David Koch issues warning after two Aussie women lost hundreds of thousands of their hard-earned savings after they were conned by online fraudsters
An Australian woman who lost more than $250,000 in a sophisticated scam that used David Koch’s face to lure victims has confronted the man who allegedly orchestrated the fraud, branding him “scum”.
Alison Smyth, from Adelaide, admitted she considered taking her own life after shameless fraudsters took advantage of her desire to earn more money so she could move her mother, who has Alzheimer’s disease, into a nursing home.
She came across a social media link in which she used former Sunrise host David ‘Kochie’ Koch’s face to promote a cryptocurrency investment platform.
Ms Smyth claimed she was groomed and encouraged to make investments, but only realized it was a scam after her savings were forgiven.
She is among more than 600,000 Aussies who have lost a combined $2.7 billion in the past year.
“I was completely shocked and thought about suicide,” she told Channel Seven’s Spotlight.
Alison Smyth (pictured), from Adelaide, considered taking her own life after alleged fraudsters took advantage of her desire to earn more money so she could move her mother, who has Alzheimer’s disease, into a nursing home
The die-hard Port Adelaide AFL fan got a small measure of justice after the program tracked down the man accused of masterminding the alleged fraud in a dingy office building in Cebu, Philippines.
“You are scum, absolute scum,” an angry Ms Smyth told the man via FaceTime, who remained silent and refused to make eye contact.
‘You are scum of the earth. You deserve to fuck off, buddy.”
Journalist Liam Bartlett asked the alleged fraudster if he would apologize.
You’re really pathetic mate, to be honest!’ he said to the man.
“A simple sorry and you won’t even make it.”
Ms Smyth wanted to put the alleged fraudsters behind bars.
“I want people arrested, tied up on the ground,” she said.
‘I want them to be treated like the scum they are, face down in the mud.
“And I would like my money back.”
However, the program revealed that the alleged criminal mastermind had fled the country while out on bail.
Alison Smyth was given a chance to confront the man accused of being behind the alleged scam that left her losing $250,000
Mr Smyth revealed she was initially misled by the use of David ‘Kochie’ Koch’s face in a social media advert.
“There was a picture of David Koch saying ‘look what Kochie is doing with his Bitcoin’,” Ms Smyth told the programme.
“I thought, ‘Oh, I wonder what he’s up to.’ He’s our chairman of the AFL football team that I follow, and that’s when it all started.”
Mrs Smyth claimed she had been called by a man called ‘Ben’ with an English accent, who slowly built a relationship with her over weeks and months.
‘He said ‘You can put money into this scheme and we will teach you how to trade currencies. We will help you make money,” Ms Smyth said.
Koch described the scam as “devastating” and that he was powerless to prevent his image from being used.
“People who trust me and rely on what I say and look at me and say ‘wow, I get some comfort from what this guy is saying’ then get scammed by a scammer from abroad,” the business journalist said. .
He called on tech companies such as Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, to do more to tackle scams on their platforms.
The program also heard from an elderly woman named Johanna, who had $800,000 taken away – her entire life savings.
Johanna Robinson, a devout Christian living on the Gold Coast, saw an advertisement for an investment platform on YouTube.
The program also heard from an elderly woman named Johanna Robinson (pictured) who had lost $800,000 – her entire life’s savings
She had recently sold her house and wanted to make more money so she could buy a new house closer to her daughter.
Mrs. Robinson would initially see healthy returns deposited into her account, but it was all a ruse to build her confidence.
“Just the way he spoke to me was so encouraging,” she said.
“He then started asking me questions about my beliefs and I shared a lot and talked a lot about God… and he was so interested in my beliefs.”
The scammer posed as a Christian to further gain her trust.
Mrs. Robinson now lives solely on her pension.
Cybercrime researcher Ken Gamble told the program online fraudsters were selling “the dream” to Australians that they could make money from their computers.
“Real trading feeds are fed into the website to make it look realistic, but it is fictional,” he said.
‘The whole thing is fake. It’s a way to steal money.’
But Johanna has not only lost all her money, she has also lost her identity because the scammers have also stolen all her personal information.
“I’m going to have to change my name, change my last name, change my identity,” she said.
Former Sunrise presenter David Koch called on social media companies to do more about online scams
Koch said anyone can fall prey to one of their scammers.
“People who haven’t been scammed say, ‘Oh, you must be a loser to actually fall for that thing,'” Koch said.
“But you don’t have to be a loser to fall for them. You can be a normal, intelligent person.”
Koch met Ms Smyth, who he described as the “human face of this scam – the average Australian whose life is being destroyed by these bastards from abroad”.
He has been awarded life membership of Mrs Smyth’s Port Adelaide club.