Is this the biggest property scam ever? | 60 Minutes Australia

It's the

biggest

property

scam

in history and you're about to see exactly how it works, a

scam

so cl

ever

but so simple that it ensnared a quarter of a million Australians, average Australians, ordinary mums and dads, for them there was no boom, only bankruptcy, its only mistake. They were overconfident and at all times that trust was often betrayed by the very people who should have been on their side, the real estate lenders, the lawyers and the banks, the terrible thing is that they all kept silent and then simply pocketed their share of the hundreds of profits. million dollars, capital growth has been 25 in one year.

It's a rare time when you see a scam unfold before your eyes, but you're watching one now and we're just going to review some properties from the past, yes, all of these. People are being scammed and do you know who is selling the

property

? The seller is Vic Ollis, a convicted felon now involved in Australia's

biggest

property scam. You are on the front line while your offsider surrounds the prey. Waves wait below. the line and today business is so good that two buses have been placed, they are all on the bus together, yes, they are all loading people in and driving them over the edges of the financial cliffs, yes, and jumping themselves before the passengers get off, it's a fraud it's a robbery it's like not only is it stealing your assets it's stealing your money marie gleason and her husband stephen are victims of the same type of sting that affects a quarter of a million Australians you know it steals your dignity , your self-respect, I know people who have paid for it with their lives, people who have committed suicide for it.

Gleason's real estate nightmare began when they were lured to the Gold Coast to look at investment properties we didn't want to return to. Again, if we decided to buy later, then my husband took a video camera. At

this

point we had an agreement between us that we weren't going to shop on the day we didn't go there, did you sign up on the day we did like it? So many others that gleasons were sucked into a scam that spawned on the Gold Coast a decade ago back then, it was known as two-tier marketing, one price for locals and another hugely inflated price for out-of-towners, all ripped off. buying properties far beyond their true value, at one point there were over 30 major companies engaged in two level marketing here on the Gold Coast, one notorious dealer sold a thousand properties a year adding a hidden fee of at least thirty thousand dollars by unit good evening ladies and gentlemen thank you all for being here

this

is how an invitation to a seminar on how to invest for your future so often begins we have used actors but the words come straight from the scammers handbook let me start by asking you all a question How many people in this room tonight feel 100% financially secure for retirement?

There are no surprises. The next step is to make sure you own enough property in the family home for the bank to lend you money and you bought it in 1988. So how much is left outstanding on your loan, I think there is around 30,000 in the bank, then comes an offer for a free plane ride to see possible investments. So is this your first time here, where a broker makes sure you n

ever

see the local estate agents and never find out the true price of the property look, I'm an independent lawyer, finally a supposedly independent lawyer is there the weekend for you to close the deal, so I'm working for you, everyone is involved except the victim, it's like a sting, that's how the whole show has been created just to sting the victim.

Neil Genman used to sell real estate but now he dedicates his energy to exposing scammers in the industry. He lives inside a fortified house due to the death threats he received. All these people are in cahoots. Is that so? oh, all of them, even the person, even the motel they send you to, um, the person who serves you breakfast in the morning, it's like a strange movie, the waitress smiles at you, she knows you're about to get scammed, they escaped? they did it right because the buyers trusted the people who should have been looking out for them they trusted the so-called qualified financial advisors they trusted the so-called independent lawyers but above all they trusted the banks the scammers say this the bank wouldn't lend you the money if it weren't a good business.

That is not true because the banker lends his own house to buy the bad deal and the banks know this, so the bank's participation gives the client confidence that it is okay. I would do it. I say more than fifty percent of the people I've talked to have told me those things. I wouldn't have gone ahead with this if it weren't for the bank's involvement. As soon as I heard the bank, it made me feel safe. Did the bank do an evaluation of the investment property? Well, I'm just assuming they made a value and wouldn't have lent us some money if it wasn't so bad.

In fact, it appears that Bev Chisholm's bank didn't even bother to do the evaluation. and her husband borrowed 91,000 to buy an investment unit in Brisbane worth less than forty thousand dollars and when the Chisholms lost their tenants they were forced to sell, we received a letter saying they were actually going to take our office in the house . foreclosure on our house today bev and her husband live on a small boat oh we have to use the amenities at the marina the washing machines are up there bathrooms showers and everything there so how do you cope Are you emotionally happy living here?

No, oh really, why not? I'm stressed all the time. I think of things as they used to be and I start to cry. I want to think that all the major banks in Australia have lent money to these victims, mainly Westpac and ANC, and why not, the bigger it is. loan, the higher your payments and your profits will be, and the banks have been very deceptive, even if their own valuation tells them that your property is overvalued and that you are being scammed, they do not have to pass on that information, does the bank have any obligation? tell the customer legally no, ethically and morally, of course, if you are serving someone a roll of boy and you know that when he eats it he is going to poison him, you can't say well, therefore, I didn't make the roll of boy.

It doesn't matter, I'm making profits for Marie Gleason. It was blind faith in her bank that led her to buy his investment unit. How much did you pay for the property? We paid 165,000 for the property when Marie and Stephen asked the bank for a loan to buy their unit here on Chevron Island, the bank did their own valuation and found out that it was not worth one hundred and sixty-five thousand dollars, but only one hundred thousand dollars, so The bank warned its customers that they were being scammed. Did you advise them to seek an independent assessment? no they made sure they had security on gleason's own house and gave them the loan what bank did we bank with all our lives with the commonwealth bank we feel like I didn't notice but if I didn't We knew how much they went into our data , but we knew they had access to all our accounts.

They knew how much we were worth. They came and did an evaluation of the house. Why do you think banks are involved if they know properties are overvalued? It would seem that the banks do not care, it would seem that the banks do not care about anything other than the fact of being able to recover their losses. From what we have seen, the banks certainly took advantage of the situation. fact that these people had reasonable assets so they weren't worried about lending money and I would like to say that stealing some of the value of our own home here, do you see that as theft?

Yes, I do. John and Rosemary Pollock borrowed from Westpac to buy an investment unit on the Gold Coast. Several years later they applied for another loan and were refused, only then discovering that the unit they had paid two hundred and sixteen thousand dollars for had been valued at one hundred and fifty. and five thousand dollars westpac We had known it all along, they said they would do the appraisal and they wouldn't lend us the money if the appraisal wasn't correct. Did you look for that rating? No, they said they didn't give it to us as a client. that was for the bank's use, did the bank ever hint that the valuation didn't add up?

No, never, sometimes I would have more respect if these bank managers would just take off their masks and restrain the customers themselves because that's what Now you go to the bank and you can trust the bank manager. You could go to the bank manager for advice. Now you go to the bank manager and he stops you and robs you when you need it. personalized and friendly attention to your problems you need the bank of new south wales the good old days that we now know are gone forever i hate to say good luck to people getting on the bus but i think that's what you might need we'll see, okay and yet the scams continue well you'll see a big fat guy up here he's the owner okay his name is pete but what these potential buyers don't know is that Vigorous has served a 12 years between his convictions for making false promises in real estate. scheme in this latest venture alice's salesman claims she's not making more than ten thousand dollars on each deal all aboard so what we have here ollis is buying a property neil genman has been monitoring what alice is really making on these agreements and there is a profit on the same day eighty thousand dollars.

As we review the property records, it becomes clear that there are hundreds of these windfalls, bought for 400,000 and sold the same day for 730. So, wow, I make a small profit. One rule if someone wants to take you anywhere to see a property, don't get on the plane. John Simon started Australian home loans 12 years ago and has since doled out about $20 billion the further you get from the local area where you live, the more dangerous it is because you don't know the territory and these people play with that, but it seems that even John Simon is being deceived because behind every dubious real estate deal there is a source of financing that we are also going to take advantage of. choose a mortgage broker his name is lloyd shearer he works for

australia

n home loans do you know vic ollis no because vic waves is a man who has been in jail he received a 12 year sentence for being involved in fraudulent real estate schemes I don't know?

I think you are clearly aware of this, but your company is doing business with him. No, I don't know where this is on this trip. Lloyd Shearer, the Australian man, was very much part of the operation, so you basically work out of his offices, the broker who was on the particular bus trip we took, saying he represented his company, said he even I would move into an office with dollars from the victim, it's that appropriate, no, I would say absolutely not if we found out people were stitched up. Your whole head would roll because that's the opposite of what we stand for.

John Simon then told us that his man on the bus had not actually issued any loans for Alice's clients and would not ride with Honest again. We should note that John Simon was the only leading financier willing to be interviewed for this story. He also approached her for comment. Commonwealth Bank boss David Murray said no. David Morgan from Westpac, he also said no and John Mcfarlane from Anz, also said no. Our arrival stopped at least one potential client from signing. I'm glad you're here because I had my suspicions when I met the man. You're fine, but all over Australia property scams continue to destroy people's lives.

What do you think about the banks and they don't care? one cared no one can be bev chisholm it meant losing the house that was once his home i'm getting better he doesn't seem to come down very often well you used to come here a lot he used to come almost every week and stand out front no he doesn't just pass by alone to take a look at it, how do you feel when you come here? Careful, why do you feel tearful? Hi, I'm Liz Hayes, thanks for watching 60 Minutes Australia. Subscribe to our channel now for brand new stories and exclusive clips every week and don't miss our bonus minute segments and full 60 minute episodes on nine now dot com dot iu and the nine now app