How a former ATO agent lost $800k to a scammer
by Joshua Peach · Australian Financial ReviewJoshua PeachData journalist
Sep 11, 2026 – 9.00am
“Adam, we’re going to have to sell the house.” His mother, Lois, was on the phone, and her panicked confession came as a shock. It was only the first of many that day. She explained that his father, Laurence, a comfortably retired former tax official in his 70s, had received a letter claiming the couple owed an overseas business some $300,000.
Adam Friend, a former police officer who works in security in Sydney, rushed to his parents’ house in rural NSW. “My parents were at a loss. They collapsed in a heap,” he tells AFR Weekend.
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Joshua PeachData journalistJoshua Peach is a data journalist and part of The AFR Data Investigations team. Email Joshua at joshua.peach@nine.com.au
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