Reality bites for Married At First Sight star Dan Webb as he faces trial over a ‘$24million fraud scam’
A former reality television contestant has a case to answer over an alleged multi-million dollar ‘boiler room’ telemarketing scam.
Former Married At First Sight groom Daniel Phillip Webb was committed in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Friday to stand trial with four others.
The prosecution argues the scam raked in about $24million from hundreds of victims in 2013 and 2014.
Court: Married At First Sight groom Dan Webb (pictured) is set to face a Brisbane court over an alleged scam that raked in $24million
It is alleged the scammers ran a call centre, referred to as a ‘boiler room’ by police, involving sales people pressuring unsuspecting victims to invest money thinking they would make good returns.
Victims were allegedly cold-called and offered investments in products or packages that did not exist.
‘In fact the monies were not so invested, and monies were dispersed to a number of the defendants within the operation,’ Magistrate Belinda Merrin said of the prosecution case on Friday.
Co-accused: The 36-year-old will stand trial with four others
Police allege companies would disappear to be rebranded and replaced by another entity that continued to operate the apparent scam.
The court was told of instances of ‘dummy’ directors, the use of false names by staff, the shredding of ‘mountains’ of paperwork and the withdrawal of cash before a business was shut down.
During a committal hearing in February, the court heard those running the operation allegedly used associates as signatories behind companies and bank accounts into which money was deposited and then withdrawn.
Webb has been charged with dishonestly gaining benefit to a value of over $30,000 and was committed to stand trial in the Brisbane District Court.
Kirsty Maria Lester, brothers Patrik Rasmus Goransson and Charlie Mikael Goransson and Nicholas John Forbes were committed to stand trial alongside Webb on Friday.
No date has been set for the trial.