AFP and ATO seize $8.7 million in assets from complex GST/gold bullion fraud

Publisher
Australian Federal Police
Date published
May 2025

Relevant impacts: Industry impact, Security impact, Financial Impact.

Following an investigation by the Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce (CACT), $8.7 billion in assets have been stripped from 2 convicted ringleaders of an Australian criminal syndicate responsible for an elaborate gold bullion GST fraud. The orders for confiscation were made possible by a complex, decades-long investigation, after high quantities of gold bullion were linked to an unusual pattern of GST refunds.

It was uncovered that the syndicate was engaged in missing trader fraud by using fake and stolen identities to purchase GST-free, investor-grade bullion. They then melted it down and sold it on to shell companies to be further sold on to gold dealers as scrap gold. All the while the syndicate fraudulently charged GST to gold dealers and fraudulently claimed GST refunds from the Australian Tax Office.

The investigation allowed for the syndicate's leaders to be jailed for 8 years for dishonestly causing a loss to the Commonwealth in 2023. After a further 2 years of investigation, the CACT was able to seek and obtain a court order for the forfeiting of assets, including:

  • 4 luxury Sydney homes worth $7 million
  • 4 bank accounts containing more than $2 million
  • 5 ounces of bullion worth $23,000
  • almost $250,000 in cash.

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Related fraudster personas

The Organised

The Organised are groups which use a combination of methods in planned, coordinated and sophisticated ways to dishonestly gain benefits.

The Concealer

The Concealer hides their actions from being seen or known about to dishonestly gain personal benefits.

The Exploiter

The Exploiter uses something for a wrongful purpose to dishonestly gain personal benefits.

The Impersonator

The Impersonator pretends they are another person or entity to dishonestly gain personal benefits.

The Deceiver

The Deceiver makes others believe something that is not true to dishonestly gain personal benefits.

Related countermeasures

Collaborate with strategic partners

Collaborate with strategic partners such as other government entities, committees, working groups and taskforces. This allows you to share capability, information and intelligence and to prevent and disrupt fraud.

Legislation and policies

Legislation and policy can help prevent, detect and respond to fraud, such as by outlining clear rules, regulations and criteria, allowing entities to collect, use and disclose information and allowing entities to enforce penalties and recover fraud losses.

Collect accurate and relevant data

Whole-of-Government policies require us to have a high level of confidence in data when providing government services and payments. Create policies, rules, processes and systems to collect accurate and relevant data to help: • process claims • make decisions • check and verify data • analyse data to detect fraud • investigate potential fraud • define new indicators of fraud.

Fraud and corruption training

Train and support staff to identify red flags to detect fraud, know what to do if they suspect fraud and know how to report it. Fraudsters can take advantage if staff and contractors are not aware of what constitutes fraud and corruption.

Reconcile records

Reconcile records to make sure that 2 sets of records (usually the balances of 2 accounts) match. Reconciling records and accounts can detect if something is different from what is standard, normal, or expected, which may indicate fraud.

Exception reporting

Establish exception reports to identify activities that are different from the standard, normal, or expected process and should be further investigated.

Coordinate disruption

Coordinate disruption activities across multiple programs or entities to strengthen processes and identify serious and organised criminals targeting multiple programs. It can also include referrals to law enforcement agencies for those groups that reach the threshold for complex criminal investigations.

Investigate fraud

 Investigate fraud in line with the Australian Government Investigation Standards (AGIS).

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