Rejuvenated logo; same company, values and vision…

Since opening our doors, we have worked with individuals, small businesses, corporations, law firms, insurers, financial institutions and government agencies.  We are passionate about what we do and that passion has seen us go from strength to strength.

On Monday 7 August 2017, we moved into our new premises located at Level 11, 66 Clarence Street, Sydney NSW 2000.  Today we’re releasing a rejuvenated logo that better reflects our identity.  A new identity is more complex than colours, icons and fonts.  For us, it signifies our continuous evolution and commitment to an industry that presents ongoing challenges.  Our new logo also signifies our evolution from a start up to a market leader in the provision of investigative solutions.

For further information, please call us on + 61 2 9212 5000 or write to us here.

Insurance fraud fail

Rebecca Paulina Riley, 38, alleged that her Mitsubishi Challenger, which was insured with RACQ for $11,000, was stolen from outside her home in 2013.

The vehicle was subsequently recovered burnt out and Riley was unable to provide police with a spare key for the vehicle.

RACQ investigated Riley’s claim and appointed a forensic locksmith to examine the fire damaged vehicle. The results of the forensic examination were damming, and a subsequent check of Riley’s finances revealed she had debts and had unsuccessfully applied for a loan in the lead up to the incident.

Riley was successfully prosecuted for fraud and sentenced to 12 months in prison, wholly suspended for three years.

*** Read the original article here ***

ATO launches sophisticated data matching program

The Australian Taxation Office has launched a sophisticated data-matching program to look into the tax affairs of wealthy individuals who may have bought expensive cars, boats, planes, art and thoroughbred horses. 

The program, which also involves contacting insurers to identify policy owners of various classes of insured assets that are often associated with wealth, will allow the ATO to make more accurate estimates of peoples' wealth to ensure they meet their tax obligations.

The ATO defines "wealthy individuals" as those who, together with their business associates, control net wealth of $5 million or more and it is expected that they will issue notices next month to insurance providers seeking details.

*** Read the original article here ***

List of agencies applying for metadata access without a warrant released

The Federal Government has released a list of more than 60 federal, state and local government agencies that have applied to access metadata.

The list, released under Freedom of Information laws, identifies agencies that have sought to access telecommunications data without a warrant.  In addition to numerous federal departments, the National Measurement Institute, Greyhound Racing Victoria and Bankstown City Council also made requests.

Organisations classed as "criminal law-enforcement agencies", i.e., the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service, the Australian Federal Police and state police forces, already have access to metadata under the Federal Government's data retention bill, passed last year.

*** Read the original article here ***

*** Omitting the four redacted names, the full list of agencies who requested ongoing access to telecommunications data can be found here ***

Fraud costs financial and insurance sectors $2.2 billion annually

A recent report prepared by the Australian Crime Commission indicates organised crime, including fraud and cybercrime targeting companies, is costing the country approximately $36 billion annually.

According to the report, organised fraud, such as revenue and tax evasion, superannuation fraud, card and financial transaction fraud, is the biggest drain on the national purse costing overall $6.3 billion, more than the illicit drug trade, which costs $4.4 billion.  $21 billion is spent fighting crime while a further $15 billion is allocated towards prevention and response.  The financial and insurance sectors spend $2.2 billion guarding against crime, including organised fraud and cybercrime, the biggest threats they face.  Cybercrime costs the country $1.1 billion while identity crime costs $1.2 billion.

The report is the first time law enforcement has broken down the costs of serious and organised crime and the $36 billion figure is more than double previous conservative estimates.

*** Read the original article here ***

Heavily pregnant woman stages collision to obtain insurance payout

On paper, Ghenoua Fadel, and her unborn baby were lucky to have escaped the collision alive.  Police had arrived at a rain-soaked Sydney intersection to find two mangled vehicles and a dazed Ms Fadel who was eight months pregnant and reportedly suffering stomach and back pains.  She explained that after missing the stop sign, her vehicle ploughed into the side of another moving vehicle.

Unbeknown to Ms Fadel and the other driver, a nearby CCTV camera captured the entire incident.  Like the majority of “staged collisions”, the incident was stage-managed in a quiet area, during the dead of night, to minimise the risk of witnesses.  The CCTV footage depicted Ms Fadel and her alleged accomplice, Jamal Gmrawi, arriving at the intersection in their respective vehicles.  After twice manoeuvring his Nissan X-Trail into position, Mr Gmrawi is seen exiting his vehicle.  Moments later, Ms Fadel reappears, slamming her Toyota Rav 4 into Mr Gmrawi’s vehicle with force, before walking away from the wreckage.  A third person, who is yet to be identified, is also witnessed in close proximity to the collision site, appearing to keep watch, in a separate vehicle.  After inspecting the damage, the unidentified person enters Ms Fadel's vehicle and performs a second hit with Mr Gmrawi’s vehicle before vanishing from the scene, which is soon attended by police and ambulance officials.

In the days that followed, Ms Fadel and Mr Gmrawi lodged separate insurance claims with AAMI and NRMA.  AAMI commissioned a forensic examination report which revealed Mr Gmrawi's vehicle was stationary at the moment of impact and furthermore, there were two separate impacts, not one as would be expected in the type of collision that was alleged.

During subsequent police interviews, Ms Fadel and Mr Gmrawi maintained their original stories – until officers presented the CCTV footage.  Ms Fadel recently appeared before Bankstown Local Court where, cradling her newborn baby, she pleaded guilty to a number of offences and acknowledged Mr Gmrawi was an associate of her husband.  Ms Fadel claimed she had been going through "a hard time" and "wasn't thinking straight" when she committed the offence.  She went on to state "I was worried about the car I had.  I wanted a bigger car for my four children and couldn't afford it", adding "of course I feel bad ... that's why I pleaded guilty!"

Far from being an isolated incident, staged collisions are part of an escalating national trend that is costing everyday motorists millions of dollars through increases in their insurance premiums.

*** Read the original article here ***

Initial onus of proof still rests on an insured - even in a fraud case

Antonio Sgro alleged that his Ferrari 360 Modena, which was insured with AAMI for an agreed value of $190,350, was stolen from a suburban Sydney street, a short distance from his home, during a five hour window of opportunity in 2011.

AAMI investigated Sgro’s claim and refused it on the basis that it was fraudulent.  Sgro commenced proceedings in the District Court and thereafter in the Court of Appeal.  He was unsuccessful on both occasions and the courts held that AAMI were entitled to refuse his claim.

The case highlights some important issues for insurers dealing with fraud cases:

1. Even where a defence of fraud fails, an insured still bears the primary and initial onus of establishing their claim is covered under the policy.  This onus will not be discharged where the likelihood that the insured event alleged by the insured to have occurred is equal to the likelihood that no insured event occurred.
2. An insurer does not bear the onus of disproving the claim of an insured in the first instance.
3. An insurer does not have to establish that another version of events is more likely than the version of events alleged by the insured.  A court will not, or at least should not, give a plaintiff “the benefit of the doubt” if the evidence does not establish that their version of events is more probable than not.
4. Dishonesty alone will not suffice to make out a defence of fraud under section 56 of the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth) without clear evidence that the conduct was engaged in for the purpose of obtaining a benefit from the insurer.
5. Allegations of fraud can be hard to establish on an evidentiary basis and financial motive is only one factor in establishing fraud. The intention of the insured to create a false belief in order to obtain a benefit remains a crucial element which must also be established by insurers.

*** Read the original article here ***

*** Read the decision of the court of appeal here ***

Bikie's insurance invalidated after brothel fire

Is failing to disclose you are a member of an outlaw bikie gang sufficient reason for an insurer to invalidate your insurance policy?  That was the question before the Supreme Court of NSW in a case that could have a lasting impact.

A company that owned a brothel which burned to the ground in 2012 has been refused a $770,000 insurance payout because it failed to disclose that its sole director was the sargent-at-arms in the Comancheros motorcycle gang.

In a landmark ruling that will have implications for bikies and organised crime figures, the NSW Supreme Court has ruled that failure to disclose such links invalidates insurance - even insurance taken out over legitimate businesses.

Baris Tukel was the sole director of Stealth Enterprises which owned the Gentleman's Club in Mitchell, a charmless industrial area in the north of Canberra.  His brother, Fidel Tukel, well known in boxing circles, was the manager of the brothel.

"What was in issue included whether a reasonable person in Stealth Enterprises' position could be expected to know that their involvement with the Comancheros was relevant to Calliden's decision to accept the risk of insuring the brothel" Justice Monika Schmidt said.

Stealth Enterprises' argued that the court could not accept the insurer's argument: namely that "if you belong to a bikie gang, you can't get any type of insurance".  It also argued that given Calliden was prepared to insure brothels, a reasonable person in the community wouldn't realise that membership of a bikie gang was a relevant matter to be disclosed to an insurer such as Calliden.  Those arguments were rejected by the court.

Justice Schmidt said she was satisfied that if the brothers had disclosed their bikie connections when they applied for insurance in 2010 or when it was renewed in 2011, they would have been refused insurance.

*** Read the original article here ***

*** Read the decision of the court here ***

NYPD cop torches his car, gets busted by phone records

A clueless cop who had his own car torched to collect the insurance money sabotaged himself by taking his mobile phone to the crime scene.

The NYPD officer, Madalin Niculae, 28, was charged with a number of offences after investigators determined he was in Jersey City when his car went up in the flames by checking his mobile phone records.  He was subsequently suspended by the NYPD and ordered to surrender his U.S. and Romanian passports.

The investigation began after Niculae’s car was found burning on 3 August at a desolate intersection in Jersey City.  Niculae claimed he had parked the car near his home and didn’t report it missing until 4 August because he figured it had been towed.  He told the same story to the NYPD and his insurer.

Confronted with his phone records, Niculae admitted to dumping his car in Jersey City on 2 August so it could be stolen or vandalized.  He returned the following day with “another individual” who had offered to burn the car.  While he waited a few blocks away, the unnamed individual torched the car and later advised Niculae that it had “blown up”.  The unnamed individual subsequently advised investigators Niculae wanted the car gone because he could no longer afford to keep it.

*** Read the original article here ***

Disability fraud was so nice, prosecutors allege she did it twice

Despite being on probation for insurance fraud, a former probation officer has been arrested for trying to defraud another insurer.

In the original case, Robyn Palmer, 30, was convicted in May 2014 of insurance fraud, forgery and theft for illegally collecting disability payments from an insurer.  She received five years probation and was ordered to pay approximately $31,000 in restitution.

While on probation, Palmer recently collected $24,000 from another insurer.  A subsequent investigation led to Palmers arrest.

*** Read the original article here ***

Digital ‘ambulance chasers’ profiting off the Ashley Madison hack!

Spammers and hackers have for years seized on stolen data for corrupt means, but they are now being joined by legitimate companies spying a chance to turn the sensitive data into lucrative new customers.

As data breaches have increasingly taken aim at banks, insurers and individuals, a cottage industry of enterprising start-ups has boomed, moving quickly to target the victims left most exposed in the aftermath.

Calling itself the "Uber for private investigators", a new site had seized on the stolen data, building a search tool that allows anyone to see whether an email address was included in the embarrassing Ashley Madison breach.

*** Read the original article here ***

Insurance fraud – not murder - puts killer behind bars

A man faces a minimum of 35 years in jail thanks to the extraordinary efforts of federal and state investigators.

The facts of the case are complex but thanks to a $100,000 life insurance policy, federal prosecutors were able to do what state prosecutors could not – get a jury to find Ronald Epps guilty of murder.  Sort of.

A federal court recently found Epps guilty of fraud, arson and weapons charges related to two separate events.  The first involved Epps shooting his girlfriend, Angela Moss, in the back of the head in order to collect on a $100,000 life insurance policy.  The second involved setting his apartment on fire to collect on his renters’ insurance policy.

During the trial, federal prosecutors were able to prove that Epps conspired to and ultimately did murder his girlfriend in order to collect on the life insurance policy.

While federal prosecutors were more than happy to put Epps behind bars, state prosecutors felt the evidence did not support a murder charge.   Despite the damning evidence presented during the trial, a murder charge was never filed.

Much like the prosecution of Al Capone for tax evasion in the 1930s, investigators took the evidence of fraud and used it to find another way to put Epps in jail.

*** Read the original article here ***

Suspect in terror raids accused of million dollar fraud

A terrorism suspect recently caught up in sweeping pre dawn raids has been accused of running a sophisticated fraud scheme that netted more than a million dollars.

Ahmad Azaddin Rahmany, 25, was one of more than a dozen young men recently targeted in counter terrorism raids in Sydney.

The part-time mechanic was one of only two to be charged following the raids and he later pleaded guilty to illegally owning a stun gun and some ammunition, which he claimed was left over from a hunting trip.

Rahmany was critical of his inclusion in the terrorism raids, claiming he was targeted because of his Islamic faith and the people he had met through his mechanic business.  He was given a two-year good behaviour bond.

Terrorism investigators continued to tap Rahmany's phones following the raid and allegedly picked up on a "complex and sophisticated" fraud scheme.

Rahmany was back before a court a short time later, accused of being the "principal architect" and charged with 31 fraud offences and one count of possessing a knife following another raid on his family's Merrylands home.

With nine other men, Rahmany allegedly faked pay slips, tax returns, ATO assessments, bank statements, PAYG records and company statements to obtain loans for made-up individuals and deregistered companies.  The group also allegedly approached companies with fake company documents to elicit money.

Rahmany has been denied bail and is due to appear in Central Local Court later this week.

*** Read the original article here ***

Jail terms in phone insurance scam

An investigation in relation to a mobile phone insurance scam has resulted in five people being sentenced to jail terms.

The accused’s, some of whom were telco employees, accessed account information to identify customers with high end mobile phones.  They then lodged in excess 1,300 fraudulent insurance claims for damaged or stolen phones and arranged for the replacement phones to be shipped to their homes or to hotels.

The mastermind was sentenced to a six year jail term and ordered to pay restitution of $636,265.

The co-conspirators received one and two year sentences and were ordered to pay restitution of varying amounts based on their level of responsibility.

*** Read the original article here ***      

7 signs someone is lying to you

When people lie, it's common to break eye contact; but a liar may go the extra mile to maintain eye contact in an attempt to control and manipulate when you ask them a direct question.  Here are 7 simple signs that someone may be lying to you:

• they stand very still, in a rigid, catatonic stance devoid of movement;
• they stare without blinking much or change their head position quickly;
• they instinctively touch their mouth, cover vulnerable body parts or shuffle their feet;
• their breathing becomes heavy, their shoulders rise and their voice becomes shallow;
• they repeat words or phrases or they provide too much information, especially an excess of details;
• it becomes difficult for them to speak; and / or
• they becomes hostile or defensive and point a lot.

With the above signs in mind, it is important to remember that everyone acts and responds differently during times of stress, when nervous or feeling tense.  When people lie, the body experiences a number of changes, including increased heart rate and blood flow and decreased salivary flow.  Repetition of information is a way to buy a liar time as they attempt to gather their thoughts.  Liars often talk a lot because they are hoping that, with all their talking and seeming openness, others will believe them.

Pact to claim life insurance lands teacher and security guard in jail

Esther Maree Vella had a $700,000 debt on her Strathfield property which she was determined to be rid of.

She concocted a plan in which her long-suffering partner, Peter Siskos, would increase his life insurance to $1.7M, name her as the sole beneficiary and then commit suicide.

The plan backfired spectacularly when Siskos, a 49-year-old security guard "chickened out" of throwing himself in front of a train at Croydon.  Instead, he disappeared from work and slept rough for a week-and-a-half until he was spotted in a Burwood Park.  Several people then came forward to police to say Vella, a 51-year-old school teacher and boarding house owner, had let slip details about the macabre plan.

One of Vella's tenants, Tony Appleby, went to police and confessed to helping Vella destroy incriminating evidence.  He agreed to meet Vella wearing a listening device and police recorded a conversation in which they discussed suicide involving a train, destruction of incriminating evidence and her lost opportunity to claim an insurance payout.

Vella and Siskos were charged under the common law of conspiring with each other to defraud an insurance company, OnePath.

The Crown case was that Vella and Siskos deliberately omitted to inform OnePath of Siskos' intention to commit suicide, despite knowing they had a duty of disclosure when taking out the policy.

The couple pleaded not guilty, the case was proven beyond a reasonable doubt and they were convicted by a District Court jury.

Vella was sentenced to six-and-a-half years' jail with a non-parole period of four years and nine months, while Siskos was imprisoned for two-and-a-half years with a non-parole period of 15 months.

Vella and Siskos appealed their convictions and sentences. The Court of Criminal Appeal dismissed the appeals, noting the case was "extremely unusual".

*** Read the original article here ***

*** Read the decision of the Court of Criminal Appeal here ***