Cup Day ‘sting’ nets $252,000

Press, 8 November 1980, Page 3

Cup Day ‘sting’ nets $252,000

NZPA Sydney Detectives in two states are already calling it “the Great Melbourne Cup sting” — an act of criminal trickery which has cost the travel company, Thomas Cook Proprietary, Ltd, more than $252,000.

A gang of Melbourne 'swindlers posing as big ' international punters used an elaborately forged $lO bank cheque .to carry out one of the biggest frauds of its .type in Australian history. Police, in New South Wales and Victoria,, who. released details of the crime on Thursday, have warned that the gang has. another four bank cheques it could alter.

The managing director of Thomas Cook, Mr Michael Moxey, said that the' company “had been defrauded of a very large sum of money on Melbourne Cup day. “It infuriates us thdt this cheque has been able to get through our tight security precautions,” he said. The loss was covered by the company’s comprehensive insurance policy. The police said the gang used a chemical bleach to wipe out the original $lO inscription on the bank cheque and then used blue and white inks to substitute the background.

i A fine black pen and a manual typewriter were used to substitute the words and figures for the $252,500. The gang used the Melbourne Cup holiday in Victoria to cover their well planned swindle, which took place over six days.

The chief of the Melbourne fraud squad, Detective Inspector Ken Brown, said the collection of the money on Tuesday “could not have been better timed.”

“With the holiday. here in Melbourne it was not possible for-the travel firm to confirm that the cheque was genuine,” he said. The series of events began when the Thomas Cook branch in Melbourne received a call late last week from a man claiming to represent an international betting syndicate. He arranged for the company to transfer- to Sydney $lOO,OOO, which he wanted in traveller’s cheques, for collection on Tuesday.

He said the group, which wanted the money to bet at the Randwick races that day, would pay for the cheques with a bank cheque. He gave the name of the head of the syndicate as Alan F. Curtis.

Last Friday, the representative telephoned again and said the amount wanted had been increased to $252,500

in cash. The bank cheque would be delivered on Monday, the day before the Melbourne Cup, he said. On Monday, the travel firm received another call saying that “Mr Curtis” had been delayed and could not arrive until 4 p.m. He eventually arrived at 5 p.m., by which time it was too late to check the bank cheque he presented. The cheque had been issued by the A.N.Z. Bank in Brunswick Street, suburban Fitzroy. The next morning, “Mr Curtis” was in Sydney at the C.B.A. bank- in Hooker House, Pitt Street, where Thomas Cook had arranged for the money to be collected.

"Mr Curtis” used a Victorian driver’s licence in his name as proof of identity. The licence was being checked by detectives. He was given the money in $5O notes. He counted it all, put it in a brown vinyl bag, and calmly walked away.

Mr Moxley said it was not unusual for Thomas Cook to deal in large sums of money. "We are an international banking business as well. In the normal course of business our branches often deal in large transactions. “The company has assets of $2.5 billion. It is our loss — the Australian public is not suffering,” he said.