How Uber ghost rides are linked to online money
How Uber ghost rides are linked to online money laundering Huge online marketplaces are falling victim to electronic money laundering schemes
The Uber driver, the factory worker and the $15m Sydney property empire
Riley Walter
Indra Hari Nurkianto and Hanna Karliana were not the kind of people to typically come to the attention of financial crimes squad detectives.
Between them, the couple rarely declared an annual income of more than $80,000, and their business either ran at a loss or earned so little that a tax return wasn’t required. They had no criminal record, no debt, and as an Uber driver, Nurkianto, 60, and his partner, Karliana, 61, a retired factory worker, certainly didn’t have the means for the lavish lifestyle that would typically pique investigators’ interest
It was that profile that detectives say made the couple the perfect “mules” in a multimillion-dollar property scam run by what is alleged to be one of Sydney’s biggest fraud and money-laundering syndicates. But authorities allege their cover came unstuck when police began investigating the role of their son, Ibnu Pratama, in the syndicate, which has been the focus of Strike Force Myddleton detectives since early 2024.
It will be alleged that in late 2023, Pratama introduced his parents to one of the syndicate’s accused ringleaders, Bing “Michael” Li, who allegedly paid Nurkianto and Karliana $200,000 to buy several properties with fraudulent home loans on behalf of the syndicate, allowing the group to launder millions through the apartments.
Pratama, whose Bondi beauty salon, Beauty Pavilion, was allegedly purchased with the proceeds of crime, left Australia for Vietnam a week after detectives searched the home of one of his business partners in December 2024, and is believed to be living in Indonesia. A warrant for his arrest was issued this month.
In July, detectives arrested Li, 38, in the $18 million penthouse of the Crown’s residential tower in Barangaroo, where he had been living for about a year. He was charged with 87 offences, including knowingly directing the activities of a criminal group and dealing with the proceeds of crime. His alleged fellow syndicate ringleader, Yizhe “Tony” He, was charged with 107 offences.
By the time detectives arrested Nurkianto and Karliana in early August, they had spent months investigating the syndicate, dubbed the Penthouse Syndicate because of Li’s base of operations at the time of his arrest, and piecing together the couple’s wealth.
“From our profiling of them, they can’t afford to have $1 million worth of goods in their home, and they definitely can’t afford to have $15 million worth of property that they’re negative gearing through tax,” Gordon Arbinja, commander of the financial crimes squad, told the Herald.
Detectives charged Nurkianto with five counts of dishonestly obtaining financial benefit by deception, and one count of participating in a criminal group and contributing criminal activity. Karliana was charged with two counts of dishonestly obtaining financial benefit by deception and one count of participating in a criminal group and contributing criminal activity. All charges related to the investigation remain before the courts and are yet to be tested.
A year earlier, in August 2024, police say Nurkianto purchased a three-bedroom CBD apartment on King Street near Hyde Park’s northern end for $4.15 million. He paid two 10 per cent deposits – worth $415,000 each – when he entered into the contract, and at settlement, according to court documents obtained by the Herald.
In September and October of the same year, Nurkianto allegedly took out business loans worth $830,000 for a Lane Cove pet grooming company the syndicate had purchased to allegedly launder money through. Detectives allege Nurkianto, the company’s sole director, did no work for the business, nor had any legitimate involvement with it.
In December, police allege Nurkianto purchased a two-bedroom apartment on Bathurst Street near Hyde Park’s southern end for $3.4 million, after again putting down 20 per cent – $680,000 – up front.
The same month, it is alleged Karliana bought a three-bedroom Bellevue Hill apartment on Riddell Street for $7.6 million. Like Nurkianto, she allegedly paid 20 per cent – $1.52 million – up front. Around the same time, she allegedly obtained a $1.5 million business loan after telling the bank she planned to expand her company, Best Shuttles Pty Ltd, into Queensland and Tasmania.
According to court documents, Karliana told the bank she ran a successful touring company that chartered luxury vehicles to celebrities, government officials and wealthy entrepreneurs. The company relied on word of mouth and recommendations from its wealthy clients to secure new business, Karliana allegedly told the bank. To capitalise on the business opportunities before her, and to offer prospective customers a luxurious experience, she would need $1.5 million.
Best Shuttles Pty Ltd, detectives allege, is a shell company that Karliana is sole director of, but has never done any work for. Since 2019, police say the business has not lodged a tax return. The year before, it declared a loss of $970. The documents provided to the bank in the loan application, detectives allege, like Karliana’s business plans, were fraudulent.
The NSW Crime Commission seized the three properties in Nurkianto and Karliana’s names when they were arrested in early August. On the same day, investigators seized a Lexus SUV and a McLaren 720S allegedly owned by He and worth almost $700,000 collectively. To date, more than $50 million worth of property, luxury goods and cars linked to the syndicate have been seized.
To secure loans for the properties, Nurkianto and Karliana allegedly provided fraudulent documents showing annual income in the millions. According to court documents, records held by the Australian Taxation Office show Nurkianto and Karliana declared a combined income of $60,760 in 2024.
Detectives believe the home loans were facilitated by corrupted bank employees, solicitors and mortgage brokers now under investigation and suspected of taking a kickback for their services. Detectives allege neither Nurkianto nor Karliana ever viewed the properties they purchased or met the mortgage brokers and bankers involved in the home and business loans. The process was, detectives allege, orchestrated by Pratama, Li and the syndicate.
Pratama first came to the authorities’ attention more than 18 months ago, when Strike Force Myddleton detectives started investigating a $10 million fraud scheme involving the purchase of non-existent luxury cars using fraudulent loan applications through his former employer, McCarroll’s Automotive Group. McCarroll’s is not accused of any wrongdoing. The employee who police say processed the loan applications resigned when the business became aware of the alleged fraud. She has since been charged with more than 100 offences and remains before the courts.
In the months that followed, investigators linked Pratama and the syndicate to Beauty Pavilion, which detectives allege was purchased and renovated with the proceeds of crime derived from the McCarroll’s fraud.
Footage of Beauty Pavilion’s grand opening party last April includes Pratama, Vu, Nurkianto and Karliana enjoying the extravagant celebrations as a family. Social media posts show Pratama and Vu working behind the scenes at last year’s Australian Fashion Week. Other posts picture Vu at this year’s fashion week, which was held after Pratama fled the country. One post on the account features before and after images of Karliana receiving a skin-tightening treatment.
Posts of Pratama that were believed to have been filmed overseas were removed from the Beauty Pavilion’s Instagram account after the Herald revealed the police investigation into the business and its owners. Footage of Beauty Pavilion’s grand opening party was also taken down.
Detectives allege Vu travelled to Indonesia in July this year to visit Pratama. Weeks later, she sold the Macquarie Park home Nurkianto and Karliana had been living in for $970,000. The $300,000 deposit for the apartment, purchased in Vu’s name for $1 million in February 2023, was allegedly funded with proceeds of crime from the McCarroll’s fraud. Detectives allege Vu submitted fraudulent financial documents linked to her company Prolific Path Pty Ltd to secure the $800,000 mortgage. Nurkianto and Karliana lived in the property until shortly before their arrest.
Records held by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) show Vu is the registered representative of Prolific Path, which holds Beauty Pavilion and a second salon, Bondi Nails.
Property records show in April 2023, XOXO Capital Pty Ltd – of which Vu is sole director – purchased the Bondi Junction shopfront on Newland Street for $2,685,000. In March this year, XOXO Capital sold the building for $2.8 million. Detectives allege Vu pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars from the sale, now the proceeds of crime.
In August, Vu was charged with three counts of dishonestly obtaining advantage by deception, two counts of knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime with intent to conceal and eight counts of using a false document to obtain financial advantage related to $3.2 million worth of allegedly fraudulent mortgage and business loans. She was granted police bail to appear in Burwood Local Court on October 13.
The listing for the Newland Street property pitched the building as “recently transformed” thanks to the state-of-the-art fitout of Beauty Pavilion. Not only was the property perfectly positioned in the heart of Bondi Junction, the listing said, the tenancy agreement with Beauty Pavilion would yield about $193,000 in rental income per year for the purchaser.
Included in the deal would be an option for Beauty Pavilion, which has a lease on the building until 2029, to extend its tenancy until 2039 with an annual rent increase of 3 per cent. The building’s purchase, the listing promised, would be an ideal addition to any astute investor’s property portfolio.
Nurkianto and Karliana this month successfully applied to vary their bail conditions, which now allow them to live together. The conditions prohibit them from speaking with anyone who may be a witness in their prosecutions, including Pratama.
Since laying charges and hoping to have unravelled the Penthouse Syndicate, detectives have shifted their focus to the “corrupted insiders”, including bank employees, mortgage brokers and solicitors allegedly on the syndicate’s payroll.
Nurkianto and Karliana will return to court this month.
