Welcome to Wikifrauds


                                                                                                                    

Since launching on February 5, 2011, we have survived death threats, beaten hackers, won law suits against us, exposed dozens of scammers, and managed to recover vast funds for victims.

      
                                       DOUGLAS GRAEME McCOY, ONE OF AUSTRALIA'S WORST GRUBS!

                                                                                   Read about McCoy's latest eviction here.

Latest news: October 2023. We have been informed by a reliable source that McCoy is now trying to sell shares in a Queensland gold mine. The mine is allegedly owned by another of McCoy's conmen friends, one John Foley. There's more on 'Goldfinger' and his role helping McCoy and Les Cheers elsewhere in Wikifrauds.

                                                    
                                                    Douglas Graeme McCoy                          Priscilla James                                         Scam developer Les Cheers AKA  'John Alexander' who pays the other two commissions on investor's money. Read about this scumbag partner of McCoy..
                                                                       These three are amongst Australia's worst ever con artists.
And also coming soon: We expose McCoy's latest 'assistant', a former Sydney prostitute and heroine addict called May Brown, who cons people for advance payments for accommodation in McCoy's Ashford pub. They don't get to stay there and get no refund, and May the harlot rushes down to Inverell and buys $600 shoes!
In one case, a boy scout group paid a cash up in advance front for accommodation. The cash deposit was paid to May who stated she would send them a receipt when McCoy was available. No receipt was forthcoming, and neither was a refund.
                                                                                                
The McCoy Decoy . . .   McCoy's 'current partner', alleged former prostitute and heroine addict "May". We say 'current' as we know McCoy dumps his female companions as soon as they have run out of money or cease being useful. We bet May doesn't know about McCoy's other girlfriend - a blonde on the Gold Coast who drives a white Mercedes. Her name is Faaz and she hails from Sovereign Island. Well May, we wonder how often McCoy grabs her by the fuzz. He's a known two-timer May, so just ask him!

Wikifrauds has been able to confirm that McCoy owed over $50,000 to a Goondiwindi firm for installation of a cool room. McCoy, after much hassling, eventually paid only $39,000 off the debt. The owner of that business has subsequently had to sell the business. We also know of numerous other people who have been scammed by McCoy over the reburbishment of the hotel. Further, McCoy attended a church at Inverell in company with May and pleaded assistance as they were just married and homeless. The church apparently gifted the pair some $3000, and off they went, no doubt happy with their work.

In addition to all the above, we have made personal contact with a lady who worked for McCoy at the hotel in Ashford for some weeks assisting with renovations. McCoy only paid her for the first couple of weeks then stopped paying her despite her pleas. She had a mortgage to service, told McCoy this, but he refused to pay her. She is owed around $6000 in unpaid wages. She also told us that the chef quit after he wasn't being paid. McCoy owes him a few grand in wages also!
Now we hear from this lady that McCoy and May are intimidating her in a big way. Here's part of an email we received from her today (Aug 30, 2023):
  "There has been a post put up on your Web site Regarding The Ashford hotel and Douglas McCoy I’m asking for it to be removed as I have been constantly  harassed and  threatened."
There's no end to what this rotten bastard McCoy will do to trusting people. He is a narcissistic sociopathic liar with not an ounce of conscience. Luckily the lady in question recorded some conversations with both McCoy and May, and she has forwarded those to us.We will share these with interested persons upon request.

August 2023: We expect that since republishing this page on August 1st, McCoy  will hit back by publishing bullshit about the owner and editor of Wikifrauds. He has done this before and everything he published was either a lie or selected facts taken out of context.

June 27, 2022 Update: We took McCoy off Wikifrauds for a while in a deal that involved him catching up repayments to one of his victims, Ruth Rotherey. McCoy was several months in arrears.but promised to catch up if we removed him from our website. However, he demanded that we agree to never publish anything further about him, regardless of what it may be or when it might occur. Of course we refused these terms amd have now republished. But ! It turns out that the money McCoy had paid thus far was actually paid by John Alexander, not McCoy! He has not paid a cent!

Subsequently in July 2023 we were contacted by "Max" from Perth WA and given full details of yet a further scam by McCoy and Cheers to the tune of $240,000. It is fully detailed on our page on Cheers.

Looking for McCoy?  We are reliably informed that he is now the proprietor of the Commercial Hotel in Ashford NSW near the Queensland border, not far from Grenfell. People in that area are warned about doing any business with McCoy, or if you do, count your fingers afterwards.

This page is to be further updated in the next few days, and we will be posting a list of McCoy's victims and first-hand descriptions of his scams.
For now, here's the very latest complaint from a disabled pensioner received only last weekend June 25,2022. The email is pasted below, however we will not publish the sender's details.  

"Hi. I would like to tell you that I have been conned by Douglas McCoy. He moved into the duplex in front of my place back on 31/3/20 stating that he was the new owner of the property and that I would now be paying rent to him directly. I believed him as the property had been on the market for the previous four years that I had lived there. When my lease with the previous real estate was due for renewal I told him and he said to just now say that I had a 22 month lease ongoing with him. I spoke to the RTA about this and they said that it would be classed as a periodic lease. I have been suspicious of Douglas right from the beginning especially when I googled him and saw him on wikifraud but all attempts by me to get confirmation of his ownership of the property lead to nothing until now. I kept getting mail for the previous owner Rajan Adhikari as he used to live in my duplex before I moved in and without checking who the mail was addressed to I was opening them. They were from the bank who he had mortgaged the property with requesting payment for the loan addressing him as the registered owner so this time I once again contacted the solicitors acting for them, this time in writing explaining how Douglas McCoy had bought the property two years ago and that I had been paying him rent all this time and had proof of my payments and they replied saying that the bank is taking possession of the property and that I would have to vacate. We are in a rental crisis, my only income is the disability pension so I am going to be homeless all thanks to these two men. They are friends with each other and made this arrangement for Douglas to take over the management of the property as confirmed by the previous real estate agent. I am now looking into suing them for fraud.This is my story. Thanks for listening."
In answer to a question from us, a  further email reply details how much rent she paid McCoy thinking he was the owner: "$26000 at $250 per week over two years and two months" This all relates to a property at Collingwood Park, a suburb of Ipswich, QLD.

This man is perhaps Australia's worst serial conman with a continuous history of scams going right back to the 1980's. And nearly all his scams have been against vulnerable older women. Here's a short list of scammed victims - first names only. We have had detailed and frequent correspondence from each of these ladies:  Ruth, Eleanor, Gilda, Theresia, Narelle, Toni, Maria and Nayaran. There are a few more who wish to remain nameless. Every one of them were sucked in with the promise of high rewards for their investment. The only rewards were that they all lost their money. One (Ruth) lost over $750,000 and another (Eleanor) has lost her property worth well over a million dollars.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
McCoy has been named "The King of Conmen" in the NSW Parliament by Health Minister Brad Hazzard. See Hansard record. We quizzed McCoy about the Hansard record, and now copied and pasted below is his defamatory reply. We DO NOT believe a word of McCoy's defamation of this highly respected and honorable servant of the people of NSW.

"Mr Foley was Hazzard's sleeping partner, or girlfriend Thats why he did the story, trying to get money off me...  He knew there was NO CASE to answer to, he tried!!!  I was completely cleared.  A American Lady got the $200,000 not me, but she was too hard to chase in America.   So Hazzard thought he would try me.  Department of Fair Trading had already cleared me months before.
Hazzard took it to ask the question in Question Time in Parliament. 

He's TRIED FIRST to extort $200,000 off me.  

Hazzard said: "I know there is nothing we can do legally, BUT if you don't pay Mrs Foley $200,000 I will mention you in Parliament. Hazzard is like you, John and thought he could get some money off me if he threatened to Defamed me under his threat of using his Parliamentary Privilege. Mrs Foley told me how: "Brad Tells me EVERYTHING in their ........"  oh yeah nice stories...  Can't tell you, you will blow Brad Hazzard and Mrs Foley stories...  Its none of my business. Mrs Foley and John Foley never knew each other, never met, had nothing to do between them.  But I did introduce John Foley to Brad Hazzard, and they spoke a couple of time.  John Foley nor I had anything to do with having Mrs Foley's money.  They Lady from America got Mrs Foley's money.  It was all investigated. The Police and Consumer Affairs said there was nothing to answer fo It was ALL a fancy story...  There was Police ever after me.  There was never any case.  It was fictitious, Consumer Affairs said: "There is NOTHING to answer for"  before I ever met Brad Hazzard. 
If Mrs Foley or Brad Hazzard thought for one minute I owed the money someone would have started ANY LEGAL ACTION against me, NEVER - NOTHING EVER.  All a series of QUESTIONS in Question Time?????  NO FACTS, or supposed claims, COVERED Up as Questions???  To inflict DEFAMATION.  The Minister of Consumer Affairs Hazzard was asking knew I was already cleared.
Hazzard used to do this with lots of people while he was a Local Member of Parliament.  I think he is trying to be a legitimate Politician these days - I hope for the State of NSW Sake!! 
Thanks for your interest.  Doug" . . .  The Hansard record is also pasted at the bottom of this page.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

McCoy's latest partner is Priscilla James (Choi) above, a devotee of Dominique Grubisa - read below. This pair recently enticed another victim into a $100,000 investment in a property "flip" deal with the scam developer and convicted fraudster 'John Alexander"'above, which went sour when the supposed purchase fell through. The client is still waiting for her money to be returned and has contacted us seeking our assistance. We are happy to provide further details on request, contact us.
BEWARE: Watch out for a scam property investment deal run by McCoy and Choi. The supposed development is located at 4603 Beaudesert Nerang Rd, Beaudesert QLD. Go to  This is a complete scam promising amazing returns on investments. Parent website for this scam is southeastqldhomeandland.com.au
Now if one wishes to read the worst load of bullshit ever written: See also McCoy's Gallery and Claims                                                           
Threat to the editor of Wikifrauds: McCoy had one of his close associates leave a voicemail message on the editors phone. Have a listen to this grub.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ LATEST:  April 29, 2022 McCoy defaults on repayment plan for one of his victims.
We removed McCoy from Wikifrauds late last year after he entered into a repayment agreement. He has now defaulted on the last payment which was due today. This page will remain in place until he resumes the payments. But not only did McCoy default, which resuted in republication of ths page, he then demanded the return of some $30,000 we collected on behalf of a victim! 
                 We also know that McCoy somehow managed to cheat his way into aquiring a hotel in Ashford in northern NSW. . .  full story coming soon.
                 August 18, 2021   McCoy is now spruiking real estate investments that will return 400%
                 Go to Dove Property Group | Home & Land Packages in SEQLD and Positive Cashflow Properties! (southeastqldhomeandland.com.au)
                     This proposal is full of holes, and furthermore, is owned by a twice convicted and twice jailed fraudster, Les Cheers. Contact us for further information.
                May 27,2021 We have been advised by a confidential source that McCoy wants to negotiate a victim repayment plan ... let's see what develops!
                                                             . . . absolutely nothing eventuated. It was a con job to get him off Wikifrauds. but after a fortnight, we had to put this conman back on our site.
                          May 28, 2021  . .  For a man who openly boasts earnings of $11 million per year, McCoy couldn't even come up with a piddling $1500 to kick-start the repayment plan.
                                            What a time wasting fraudulent lying goose. And he wanted us to take him off Wikifrauds for a fortnight before commencing repayments - we figure this request was     
                                             because he has another deal (con job) in the pipeline and doesn't want the other party to read all about him on this website.
                June 11, 2021  McCoy defaulted on his first scheduled repayment. It seems that he was just trying to buy some clean air time while he swindled someone else. It will come out, it      
                                            allways does, somebody will contact us soon with yet another sad story of being conned.
He can come off this website when and only when he commences a repayment plan and makes the first payment. Any subsequent failure to make the agreed monthly repayment will immediately result in republishing this webpage.

 Douglas Graeme McCoy  . . . lying dog and consumate conman,    . . . . the real McCoy. . . . . . .  a true liar, thief and fake.
Updated May 15, 2021   
                                              Douglas Graeme McCoy, Australia's lowest predatory fraudster.                                                                                                                                                                       Dominique Grubisa, McCoy's idol.
Latest: McCoy's close ally Dominique Grubisa has licence cancelled by ASIC:

See also McCoy's own list of achievements he claims. We have rarely read such a load of bragging grabage. Link

Where's the Truth. Why, if McCoy earns $11 Million per year as he claims on his facebook video, has he connned older single women out of hundreds of thousands of dollars? And if he earns such huge amounts of money, how come he has an Australian Pensioner Concession card? (He has admitted that to one of his victims in an email, a copy of which we have).Perhaps the ATO and or Centrelink should review his situation.

Why did McCoy associate with this known grub, Dominique Grubisa. We have been advised by an informant that Grubisa did a lot of public spruiking, and interested parties were directed into the arms of McCoy.

     Dominique spruiking her best falsehoods.

Why have at least three elderly women laid complaints to police?

Why does McCoy refuse to repay a three-month loan of $50.000 to Mrs Ruth Rothery? And if he earns $11 million a year  as he claims, why did he need to borrow that $50k in the first place? More contradictions from this dodgy conman. Nothing he claims ever adds up.

Latest lie: McCoy's latest and close to his worst lie yet, followed his confronting Mrs Rothery and her daughter Sylvia at their church on Sunday January 24 2021, when he stated that he had paid some $40,000 of his debt owed to Ruth to a Mr Ray Powell on her behalf. This was an absolute lie, he has not made such a payment and Mr Powell has confirmed to Wikifrauds that he has not received any such payment. We have emailed McCoy requesting proof of the payment. He has not replied. This matter is again a contradiction; McCoy has all along denied owing Mrs Rothery any money at all, so why this lie about making a payment?

A narrative from one of McCoy's victims, now aged 91. This is from enmails to us from Mrs Rothery, and shows how McCoy used Grubisa's tactics to con her out of everything she had.:
Email to Wikifrauds dated Feb 4, 2021 ". . Brad Alfred warned me of a scam being perpetrated on the Gold Coast against vulnerable oldies & my response at that moment with Doug sitting near me was "Oh Brad, it's too late. They've already got all my money". Doug didn't even raise an eyebrow or ever admit he was in the scam!!! So, note well. He knew that $50,000 he "borrowed" that October- he KNEW quite well that it was the last of my money because HE WAS THE ONE WHO DROVE ME TO WHERE WAS THE OFFICE OF THE PERSON WHO WAS PAYING ME ON THE SALE OF THE PROPERTY I HAD IN BANORA POINT!!  So he KNEW the exact amount of that Bank cheque as I had to put it into my account & withdraw sufficient to pay for the washing machine I had had ALDI set aside for me & then Doug took me to pick it up at Tweed Heads & bring it to my place".   This demonstrates the use of Grubisa's tactics in searching default and court listings to find vulnerable people with some distressed assets. And it shows just how low McCoy stooped to get her money - he even drove her to collect the money!
Further:
"It was $50,000 he "borrowed from me with a guarantee IF HE DID NOT REPAY IN FULL IT WOULD AMOUNT AN EXTRA $5,000 PER MONTH ON TOP. HE MADE UP THE CONTRACT NOT ANY LAWYER & HE ASSURED ME THAT I WOULD HAVE IT BEFORE CHRISTMAS of that year assuring me it was very short term to pay wages to the group who had done the labour at the property in Wellington. Of course at the time & this is over 4'-5 years ago, at that time I did not know that he was part of the FORSYTHE set-up & had been involved right from the start so he fleeced me both ways. From that personal loan & from his cut of my hard-earned & saved money over many years!!! And he it was who brought Jim Boguevski (?) to my place so he was in on it even before it even got under way".
We have repeatedly asked the question of McCoy that if he earns eleven million per year as he has publicly claimed many times, why did he need to borrow a mere $50,000 from an old lady?


McCoy has recently published his "counter website" alleging all sorts of accusations against us and the editor. Not a word of it is accurate or true. He's desperate to shut us down and will get into bed with any other crooks to achieve this aim.

McCOY NOW USES FACEBOOK TO LURE MORE VICTIMS - DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS CONMAN. Check Facebook link to his "Billionaire Mind Magnet" page above. The only thing McCoy creates is misery and losers. There are no winners, except McCoy, who will readily snatch your money, all of it. If one watches his video (on the facebook link) wherein he claims to be making eleven million dollars a year, the question raised is why won't he repay a simple piddling $50,000 three-month personal loan? And if he was making all that huge amount of money, why did he need to borrow $50k in the first place? Does not add up. Go figure! This man is a true liar of gigantic proportions.

July 29, 2020: McCoy emails us confirmation of his collaboration with other criminals named on this website. Below is a pasted copy of his latest email. This guy and his mates confirm that they tried and failed to acquire our website and now want some sort of deal whereby they will remove McCoy's website on Wikifrauds if we remove our pages on this collective of bottom-feeders: (our comments are in red)

"Thank you for your acknowledgment of my Copywrited name and acknowledging that you know you owe me $530,000 for each breach!!  Appreciate it. (Never acknowledged by us)
Now just for your information we have a handful of your Victims are getting to together tomorrow, Wednesday 29th July to discuss the further actions and way forward with dealing with a little challenge we have had enough of... Just so I know if this could be considered AS A POSIBLE SOLUTION we could consider??? We had the money together we were going to buy your sick website, BUT realising your lack of good character traits and lack of any integrity and honesty, PLUS we had heard you were going to set up another website after you were paid anyway, so we decided we can use our money better ways then paying you. Please let me know by tomorrow if you are opened to both you and we take down our websites and we all move on and be nice people if you could ever consider that? OR at least take down Douglas (McCoy), John Foley, George, and John Alexander (not his real name) if we considered taking down our wikifrauds site? Is that something we could work out, OR best to not even discuss this as one of the solutions for discussion for tomorrows meetings? We have much more stuff, if that's what you call this rubbish about you? PLUS you address etc its about time we put up. Kindly let us know as soon as you can thank you Doug"

---

McCoy threatens us:A threatening voicemail message was left on the private phone of the editor on June 28, 2020, around midday.  McCoy must be stupid as the missed call showed the caller's number as 0449 971220. A simple lookup on Google showed the number as being McCoy's. What an idiot! He needs to read some good spook books and learn a little "tradecraft". Another threat issued by one of his co-conspirators can be heard here. This has also been given to police.
McCoy's copycat Wikifrauds website: McCoy, in an effort to discredit us, has published his own website which contains complete fabrications about us and the editor. There is nothing this conman will stop at to protect his scams and his bogus company, the Australian Success Academy.

July 14, 2020: McCoy email to us, what a joke:

"Detective, It has come to the world's attention and mine that you have been using the Copyrighted name: Douglas Graeme McCoy and/or it's derivatise without consent for the owner.This name is Copyrighted for some $530,000. It would appear that you were unaware. Unless you Cease and Desist as you were informed by my Solicitor Avish from the USA Office, we will have no alternative but to sue you to the full extent of the law, including DEFAMATION and EXTORTION included. Also if the use of this Copyrighted name should show up on any other website without my written consent then you will be sues. Please read letter attached. If you require any further proof this can be supplied. When I state ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, I have meant it!!
Thank you. Regards Douglas McCoy
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED"
Mr McCoy, who says he earns over $11,000,000,000 (eleven million!) per year (but can't repay a $50k loan), should have some lessons in English expression, and maybe some law text books would help also. He mentions some two dollar lawyer in the USA, yet he is a close personal friend of barrister John Foley. Why not use Foley to sue us? And since when does one's personal name become copyrighted. What a pitiful joke for a supposed sophisticated and successful businessman. The man is derranged and paranoid. All he has to do to have his name removed is to repay his $50k loan plus interest to Mrs Ruth Rothery.

McCoy intimidates one of his victims on Tuesday March 10
Independant mediator's report.

Conmen Associates of McCoy's:
                           
     Keith Kelly                    John Foley "Goldfinger"       Jim Bogevski          Clarence Boyd Nelson
                       
                       We understand McCoy's Wellington place is this one.. . . on Arthur St. It was fraudulently valued at just under $1M based on a ficticious lease agreement to enable McCoy to raise "working capital"

McCoy's latest eviction:.
McCoy took up residence, as a tenant, in 7 Brugha Close, Collingwood Park, a suburb of the city of Ipswich, QLD. The property had two premises, namely 1/7 and 2/7. McCoy was in one of these two tenanted units.The property was owned by Rajan Adhikari and had a mortgage to Westpac Corporation.
Mr Adhikari had to leave Australia urgently for reasons unknown, and left McCoy in charge. So, McCoy then tells the other tenant, a lady who was rather naive, that he McCoy now owns the property, and that the rent should now be paid directly to him and not the estate agent. She readily complies, not knowing anything to the contrary, and not checking with the estate agent. McCoy pockets all her rental payments and doesn't pay his own rent. Of course it was only a matter of time before the bank foreclosed. But then McCoy sought to stay the foreclosure and even had the cheek to challenge Wespac in court. Naturally he lost and was kicked out. Nobody knows what happened to the luckless Mr Adhikari. The court findings can be read here.

"This is from memory and is not to the dollar it is a big ask with no paperwork to back it up 

The companies and directors that got ruths money 

KK Developments p/l Director Kelly     We ave reason to believe that  KK developments  and Forsyth  are owned by Clarence Boyd Nelson.

BL Retirement living p/l Nelson              The same Nelson as above.

to the best of my knowledge this is where the money went 

Rent Factory Keysbough Victoria  $100,000.00 plus  Supposedly owned by Forsyth (John Alexander, Keith Kelly, Boyd Nelson)

Leases on cars                               $80,000.00 plus 

Deposit on land Beenleigh              $50,000.00 plus 

Buying a second mortgage from a builder who had already lost the block to a first mort gee                                           $85,000.00

Jim                                                    $50,000.00      Jim Bogoevski, shares accomodation with Nelson

Nelson                                               $20,000.00       Clarence Boyd Nelson, Gold Coast Solicitor.

Kelly                                                   $20,000.00

McCoy Brokerage                             $20,000.00

McCoy borrowed                               $60,000.00

LMC Money borrowed went into kk Dev $60,000.00     Keith Kelly along with Nelson at the helm

Silver chef  equipment Victoria         $80,0000.00 plus   Forsythe

This is to the best of my knowledge but a lot more cash went elsewhere at the request of Jim and nelson   That's Jim Bogoevski and Boyd Nelson.

"PS Re Foleys involvement he was introduced to me by McCoy stating that he could get the overall funding for Forsythe manufacturing and the ice cream ,Foley said that it would be easier for him to get the money if he was a director and shareholder ,he then said that McCoy should get some shares as with the money that he could raise giving away shares did not matter the rest is history 
Regards L"

MR DOUGLAS McCOY INVESTMENT ACTIVITIES

Mr BRAD HAZZARD (Wakehurst) [1.31 p.m.]: In life there are scam merchants and then there is the king of the scammers—one Douglas Graeme McCoy. I draw attention to this conman who knows no State boundaries and no moral boundaries. In 2005 a northern beaches woman, Therese Foley, received advice from an acquaintance at a northern beaches church that Mr McCoy would invest her money at a particularly good interest rate. In or about February 2005 Mrs Foley invested $300,000, the proceeds of her marriage property settlement, for a period of three months with the very unaptly named Loyalty Plus Pty Limited. None of the funds has ever been repaid. Mrs Foley advised me she had contacted the New South Wales Department of Consumer Affairs and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission prior to investing the funds and was given no indication that there was a problem. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission indicated that it had no history of Mr McCoy, and the New South Wales Department of Consumer Affairs indicated that it could not give Mrs Foley any information about Mr McCoy.

Research by Mrs Foley since the loss of her money found a reference to Mr McCoy in 1994 in Parliament after Mr Richard Amery, member of Parliament, asked a question on notice. At that time Mr Amery's question produced an answer that indicated that Douglas McCoy was involved in five separate companies that had generated a total of 48 formal complaints since 1985. The response also indicated that the Department of Consumer Affairs had cooperated with the New South Wales police service in initiation of criminal proceedings against Mr McCoy, although this appears never to have happened. I am therefore amazed that the Department of Consumer Affairs offered no advice to Mrs Foley prior to her lending the funds to Mr McCoy's company when he clearly has a long history of involvement in fraudulent activities of which the department was well aware or should have been aware.

On 14 June 2007 I wrote to the Minister for Fair Trading, the Hon. Linda Burney, sending a copy of the loan agreements dated February 2005, which facilitated the investment of $300,000 for three months. The documents stated interest would be paid up front and the balance repaid at the end of the three-month term. Mrs Foley received the one interest payment back. It appears she got back some of her $300,000 as an interest payment, but the rest was never seen again. Since February 2005—today is the three-year anniversary—she has received zilch. With the benefit of the history of parliamentary questions raised over 15 years ago, it is clear that Mr McCoy has ripped off vulnerable people for almost two decades, which raises the apparent lack of capacity in the State and Federal watchdogs to act appropriately. When I first contacted the Department of Consumer Affairs and the Federal body the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, neither body had contact details for Mr McCoy. Inquiries by me turned up an address in Western Sydney and I got a mobile number for that address. Phone discussions followed with the "king of conmen".

Mr McCoy presents as a credible fellow who turns out to be utterly incredible. After my contact with him he suddenly showed up at my office on Thursday 19 July 2007 and told me that he now lived at 6 Golfview Terrace, Robina, in Queensland. Does he really? Who knows? In a 1½ hour-long talkfest Mr McCoy admitted to me that he had been in a relationship with a woman called Jacqui Blazeski, the same woman who had attended a northern beaches church with Mrs Foley and first suggested that she invest her money with him. Mr McCoy claimed he had not seen Jacqui Blazeski for 12 to 18 months and that she had lived at Bondi. He stated that Jacqui had worked for him as a secretary-personal assistant for four to five months at Loyalty Plus. It would seem more likely that Jacqui was part of the scam, hooking innocent people into Mr McCoy's financial black hole.

So what is McCoy up to today? During our meeting he told me that he had set up a business with a woman called Bridget Bryant in a company called Y Not Call Me. He maintained there were "a lot of people after her" arising out of other business dealings. He named a James Meyers in Canada, and said the company's bank account was in Delaware, in the United States. He told me that had told Mrs Foley that her money would go into a telecommunications company with millions of distributors throughout the world and that this discussion took place in his office in Pyrmont in the premises of Y Not Call Me. Mrs Foley recollects going to a presentation at a Pyrmont office, which she thought belonged to Loyalty Plus Pty Limited, where McCoy delivered his conman spiel. She told him that she had her marriage property settlement funds to invest and that effectively they were all her available funds.

At the meeting with me in July, Mr McCoy gave me chapter and verse of his tales of woe to explain why he had not repaid the money. He told me he had put up 16 properties for security for loans totalling $1.8 million. He mentioned various properties at Mumbil and Wellington, and he said he now had a place on Macleay Island, off Queensland. He mentioned another business called Self Reliance, which he had operated 20 years ago, which had also gone into liquidation after a judgement debt for half a million dollars. After listening to his conman banter I asked him to sign a document on the spot that guaranteed he would personally pay back the money to Mrs Foley. That is, instead of Loyalty Plus Pty Limited, in liquidation, being the only avenue for Mrs Foley to get her money, I asked him to sign a document saying he would pay the money personally. In the best efforts of criminals, spivs and conmen, he even posed for a photograph showing the document he had just signed, which effectively bought him another few months while Mrs Foley hoped he would pay the money.

Today is the end of the road for McCoy the conman. Nobody on the northern beaches, nobody in Sydney, and indeed nobody in Australia, should be under any misapprehension: they would have more chance of getting their money back if they stood on North Head and threw their $300,000 to the four winds. I call on the Office of Fair Trading to get its act together and ensure that in future people who make inquiries before making investments can rely on the department to give the necessary information. If someone has been on a warning list, that is where they should stay and the list should be updated. In the meantime, the people of the northern beaches want to keep a look out for a fast-talking, smooth-operating king of scammers who will rip them off as quick as look at them. Finally, Mrs Foley needs help. She needs her $300,000. If anybody knows which rock this conman is under or what assets he has that could be used to pay back Mrs Foley, I ask them to please let Therese Foley know.

Ms LINDA BURNEY (Canterbury—Minister for Fair Trading, Minister for Youth, and Minister for Volunteering) [1.36 p.m.]: I thank the member for Wakehurst for raising the issue. He has written to me and discussed the matter with my staff. The body responsible for consumer protection regarding financial services is the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. However, the Office of Fair Trading contacted the liquidator seeking further information about the circumstances of the liquidation. Fair Trading investigated Mrs Foley's complaint and is liaising with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission about Mr McCoy's investment activities and involvement with at least one failed company to determine whether any regulatory action is appropriate.

Generally, Fair Trading is not in a position to provide consumers with reputation checks unless the Minister or the Commissioner for Fair Trading has issued a current public warning about the trader's conduct that can be brought to the attention of the inquirer. In the case of Mr McCoy no public statement has been issued for more than 10 years. I place that on record, but I am very happy, as the member for Wakehurst would know, to have further discussions regarding the matter. I take on board his comments today.