Police allege, a scoundrel home loan broker get hold of more than $17 million of fraudulent loans for clients, several of whom utilized the money to purchase marijuana grow houses.
Studies and investigations are ongoing into Kieu Thi Thanh Huynh, who has permitted more than $100 million in loans in the precedent seven years, and her clients. The 43-year-old Kim Huynh has been accused with 93 counts of getting hold of financial benefit by dishonesty or decemption, constructing phony documents and exploiting counterfeit documents.
An additional 30 people were charged with one count all of taking financial advantage by deception, creating counterfeit documents and using false documents as fraction of the police operation code named Squid.
Persons charged are of Vietnamese origin and array from youngest as 21 to 68 years old. They were under arrest between February 25 and March 8.
On May 24, the alleged scammers have been bailed to appear at the Melbourne
Magistrates Court for a committal mention.
A police spokeswoman said there may be more arrests.
”Inquiries are continuing in relation to a number of associates who investigators allege also purchased homes using false documents and gained financial advantage by deception.”
On February 25 police carried out five search warrants at three houses in St Albans, Sunshine and Sunshine North, seizing computers, financial documents, phones and jewelry.
Grow houses purchased with loans purportedly attained by Ms Huynh were exposed at some stage in Operation Taxa, which has concluded in millions of dollars value of marijuana and possessions being detained from dozens of houses, mostly in Melbourne’s north-west.
Police will charge loan documents associated to Ms Huynh were found in some of the houses.
All are involved in the investigation such as officers from the Criminal Proceeds Squad and E-Crime Squad, along with forensic accountants,.
Grow houses raided during Operation Taxa had mostly been linked to Vietnamese crime families, who were increasingly buying houses in new residential estates in Melbourne’s outer suburbs as opposed to renting them, Fairfax Media reported last year.
The trend had shown the increased financial clout of marijuana traffickers, police said at the time.
Head of the Criminal Proceeds Squad Detective Senior Sergeant Andrew Kerr said the squad had seized $25.2 million worth of property linked to marijuana in 2012, an increase of about $700,000 compared with the previous year.
He said the squad had detected that a significant amount of money was being sent overseas by those involved in the marijuana trade in Victoria. ”This is money that is being sent overseas by people that would appear to have no legitimate sources of income in Australia.
”A lot of these people are on Centrelink benefits, yet somehow managed to send
significant amounts of money overseas. How is that happening? And why is that happening?”
This kind of frauds that should be taken more seriously not only it is a fraud itself but it stepped a notch as they have been doing marijuana and who knows some other drugs.
Fraud prevention is clearly need to be improved.
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