Pie in the Sky Award
The 'Pie in the Sky' award is given to the most outrageous financial scam of the year. But it is not the scammer who benefits from the award. It is the person who nominates the winning entry who gets $100 for alerting us to the year's most amazing con.
The purpose behind the award is to alert people to financial scams. Scammers use sophisticated stories to trap even the most financially experienced people. The way to tell the crooks from the real deal is to check if the company is licensed by going to ASIC's Australian Financial Services licensee register. If they are on the register you are better protected if something goes wrong. | |
2010 winner
The 2010 Pie In The Sky award goes to the Little Super Fund and its trustee, Mr Gerard Karl Little.
Mr Little illegally obtained the super of the members of the Little Super Fund and then pocketed a high commission. ASIC’s investigation of the Little Super Fund led to Mr Little's conviction and imprisonment. For more details see the ASIC press release 'Little super is pie in the sky'.
This early release scam cheated people out of their hard earned super which is not just wrong, it’s illegal and the penalties are severe. Victims of early release of super scams are convinced by these promoters that accessing super is a solution to their money problems. The reality is the promoters are looking for a way to scam people out of their super savings.
Past winners
Boxing Day tsunami estate scam
This advanced fee fraud email scam asked people to help a Togo barrister access US$17 million from the estate of a man who, along with his family, was killed in the 2006 Boxing Day tsunami. The barrister offered people a share of the wealth if they claimed to be the deceased's next of kin and paid a fee. People paid their money but received nothing.
Guiseppe Mercorella's ponzi scheme
A ponzi scheme operated by Guiseppe Mercorella offered people investment returns of between 3 to 6 % per month. Mercorella’s illegal scheme received $216.9 million from investors who ultimately lost $76 million. Many of the investors were from South Australia and from the local Italian community who became aware of the scheme through family and friends. This is typical of how many people become involved in a ponzi scheme. Mercorella is serving a five year jail term. For more details see the ASIC media release 'Sky high returns are just pie in the sky'
Pegasus investment scheme
An illegal investment scheme promoted through wealth seminars across Australia, operated by Craig McKim. Pegasus Leveraged Options Group lured 90 unsuspecting investors and raised $3.7 million. McKim gambled and spent over $2.1 million of the funds. The NSW Supreme Court found Pegasus investors were promised astronomical returns of up to 8% per week. Investors were even issued a Certificate of Guarantee by a fictitious ‘International Investment and Securities Commission’. McKim was jailed in October 2005.
Carsworthy scheme
'Interest-free' loans were offered to Queenslanders and 220 people invested $2.4 million in the Carsworthy Scheme. People were told if they purchased a car through a car buyers club, borrowed a little more from their financier and invested it offshore, the high returns would repay their car loans. When the offshore investments failed to deliver promised returns, people were left to find their own repayment on much higher loans than they would have otherwise taken out.
How to nominate
Anyone can nominate an outrageous, far-fetched or unbelievable financial scam for ASIC’s Pie In The Sky Awards. The person who submits the winning entry will receive $100.
To qualify for the award a scam must involve one of the following:
- a financial product or service or an investment
- investment advice
- superannuation
- insurance
- deposit taking
- credit or borrowing.
Email your entry to pieinthesky@asic.gov.au and explain in 100 words or less what the scam is about.
Please do not nominate the following types of scams. They do not qualify for the award as they are outside ASIC's responsibilities:
- Nigerian scams
- lottery scams
- pyramid marketing schemes
- social networking scams
- health and medical scams
- dating and clairvoyant scams
- job and employment scams
- charity scams.
If the scam you nominate wins, you will be helping others not to fall into the dangerous traps that scammers set.
More information
FIDO Website: Printed 03/18/2010
