Binary options scam duo get convicted and sentenced in Australia
Jana Jaros and Jackson Laurence Malcolm Capper were sentenced but released on condition of good behaviour for three years.
Binary options fraudsters got convicted and sentenced in the Southport Magistrates’ Court, following an investigation by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), the regulator announced today.
ASIC has found that from February 2015 to December 2015 Ms Jaros and Mr Capper operated an unlicenced financial services business using the companies Astra Group Pty Ltd and Old Cambridge Pty Ltd. The duo arranged for these two companies to be incorporated using directors that they sourced by providing them with false information. Ms Jaros and Mr Capper sourced and rented a business premises at Bundall, Gold Coast, Queensland for the conduct of their business.
The duo recruited and trained staff who they instructed to cold-call persons and attempt to sell them membership in a currencies, indices and commodities trading system through a company registered in the Isle of Man that uses a website Binary.com. Staff sold packages whose value ranged from $2,995 to $24,000 on the premise that the clients would set up their account with Binary and would allow the duo to manage their account using what was touted as extensive trading experience.
Ms Jaros and Mr Capper set up the website: www.investradirect.com and later www.investradirect.co for the purpose of attracting and servicing clients of Astra Group Pty Ltd and Old Cambridge Pty Ltd. Over the relevant period $520,471.33 was received across the two bank accounts.
Ms Jaros and Mr Capper were convicted and sentenced for operating a financial services business without a licence and lodging false documents to ASIC containing false or misleading material.
Each of the defendants pleaded guilty in the Southport Magistrates’ Court. Both were sentenced but released on condition of good behavior for three years, with Mr Capper on a $5000 bond and Ms Jaros on a $2000 bond.
According to the annual report of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for 2016, phone based investment scams remain popular. Cold calling investment scams resulted in the highest reported losses for phone based scams with $11.5 million lost based on 879 reports. Most of these reported losses related to offers of investment opportunities in binary options, as well as “the opportunity” to buy shares at lower than market rates.
