Blog outlining massive fraud in the Australian listed investment company (LIC) and broader financial sector

Saturday, 7 December 2013

Aha! Avestra and the "Formosa Auto Trade" scam

From humble origins, Avestra has recently stepped up to the big leagues of financial crime, having acquired and ramped listed funds manager AG Financial (AHA.AX), gaining control over its funds. Only three short years ago, Avestra was involved with the "Formosa Auto Trade" scam, handing out flyers selling magical laptops with auto-trading software. For only $15,950, you could buy the Formosa Premium One package, yielding $1,000 a month in profits, "no knowledge or effort required". But wait! For only $22,550, you could buy the Premium Plus package and take home $2,000 a month. However, the best deal of all was obviously the Turbo package, costing you only $29,700 upfront and yielding $5,000 a month.

The "Formosa Auto Trade" scam was advertised by Signal Systems and Support using the AFSL of Bold Capital, which was the authorised representative of Avestra Capital. The fraudsters spammed these flyers on stock discussion boards, complete with phony testimonials, receiving a fair share of heckling for their childishly transparent scam.

With ASIC's support and help, what was once a petty $30K-a-pop fraud has now grown into an ASX-listed fraud controlling dozens of millions of misappropriated granny investor funds. The walking bags of fecal matter at ASIC must be truly proud of their achievement here.