Mushroom killer's interview reveals previously unheard details of deadly lunch
The 50-year-old convicted triple killer's police interview was publicly released for the first time on Friday afternoon.It comes a month after Patterson was found guilty of murdering three members of her estranged husband's family, and the attempted murder of a fourth, with a toxic beef Wellington lunch.
Patterson was interviewed at Wonthaggi police station on August 5, 2023, after her former mother-in-law Gail Patterson, 70, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, died in hospital from eating her poisoned cooking.
Don Patterson, 70, would die hours after her police interview, while Heather's husband Ian Wilkinson would eventually recover after weeks in hospital.
"Donald underwent a transplant last night, and his condition is still extremely critical as of last report," Detective Stephen Eppingstall told Patterson.
"OK," she replied, shaking her head and looking down.
"Heather and Gail have passed away," Det Eppingstall continued.
"In relation to Ian, I don't have a current prognosis in relation to where he's at. As of late yesterday, the diagnosis isn't great for him either.
"We're trying to understand what has made them so ill."
Patterson replies: "But I'm sure you understand too that, like I've never been in a situation like this before."
This is when her lies begin.
"And I've been very, very helpful with the health department through the week because I wanted to help that side of things as much as possible, because I do want to know what happened," she said.
"So I've given them as much information as they've asked for and offered up all the food and all the information about where the food came from."
READ MORE: Why estranged husband didn't go to deadly mushroom meal
Patterson claimed she bought dried mushrooms for the Wellington from an Asian store, sending local council and health authorities on a mission to track down toxic products that could be on the shelves, but none were ever found.
She then lied to police about her interest in mushroom foraging, as she later admitted in the witness box to enjoying wild mushrooms and that she may have included foraged fungi in the lunch.
"Obviously we've got concerns in relation to these mushrooms and where they've come from," Det Eppingstall said.
"Is that something you've done in the past, foraging for mushrooms?"
Patterson shakes her head and says "never".
She denied she had ever preserved or dehydrated food, despite later admitting to having done both.
READ MORE: 'My cat chewed on this mushroom': what the mushroom jury didn't hear
Patterson had disposed of a Sunbeam food dehydrator, which was later found to contain death cap toxins, at a local tip days earlier on August 2.
She then explained why she had invited her estranged husband's family for the July 29, 2023, lunch - because "I've got no other family".
"They're the only support I've got left, and they've always been really good to me, and I want to maintain those relationships with them in spite of what's happened with Simon," Patterson said.
"I love them a lot."
Patterson will return to the Supreme Court on August 25 for a pre-sentence hearing.
The world can now watch mushroom murderer Erin Patterson's repeated lies to police as her estranged husband's relatives were dead and dying in hospital.
The 50-year-old convicted triple killer's police interview was publicly released for the first time on Friday afternoon.It comes a month after Patterson was found guilty of murdering three members of her estranged husband's family, and the attempted murder of a fourth, with a toxic beef Wellington lunch.
Patterson was interviewed at Wonthaggi police station on August 5, 2023, after her former mother-in-law Gail Patterson, 70, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, died in hospital from eating her poisoned cooking.
Don Patterson, 70, would die hours after her police interview, while Heather's husband Ian Wilkinson would eventually recover after weeks in hospital.
"Donald underwent a transplant last night, and his condition is still extremely critical as of last report," Detective Stephen Eppingstall told Patterson.
"OK," she replied, shaking her head and looking down.
"Heather and Gail have passed away," Det Eppingstall continued.
"In relation to Ian, I don't have a current prognosis in relation to where he's at. As of late yesterday, the diagnosis isn't great for him either.
"We're trying to understand what has made them so ill."
Patterson replies: "But I'm sure you understand too that, like I've never been in a situation like this before."
This is when her lies begin.
"And I've been very, very helpful with the health department through the week because I wanted to help that side of things as much as possible, because I do want to know what happened," she said.
"So I've given them as much information as they've asked for and offered up all the food and all the information about where the food came from."
READ MORE: Why estranged husband didn't go to deadly mushroom meal
Patterson claimed she bought dried mushrooms for the Wellington from an Asian store, sending local council and health authorities on a mission to track down toxic products that could be on the shelves, but none were ever found.
She then lied to police about her interest in mushroom foraging, as she later admitted in the witness box to enjoying wild mushrooms and that she may have included foraged fungi in the lunch.
"Obviously we've got concerns in relation to these mushrooms and where they've come from," Det Eppingstall said.
"Is that something you've done in the past, foraging for mushrooms?"
Patterson shakes her head and says "never".
She denied she had ever preserved or dehydrated food, despite later admitting to having done both.
READ MORE: 'My cat chewed on this mushroom': what the mushroom jury didn't hear
Patterson had disposed of a Sunbeam food dehydrator, which was later found to contain death cap toxins, at a local tip days earlier on August 2.
She then explained why she had invited her estranged husband's family for the July 29, 2023, lunch - because "I've got no other family".
"They're the only support I've got left, and they've always been really good to me, and I want to maintain those relationships with them in spite of what's happened with Simon," Patterson said.
"I love them a lot."
Patterson will return to the Supreme Court on August 25 for a pre-sentence hearing.
The world can now watch mushroom murderer Erin Patterson's repeated lies to police as her estranged husband's relatives were dead and dying in hospital.
The 50-year-old convicted triple killer's police interview was publicly released for the first time on Friday afternoon.It comes a month after Patterson was found guilty of murdering three members of her estranged husband's family, and the attempted murder of a fourth, with a toxic beef Wellington lunch.
Patterson was interviewed at Wonthaggi police station on August 5, 2023, after her former mother-in-law Gail Patterson, 70, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, died in hospital from eating her poisoned cooking.
Don Patterson, 70, would die hours after her police interview, while Heather's husband Ian Wilkinson would eventually recover after weeks in hospital.
"Donald underwent a transplant last night, and his condition is still extremely critical as of last report," Detective Stephen Eppingstall told Patterson.
"OK," she replied, shaking her head and looking down.
"Heather and Gail have passed away," Det Eppingstall continued.
"In relation to Ian, I don't have a current prognosis in relation to where he's at. As of late yesterday, the diagnosis isn't great for him either.
"We're trying to understand what has made them so ill."
Patterson replies: "But I'm sure you understand too that, like I've never been in a situation like this before."
This is when her lies begin.
"And I've been very, very helpful with the health department through the week because I wanted to help that side of things as much as possible, because I do want to know what happened," she said.
"So I've given them as much information as they've asked for and offered up all the food and all the information about where the food came from."
READ MORE: Why estranged husband didn't go to deadly mushroom meal
Patterson claimed she bought dried mushrooms for the Wellington from an Asian store, sending local council and health authorities on a mission to track down toxic products that could be on the shelves, but none were ever found.
She then lied to police about her interest in mushroom foraging, as she later admitted in the witness box to enjoying wild mushrooms and that she may have included foraged fungi in the lunch.
"Obviously we've got concerns in relation to these mushrooms and where they've come from," Det Eppingstall said.
"Is that something you've done in the past, foraging for mushrooms?"
Patterson shakes her head and says "never".
She denied she had ever preserved or dehydrated food, despite later admitting to having done both.
READ MORE: 'My cat chewed on this mushroom': what the mushroom jury didn't hear
Patterson had disposed of a Sunbeam food dehydrator, which was later found to contain death cap toxins, at a local tip days earlier on August 2.
She then explained why she had invited her estranged husband's family for the July 29, 2023, lunch - because "I've got no other family".
"They're the only support I've got left, and they've always been really good to me, and I want to maintain those relationships with them in spite of what's happened with Simon," Patterson said.
"I love them a lot."
Patterson will return to the Supreme Court on August 25 for a pre-sentence hearing.
The world can now watch mushroom murderer Erin Patterson's repeated lies to police as her estranged husband's relatives were dead and dying in hospital.
The 50-year-old convicted triple killer's police interview was publicly released for the first time on Friday afternoon.It comes a month after Patterson was found guilty of murdering three members of her estranged husband's family, and the attempted murder of a fourth, with a toxic beef Wellington lunch.
Patterson was interviewed at Wonthaggi police station on August 5, 2023, after her former mother-in-law Gail Patterson, 70, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, died in hospital from eating her poisoned cooking.
Don Patterson, 70, would die hours after her police interview, while Heather's husband Ian Wilkinson would eventually recover after weeks in hospital.
"Donald underwent a transplant last night, and his condition is still extremely critical as of last report," Detective Stephen Eppingstall told Patterson.
"OK," she replied, shaking her head and looking down.
"Heather and Gail have passed away," Det Eppingstall continued.
"In relation to Ian, I don't have a current prognosis in relation to where he's at. As of late yesterday, the diagnosis isn't great for him either.
"We're trying to understand what has made them so ill."
Patterson replies: "But I'm sure you understand too that, like I've never been in a situation like this before."
This is when her lies begin.
"And I've been very, very helpful with the health department through the week because I wanted to help that side of things as much as possible, because I do want to know what happened," she said.
"So I've given them as much information as they've asked for and offered up all the food and all the information about where the food came from."
READ MORE: Why estranged husband didn't go to deadly mushroom meal
Patterson claimed she bought dried mushrooms for the Wellington from an Asian store, sending local council and health authorities on a mission to track down toxic products that could be on the shelves, but none were ever found.
She then lied to police about her interest in mushroom foraging, as she later admitted in the witness box to enjoying wild mushrooms and that she may have included foraged fungi in the lunch.
"Obviously we've got concerns in relation to these mushrooms and where they've come from," Det Eppingstall said.
"Is that something you've done in the past, foraging for mushrooms?"
Patterson shakes her head and says "never".
She denied she had ever preserved or dehydrated food, despite later admitting to having done both.
READ MORE: 'My cat chewed on this mushroom': what the mushroom jury didn't hear
Patterson had disposed of a Sunbeam food dehydrator, which was later found to contain death cap toxins, at a local tip days earlier on August 2.
She then explained why she had invited her estranged husband's family for the July 29, 2023, lunch - because "I've got no other family".
"They're the only support I've got left, and they've always been really good to me, and I want to maintain those relationships with them in spite of what's happened with Simon," Patterson said.
"I love them a lot."
Patterson will return to the Supreme Court on August 25 for a pre-sentence hearing.
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7NEWS
3 days ago
- 7NEWS
Inside Erin Patterson's family life a decade before her notorious mushroom murders
A decade before Erin Patterson became Australia's infamous mushroom murderer, she and her husband Simon were like many young families delicately trying to balance the demands of life and parenthood. At the time, the couple were living and working in Western Australia while raising their then four-year-old son. But in 2013, after spending about six years in the country's west, the family decided to relocate back to their home state of Victoria. Rather than flying between the states, the family drove 1350km along a corrugated sandy track through the red Australian desert as they made their way back east. Now, photos of the trip of a lifetime have surfaced — offering a glimpse into the Patterson family's life before their world would be irreparably fractured just 10 years later by her wicked crimes. The images taken by Simon, an amateur photographer, were shared at the time in a post on a blogging website where he detailed the family's 'Australian Outback Adventure' along the Anne Beadell Hwy, which runs horizontally through Western and South Australia. The pictures show their campsite set up under a starry night sky, the couple's son playing cricket, a camel and plane wreckage they encountered along the way, and shots of the stunning, orange, rugged terrain. 'One of the greatest feelings in the world is camping under the stars in the Australian outback,' he wrote. 'There is nothing like the peace and tranquility, hundreds of miles from civilisation. It's a real privilege to safely pitch a tent with one's family and enjoy a simple campfire meal in the crisp, clear air. 'The view of the Milky Way above is breathtaking and mesmerising, inviting travellers to stare upwards for hours on end.' At the time of the trip, Patterson was 38-years-old and pregnant with the couple's second child. Simon said the family's household possessions followed behind them, transported in containers by rail, as they made the cross-country journey in their 4WD. While the most common west-to-east route across southern part of Australia is the bitumen-sealed Eyre Hwy, Simon said the family had previously crossed the Nullabor Plain via that road and wanted to try a 'more remote' course. The Anne Beadell Hwy runs through the Great Victoria Desert, which was a site for British atomic bomb tests in the 1950s. Simon said they chose campsites 'far' from the bomb test sites, heeding warnings to travellers to avoid spending too much time in areas with possible nuclear radiation exposure. Along their journey, the family came across many camels — introduced in the 1800s from the Middle East and now considered a pest in the Australian outback — as well as the wreckage of a plane carrying census forms that had crashed several years earlier. During their five-day journey, they grappled with no mobile phone coverage, only saw 10 other parties, and relied mostly on resources they had brought with them, topping up their fuel and basic supplies at a small general store roughly mid-way along the route. Simon said their son managed the trip 'very well' as long as he played cricket with him one or twice every day. At her jury trial earlier this year, Patterson told the court she and Simon married in 2007 while living in Melbourne, then packed up their belongings to travel, before finally settling in Western Australia where their son was born in 2009. During their time there, Patterson opened a second-hand bookstore in the small rural town of Pemberton, in the state's southwest, while her husband worked at the local council. 'I spent months travelling around Western Australia collecting books to sell there. I went to a lot of book fairs and libraries and estates selling their old stocks,' Patterson told the jury as she gave evidence on the stand. 'I painted the inside and I bought about 30 or 35 book shelves from IKEA and I got things like the internet and phone set up.' Patterson also told the jury they decided to move back to Victoria due to a number of factors, including her son being extroverted and she had just fallen pregnant and they wanted to be closer to Simon's parents, Don and Gail Patterson. 'We packed up our home in 2013 and it took a few months to come back,' she said. 'We first went to New Zealand for a few weeks and when we got back we stayed with Don and Gail for a good six weeks. 'It was cramped — in that all three of us were in one room, but it didn't matter because Don and Gail were so welcoming. It was a really good experience.' Patterson and Simon permanently separated in 2015, the year after returning to Victoria, after experiencing bouts of splitting and reconciling from as early as 2009. Last month, Patterson, 50, was found guilty of murdering Don, Gail, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson after serving up death cap mushroom-laced beef wellingtons at a family lunch at her Leongatha home, in Victoria's Gippsland, on 29 July 2023. She was also found guilty of the attempted murder of Heather's husband Ian Wilkinson, who attended the lunch but survived. She will be sentenced later this year.
Sydney Morning Herald
3 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
This Sydney woman lost $200K to a notorious street scam. Her family blames a ‘zombie drug'
Mei Lin, 85, still feels embarrassed about falling victim to the scam, given that she lives independently and doesn't have any major health concerns. She doesn't like to talk about it, and has never revealed to her family what was going through her mind when she handed over about $200,000 in cash and jewellery. But the statement she gave to police describes a textbook example of how the theatrical fraud unfolds. On January 11, 2018, Mei Lin was mailing documents at a post box on Henley Road in Homebush West when she was approached by a middle-aged Asian woman in a panic, who said she was looking for a special herb that she needed to save her injured daughter, who wouldn't stop bleeding. A second woman, pretending to overhear, joined the conversation to say that she knew a healer who could help. Engaging in small talk, she told Mei Lin she was also Chinese Malaysian. The two women then placed their hands on Mei Lin's shoulders and guided her down a quieter street, where a man they said knew the healer joined the group. After sending the first woman away to retrieve her money for a blessing, the man turned his attention to Mei Lin, sharing his concern that her daughter would succumb to a mysterious illness if her belongings weren't blessed. Mei Lin was curious because the man seemed to know details about his daughter's life. The second woman escorted Mei Lin to her house and waited outside while she filled a bag with $196,000 worth of sentimental jewellery, including her most prized possession – a 1.87-carat diamond ring she bought back home in Malaysia in the 1970s. The pair then travelled to Strathfield Plaza, where Mei Lin withdrew $5000, her daily cash limit, from the Commonwealth Bank branch inside and added it to her bag. What happens next still confuses Mei Lin. Having returned to the man at Henley Road, she can't recall at what point she handed over her bag, but suddenly, it was being returned to her with the instruction to 'take this home and put it next to your bed for three months'. 'Don't touch it,' she was told. Mei Lin began to feel suspicious as she drove away. As soon as she arrived home, she opened the bag and found a bottle of water and two candles. After confiding in her brother-in-law, Mei Lin reported the scam to the police, but the investigation didn't progress very far. CCTV was never recovered, and no arrests were made. Frustrated by the lack of action and in disbelief that Mei Lin could have been scammed so easily, Chan decided to advocate to the police on her behalf. Chan says Mei Lin doesn't believe in 'spiritual blessings', and while she is generous with her family, she is otherwise conservative with her money. 'There's no way this would have happened but for the fact that they had used the drug and made her comply. It's just all nonsense,' she says. After asking her law enforcement contacts about scopolamine, Chan became convinced it explained Mei Lin's scam. Loading 'They come next to you, and they just blow a little bit at you, and you don't even realise they've blown a little bit of a drug at you, and just enough to make you really compliant, so you're hypnotised.' Chan's not alone in believing a loved one was drugged using scopolamine during the scam. Tuyet van Huynh, the daughter of a UK victim, told the BBC in 2024 that CCTV from her mother's London scam showed she 'followed every instruction to the point where she was like a zombie'. Van Huynh believes a drug like scopolamine must have been used because, like Mei Lin, her mother is not superstitious or spiritual and she complied unquestioningly. Scopolamine, sometimes called 'devil's breath' in criminal contexts, is a highly potent tropane alkaloid in the nightshade family. Derived from nature, the drug can be easily extracted from Brugmansia flowers, also known as angel's trumpets, that grow in temperate climates around the world. Highly biologically active, scopolamine is best known for its use in common medications to prevent motion sickness, such as Kwells and TravaCalm, but its psychoactive properties have also seen it taken recreationally. The use of scopolamine in crime, particularly thefts, has been well documented in Latin America, particularly Colombia, while reports are increasing in Europe. 'It causes a drug-induced delirium, but it also causes amnesia,' explains ANU Associate Professor David Caldicott, an emergency medicine clinician who also researches drug-facilitated crime. Loading 'If you were to somehow get that inside an elderly individual, who knows what you could suggest in terms of making them part ways with their valuables. These are incredibly potent drugs.' Powdered scopolamine is tasteless and odourless and, according to a 2013 study, can be absorbed via inhalation and place a victim under the drug's effects within minutes. Detection by authorities is made more difficult by the rapid elimination of scopolamine from the body. It can only be detected within 24 hours of its ingestion. Caldicott says that only a very small dose would be needed to affect an elderly woman. The use of scopolamine in Chinese blessing scams hasn't been established by law enforcement in any jurisdiction. In a statement, NSW Police said that while investigations continue, 'there is no evidence or inquiries being made into the use of drugs to facilitate the scams'. In April this year, NSW Police's North West Metropolitan Region launched Strike Force Sentinel to co-ordinate its response after a surge in reported blessing scams around the city, including in the Ryde, Burwood, Parramatta and Hornsby areas. In July, NSW Police charged two Chinese nationals and issued arrest warrants for seven others in connection with 85 reported scams over two years that resulted in more than $3 million stolen. They said they had counted at least 50 alleged scammers, 25 of whom had been identified. The ongoing probe is limited to cases from July 2023 onwards. Cases reported before 2023, such as Mei Lin's, as well as the many that have gone unreported, undoubtedly place the true number of Sydney victims in the hundreds. Chan questions why there hasn't been a more organised effort sooner, given the global nature of the fraud and that victims such as Mei Lin were being targeted long before 2023. It's not clear if the same syndicate is responsible for Mei Lin's scam. Mei Lin's scam was investigated by the Auburn Police Area Command, but Chan believes local police aren't equipped to tackle a sophisticated international scam. 'The way our police system works, with a lack of co-ordination, means even if we've captured this bunch of people, another bunch of people might be operating in the very next area,' she says. Law enforcement around the world has struggled to apprehend the scammers, who frequently fly in and out of the country, usually on tourist visas. In a July press conference, Detective Superintendent Guy Magee described the scammers as 'FIFO criminals'. 'They're organised criminals that fly in for short periods of time, on up to 20 occasions over two years, and fly out,' he said. Magee also commented on the low reporting rates associated with scam victims, as well as the Chinese community. 'Anecdotally, I think the offending is probably at least double what we think,' he said.
The Age
3 days ago
- The Age
This Sydney woman lost $200K to a notorious street scam. Her family blames a ‘zombie drug'
Mei Lin, 85, still feels embarrassed about falling victim to the scam, given that she lives independently and doesn't have any major health concerns. She doesn't like to talk about it, and has never revealed to her family what was going through her mind when she handed over about $200,000 in cash and jewellery. But the statement she gave to police describes a textbook example of how the theatrical fraud unfolds. On January 11, 2018, Mei Lin was mailing documents at a post box on Henley Road in Homebush West when she was approached by a middle-aged Asian woman in a panic, who said she was looking for a special herb that she needed to save her injured daughter, who wouldn't stop bleeding. A second woman, pretending to overhear, joined the conversation to say that she knew a healer who could help. Engaging in small talk, she told Mei Lin she was also Chinese Malaysian. The two women then placed their hands on Mei Lin's shoulders and guided her down a quieter street, where a man they said knew the healer joined the group. After sending the first woman away to retrieve her money for a blessing, the man turned his attention to Mei Lin, sharing his concern that her daughter would succumb to a mysterious illness if her belongings weren't blessed. Mei Lin was curious because the man seemed to know details about his daughter's life. The second woman escorted Mei Lin to her house and waited outside while she filled a bag with $196,000 worth of sentimental jewellery, including her most prized possession – a 1.87-carat diamond ring she bought back home in Malaysia in the 1970s. The pair then travelled to Strathfield Plaza, where Mei Lin withdrew $5000, her daily cash limit, from the Commonwealth Bank branch inside and added it to her bag. What happens next still confuses Mei Lin. Having returned to the man at Henley Road, she can't recall at what point she handed over her bag, but suddenly, it was being returned to her with the instruction to 'take this home and put it next to your bed for three months'. 'Don't touch it,' she was told. Mei Lin began to feel suspicious as she drove away. As soon as she arrived home, she opened the bag and found a bottle of water and two candles. After confiding in her brother-in-law, Mei Lin reported the scam to the police, but the investigation didn't progress very far. CCTV was never recovered, and no arrests were made. Frustrated by the lack of action and in disbelief that Mei Lin could have been scammed so easily, Chan decided to advocate to the police on her behalf. Chan says Mei Lin doesn't believe in 'spiritual blessings', and while she is generous with her family, she is otherwise conservative with her money. 'There's no way this would have happened but for the fact that they had used the drug and made her comply. It's just all nonsense,' she says. After asking her law enforcement contacts about scopolamine, Chan became convinced it explained Mei Lin's scam. Loading 'They come next to you, and they just blow a little bit at you, and you don't even realise they've blown a little bit of a drug at you, and just enough to make you really compliant, so you're hypnotised.' Chan's not alone in believing a loved one was drugged using scopolamine during the scam. Tuyet van Huynh, the daughter of a UK victim, told the BBC in 2024 that CCTV from her mother's London scam showed she 'followed every instruction to the point where she was like a zombie'. Van Huynh believes a drug like scopolamine must have been used because, like Mei Lin, her mother is not superstitious or spiritual and she complied unquestioningly. Scopolamine, sometimes called 'devil's breath' in criminal contexts, is a highly potent tropane alkaloid in the nightshade family. Derived from nature, the drug can be easily extracted from Brugmansia flowers, also known as angel's trumpets, that grow in temperate climates around the world. Highly biologically active, scopolamine is best known for its use in common medications to prevent motion sickness, such as Kwells and TravaCalm, but its psychoactive properties have also seen it taken recreationally. The use of scopolamine in crime, particularly thefts, has been well documented in Latin America, particularly Colombia, while reports are increasing in Europe. 'It causes a drug-induced delirium, but it also causes amnesia,' explains ANU Associate Professor David Caldicott, an emergency medicine clinician who also researches drug-facilitated crime. Loading 'If you were to somehow get that inside an elderly individual, who knows what you could suggest in terms of making them part ways with their valuables. These are incredibly potent drugs.' Powdered scopolamine is tasteless and odourless and, according to a 2013 study, can be absorbed via inhalation and place a victim under the drug's effects within minutes. Detection by authorities is made more difficult by the rapid elimination of scopolamine from the body. It can only be detected within 24 hours of its ingestion. Caldicott says that only a very small dose would be needed to affect an elderly woman. The use of scopolamine in Chinese blessing scams hasn't been established by law enforcement in any jurisdiction. In a statement, NSW Police said that while investigations continue, 'there is no evidence or inquiries being made into the use of drugs to facilitate the scams'. In April this year, NSW Police's North West Metropolitan Region launched Strike Force Sentinel to co-ordinate its response after a surge in reported blessing scams around the city, including in the Ryde, Burwood, Parramatta and Hornsby areas. In July, NSW Police charged two Chinese nationals and issued arrest warrants for seven others in connection with 85 reported scams over two years that resulted in more than $3 million stolen. They said they had counted at least 50 alleged scammers, 25 of whom had been identified. The ongoing probe is limited to cases from July 2023 onwards. Cases reported before 2023, such as Mei Lin's, as well as the many that have gone unreported, undoubtedly place the true number of Sydney victims in the hundreds. Chan questions why there hasn't been a more organised effort sooner, given the global nature of the fraud and that victims such as Mei Lin were being targeted long before 2023. It's not clear if the same syndicate is responsible for Mei Lin's scam. Mei Lin's scam was investigated by the Auburn Police Area Command, but Chan believes local police aren't equipped to tackle a sophisticated international scam. 'The way our police system works, with a lack of co-ordination, means even if we've captured this bunch of people, another bunch of people might be operating in the very next area,' she says. Law enforcement around the world has struggled to apprehend the scammers, who frequently fly in and out of the country, usually on tourist visas. In a July press conference, Detective Superintendent Guy Magee described the scammers as 'FIFO criminals'. 'They're organised criminals that fly in for short periods of time, on up to 20 occasions over two years, and fly out,' he said. Magee also commented on the low reporting rates associated with scam victims, as well as the Chinese community. 'Anecdotally, I think the offending is probably at least double what we think,' he said.
