Australian Woman Steals Millions from Retirement Fund Via Crypto

• A Melbourne-based woman has stolen money from retirement funds and laundered them using crypto.
• She scammed AU $3 million from 26 super funds customers like HESTA, Hostplus etc.
• She was paid her share of AU $147,000 in Bitcoin.

Melbourne-based Australian woman, Jasmine Vella-Arpaci pleaded guilty on October 5 for participating in the theft of millions of Australian dollars from superannuation funds. As reported by Australia’s The Age Newspaper, she reportedly laundered the money via Hong Kong by buying cryptocurrency and diamonds.

Stealing from 26 customers of super funds such as HESTA, Hostplus, Rest Super, and several share trading platforms, Arpaci, 21 years old at the time, used identity theft and phishing scams to steal over AU $3 million or USD $1.96 million.

Next, the stolen money was laundered by another member based out of Hong Kong through the purchase of diamonds and jewellery. Arpaci, now 24, who transferred the embezzled funds to a series of Westpac debit cards before they were mailed off to Hong Kong, was paid a total share of AU $147,000 in Bitcoin.

The superannuation scheme is Australia’s largest retirement funds and stock portfolio scheme, ranking fifth on a global rating with a valuation of USD $3.2 trillion. Also, the Australian retirement fund industry is speculating about investing in cryptocurrency.

Moreover, during the investigation, the Australian police also discovered that Vella-Arpaci held over 1,400 documents including passports, driver’s licenses, bank accounts, and Medicare cards in her possession.

Currently, she is on bail until her next hearing on November 30, after admitting guilt to two charges of conspiracy to defraud, and another charge of conspiracy to deal with the proceeds of the crime.