had been specifically addressed to Auscoal.

Once the cheques cleared, the funds were diverted to other accounts — something police and bank officials are now investigating.

He said while some reports had suggested the members affected were solely based in the Hunter Valley, the fraud had, in fact, affected members from elsewhere in the coal industry, including Queensland.

The spokesman said there was absolutely no suggestion that any employee of Auscoal had been involved in the fraud and that the money was diverted before it came under the fund’s control.

“Auscoal would like to reassure members and other organisations whose funds have been illegally diverted in this way that the organisation will do all in its power to recover these funds,” he said.

Australian superannuation funds have been the quarry of thieves before.

The most high-profile case occurred in December 2003, when the $6 billion Commonwealth Superannuation Scheme was the target of a sophisticated $150 million fraud attempt.

It involved a fax transmission on Christmas Eve to the scheme’s custodian, JPMorgan, asking that funds be transferred to accounts in Switzerland, Hong Kong and Greece.

The transaction was initially authorised, but later picked up by JPMorgan’s security infrastructure, and most of the money was retrieved.

The masterminds of the fraud were never caught, despite Australian Federal Police and Interpol investigations.