Authorities in Australia have arrested two women, including one claiming to be a fortune teller, who are accused of scamming more than $46 million from vulnerable members of the Oceania nation’s Vietnamese community.
The women, ages 53 and 25, were arrested Wednesday as police executed a search warrant at a residence in Dover Heights, an eastern cliffside suburb of Sydney.
The New South Wales Police Force published video of the arrests on their social media accounts, showing the two women, whose faces were blurred, handcuffed and being escorted from a residence into the back of a police van.
Financial Crimes Squad detectives have charged two women for their alleged involvement in a highly sophisticated multi-million-dollar fraud and money laundering syndicate operating across Sydney.
The women, who were not identified, came to the attention of police investigating a criminal syndicate that used stolen identification information to apply for loans to purchase cars that did not exist.
Authorities on Thursday said the older woman of the two allegedly claimed to be a feng shui master and fortune teller.
Police accuse her of telling vulnerable members of the Vietnamese community that there was a “billionaire” in their future in order to convince them to take out financial loans, from which she would take a share.
Financial documents, mobile phones, electronics, luxury handbags, a 40-gram gold bar worth $6,577 and $4,340 in casino chips were seized during the search of the residence on Thursday, police said.
“What began as an investigation into fraudulent car financing has expanded into uncovering one of the most sophisticated financial crime syndicates I have seen in my career at the helm of the Financial Crimes Squad,” Det. Supt. Gordon Arbinja of the NSW Police Force said in a statement.
Both women were transported to Surry Hills Police Station, where the older woman was charged with 39 offenses. She was refused bail and was to appear in court on Thursday.
The younger woman was charged with six offenses and was granted conditional bail to appear in court on Jan. 23.
According to authorities, including the money seized Wednesday, police have seized nearly $50 million in assets associated with the syndicate.
