Many people operating businesses in the travel and tourism industries will be familiar with the long-running false billing scams perpetrated by Amanda Jane Stichbury and her companies Accommodation Find Pty Ltd, Internet Find Pty Ltd, and Special Days Pty Ltd.
Many businesses were sent either invoices or renewal letters concerning advertising on her large network of websites. Most advertisements were never ordered or authorised, so some businesses were tricked into paying the invoices that arrived, assuming it was an ongoing and authorised service.
Some of the websites that Amanda Stichbury set up had names that closely resembled names of official government tourism authorities, confusing and potentially deceiving many business owners. This attracted significant attention from many tourism bodies across Australia who regularly sent out warnings to their clients about those sorts of invoices and renewal letters.
In 2014, Amanda Stichbury was fined almost $20,000 for breaching Australian Consumer Law in regards to unsolicited invoices and requests for payments. However, this didn’t deter her from continuing her existing business model which was recently described by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) in Queensland as being “based almost entirely on deception” and “preying upon time-poor businesses“.
In January 2017, Amanda Stichbury was fined a further $50,000 in the Southport Magistrates Court after a lengthy investigation by the OFT. A total of 166 charges were made, including:
- sending another person an invoice for unsolicited services
- making false and misleading representations
Businesses across Australia, not just those in the travel and tourism industry, were on the receiving end of unsolicited invoices requesting payment for advertising that was never ordered. The dodgy invoices included wording which implied an existing business relationship, which was false.
While the true extent of Amanda Stichbury’s operations may never be known, it is reasonable to conclude that incidents that were brought up in court proceedings were just the tip of the iceberg. Most business owners who identified the invoices and renewals being sent to them as fraudulent simply threw them away and didn’t report it to the appropriate authorities. Some who did pay wrongly assumed it was for a similarly named organisation they already advertised with and just kept paying.
Executive Director of the Queensland Office of Fair Trading, Brian Bauer, commented on the verdict and fine handed down against Amanda Stichbury by the Southport Magistrates Court. He said that it:
- reflected the serious nature of Amanda Stichbury’s offending
- made a clear statement that the behaviour and conduct of Amanda Stichbury has no place in Queensland
- served as a warning to others who thought of adopting Amanda Stichbury’s business model
He also said that the OFT will “continue to vigorously pursue any unscrupulous traders” like Amanda Stichbury who intentionally mislead other businesses.
If you have received a fraudulent invoice from Amanda Stichbury, Accommodation Find Pty Ltd, Internet Find Pty Ltd or Special Days Pty Ltd, you can report it at http://ift.tt/2n8Gd2a.
Amanda Stichbury “did not appear apologetic”
Despite being fined almost $20,000 and convicted for similar offences in 2014, the Southport Magistrates Court noted that “Ms Stichbury did not appear apologetic for her behaviour” during proceedings in January 2017. Her lack of remorse was listed as a significant consideration when determining the hefty penalty of $50,000 that was imposed.
Over the years, Amanda Stichbury has gone to great lengths to silence those who have tried to expose her fraudulent business activities. However, the internet provides an easy way for those affected by such scams to disseminate warnings and advice. Many organisations in the travel and tourism industry, including most government tourism bodies in Victoria, have regularly published warnings to alert their clients about the fraudulent activities of Amanda Stichbury and her network of businesses and websites.
Since 2011, many organisations in the tourism and travel industry have received from their clients copies of fraudulent invoices sent to them by Amanda Stichbury’s network of websites. The big breakthrough in public exposure came when AccomNews published a series of articles about Amanda’s activities a few years ago:
- 26/3/2014 – Unauthorised website listings worry resorts
- 23/8/2015 – SPECIAL REPORT: Beware of being scammed
AccomNews is a leading industry-wide portal providing critical information to those in the accommodation industry and the publisher of the widely distributed monthly Resort News magazine.
Those articles received widespread exposure throughout the tourism industry. It has been reported that Amanda Stichbury contacted AccomNews on a number of occasions in order to try and have those articles removed.
Amanda Stichbury had also attempted to get references to her activities removed from the blog you are reading now. In a strongly worded message in early 2016, Amanda claimed the articles about herself and her business activities was untrue and if they weren’t removed, legal proceedings would commence. Amanda also claimed that the blog postings here were not only defamatory, but causing her loss of income, thus implying that any legal action would involve a considerable sum of compensation money.
Despite Amanda’s initial threat, the blog postings were not removed and legal action by Amanda did not follow. Independent legal advice concluded that the blog postings were not defamatory as they reported accurate information about her fraudulent activities that were already public knowledge and reported widely through the following important sources:
- The Queensland justice system in regards to her significant court fine and convictions in 2014
- Several articles by the respected AccomNews publication and Resort News
- A media report on Amanda’s activities by the ABC’s The Checkout
- Repeated warnings over many years about Amanda Stichbury’s unsolicited invoices and advertising renewal requests by the government tourism organisations Visit Canberra, Tourism Victoria, Destination NSW and South Australian Tourism Commission
- An alert published by the Queensland Tourism Industry Council
- A warning from Hosted Accommodation Australia Ltd about bogus invoices originating from Special Days Pty Ltd
- The Australian Tourism Data Warehouse (ATDW) who informed its members to discard any request for payment from Amanda Stichbury’s companies and websites as they are “scam invoices”
- Copies of fraudulent invoices and renewal notices that our clients forwarded onto us and other organisations over the years
- Facebook postings by businesses who had received unsolicited invoices from Amanda Stichbury and her websites and were warning to others not to pay them
Failing to get reports about her past fraudulent activities removed from the internet and other publications, Amanda Stichbury attempted to get any negative publicity pushed down any internet search engine results that referenced her name, her company names, website names and phone numbers. This was done by publishing large numbers of web pages with her name in the title or body in order to dilute any negative page headings that came up. The snippet below of a Google search for her name shows one negative result swamped by pages containing irrelevant information.
In closing, the Queensland Office of Fair Trading warned all businesses to “be vigilant when paying invoices, ensuring the payments are for services that were legitimately provided“. If this vigilance is exercised, then false billing scams won’t succeed.
References
“Local fraudster all stitched up”
Queensland Office of Fair Trading
“…Amanda Jane Stichbury pleaded guilty to a total of 166 counts, including sending another person an invoice for unsolicited services, and making false and misleading representations…Ms Stichbury was personally fined $10,000 and three corporations of which she was sole director were fined a total of $40,000…”
http://ift.tt/2mDAkw3
“Queensland business owner fined $50,000 after pleading guilty to sending unsolicited invoices”
Smart Company
“…Stichbury was fined $10,000 in the Southport Magistrates Court earlier this month, and her three businesses were fined a total of $40,000…the success and prevalence of such scams are a symptom of a busy society…a successful scam like this can go uncovered for a long time…”
http://ift.tt/2n8BJZj
Originally Published here: Queensland fraudster Amanda Stichbury fined yet again
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