According to local media, the 48-year-old unnamed Kiwi from Christchurch was the ringleader of the scam based in Australia’s Gold Coast.
Some of the victims were retired and the money they lost was from their superannuation funds.
Detective senior sergeant Daren Edwards said that the fraudsters used cold calls and websites to convince investors to part with their cash, reports Australian newspaper Courier Mail.
One victim in West Australia invested A$300,000, while another in his 70s from the Sunshine Coast parted with more than A$70,000.
Money gone
The money was used to fund a lavish Gold Coast lifestyle and police have not yet uncovered any assets that they can strip from the man to give investors, making it unlikely that the investors will get any of their money back.
The scam operated by drip feeding small amounts of cash back to the investors to entice them to hand over more money.
Edwards said: “Some of the allegations are that some of the complainants received some of the fund back so they appeared they were getting returns, however that was just a phoenix set up.
“Once an investor put money in, they would drip feed some of the other investors money to give the false impression they wee getting money,” he added.
