Scammed out of $10,000? One man’s story exposes a worldwide fraud ring

Scams are, sadly, a fact of modern life—and they’re getting more sophisticated by the day. For many Australians, the idea of losing thousands of dollars to a faceless criminal on the other side of the world is the stuff of nightmares. 

But for one man, that nightmare became a reality. And when we followed the money trail, the story only got stranger. 

It all started with a seemingly innocent click. Andy* (not his real name), a 53-year-old father of two from Sydney, stumbled across an article on social media about a cryptocurrency trading platform called 4AI.net. 

The article looked legitimate, the website was slick, and the staff who called him had Australian numbers, though their accents were distinctly European. After a few conversations, Andy was convinced to invest $10,000.

He was told to transfer the money to an Australian business account, Invent Media Pty Ltd, and to list the payment as ‘professional consultancy’. 

Within a day, the funds appeared in his 4AI trading account. All seemed well—until, weeks later, the 4AI website vanished without a trace, taking Andy’s money with it.

Andy wasn’t alone. People worldwide lost tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to 4AI.net. 

One victim claimed to have lost nearly half a million Australian dollars. The scam was global, and the money trail led straight to an Australian business with a Commonwealth Bank account.

The man behind the company—or was he?

On paper, Invent Media Pty Ltd was run by Malek Mawlawi, a 50-year-old filmmaker and aspiring politician based in Lebanon. 

Mawlawi worked for Al Jazeera, the BBC, and Turkey’s TRT. He even ran for parliament in Lebanon. But when contacted, he was as shocked as anyone to learn his company was at the centre of a scam.

According to Mawlawi, he’d opened the Australian arm of his business to work with the ABC on Middle Eastern coverage. 

But he claims a long-time friend tricked him into handing over control of the company’s bank accounts, supposedly to help with payments from Australian clients. 

Soon after, Mawlawi lost access to the company’s email and was left in the dark as his business was used as a conduit for stolen funds.

The friend, who lives overseas, denies any involvement. He said, ‘Why would I spoil my name with this stupid thing? I have nothing to hide.’ 

However, private investigator Ken Gamble, whom Andy hired to track down his money, said this story is all too common. 

‘That’s how they get accounts—they find people with dormant accounts,’ Gamble explained. ‘We actually hear this story all the time. It’s a common theme with money mules.’

How do these scams work?

Scams like this are rarely the work of a lone wolf. They’re run by sophisticated, transnational crime syndicates that have pivoted from traditional crimes like drug trafficking to online scams, which are less risky and often more lucrative. 

These syndicates recruit ‘money mules’—people who, knowingly or not, allow their bank accounts to be used to move stolen money.

Sometimes, as in Mawlawi’s case, the mule is an unwitting business owner. Other times, someone has been promised a cut of the proceeds. 

Either way, the result is the same: victims’ money is quickly moved through a web of accounts, often overseas, making it almost impossible to recover.

Red flags and lessons learned

There were warning signs along the way. Andy was told to describe his payment as ‘professional consultancy’—a classic trick to avoid detection by banks. 

The company’s director was based overseas, and the staff he spoke to had foreign accents despite using Australian phone numbers. 

And when a local intermediary, Peter Hocking, was asked to open a new bank account for Invent Media, he refused, sensing something was off.

Hocking, who helped set up the company, noticed the tone of emails changed over time and suspected he was dealing with more than one person. 

Eventually, he resigned as director and handed all correspondence to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), Australia’s corporate regulator.

After the scam was exposed, the Commonwealth Bank shut down Invent Media’s account, and ASIC launched an investigation. 

The Australian Federal Police were also notified but declined to comment. Shaken by the experience, Mawlawi has vowed never to do business in Australia again.

Andy and the other victims’ money is likely gone for good. But their stories are a stark warning: scams are becoming more sophisticated, and anyone can be a target or an unwitting accomplice.

Have you ever had a close call with a scammer? Did you lose money, or manage to spot the red flags in time? Share your experiences in the comments below.

Also read: Australians lose millions to fake brand scams on social media—here’s how to spot them