Peter Foster goes behind bars

Notorious serial fraudster Peter Foster has been apprehended in relation to an alleged multimillion-dollar global sports betting scam. His morning arrest took place on August 20 at the Port Douglas beachfront in northeast Australia, where he was walking his two dogs.

Foster received the betting funds, then laundered them

The fraud allegations relate to an offering claiming to get experts to make sports bets on investors’ behalf. However, no wagers were ever placed. Instead, Foster received the betting funds, then laundered them in New South Wales (NSW). He used the name Bill Dawson as an alias in the scam, which went by the name of Sports Predictions.

A NSW Police spokesperson said Queensland Police arrested Foster on grounds of fraud, adding that investigators are going to apply for his extradition to NSW. The career conman now awaits a Friday extradition court hearing. Officers conducted a search warrant and seized items found at Foster’s Port Douglas home. 

Private investigator on the case

Police have been monitoring Foster’s movements for some time in relation to this latest alleged international scam, as has private investigator Ken Gamble.

The latter started gathering information on the case after a concerned international investor who allegedly lost about AU$2m (US$1.44m) in the scam contacted him. Gamble is also the chairperson of international cybercrime investigation team IFW Global.

international investor who allegedly lost about AU$2m (US$1.44m)

Gamble spent a number of weeks investigating Sports Predictions. He observed that it was hiding its owners from public view and did not give website visitors any visibility of its online promotions.

He was then able to track Foster down, explaining that: “I had received intelligence that Foster was in the market for a luxury motor yacht, valued at over a million dollars. It was moored in Port Douglas and is an ocean-going vessel, which suggested to me that he was getting set to leave Australia for good.”

Gamble passed on all intelligence on the Foster case to the Australian authorities. IFW Global tweeted about the resulting beach arrest:

A history of fraud

Foster has served prison sentences across the world over the years for fraud offenses, including in Britain, the United States, and Australia.

He was recently involved in another alleged scam relating to the Sports Trading Club global gambling syndicate. In his attempt to escape the authorities, he ended up being chased by a TV crew in his home and apprehended by local detectives. The infamous Foster also headed a gambling operation similar to Sports Predictions called Sportalists. The scheme was shut down in 2012.