Tobacco traffickers turn to Tinder to push cut-price cigarettes in Victoria

ROB HARRIS,
December 11, 2016
Herald Sun
TOBACCO traffickers are using a dating app to sell their products to Victorians.
Organised crime syndicates are telling prospective customers to “swipe right” on Tinder for cigarettes they are selling for $18 a packet.
Dating profiles, seen by the Herald Sun, spruik the often smuggled cigarettes, which are sold at a low price and generate large illegal ­profits.
Australian Border Force and Australian Federal Police are concerned some of the proceeds of the booming trade could be flowing to extremist groups overseas.
Tobacco strike team investigators have seized more than 25 tonnes of smuggled tobacco and 50 million smuggled cigarettes ­nationwide in the past year.
Crime syndicates are urging prospective clients to “swipe right” for cheap cigarettes on Tinder.
Increases in tax on cigarettes have fuelled the illegal trade. Authorities estimate as much as 14.3 per cent of tobacco consumed in Australia is bought on the black market.
The illegal industry denies the government about $1.4 billion of tax revenue a year.
Last week, four men were arrested in Melbourne and about 4.5 tonnes of tobacco was seized during a Border Force investigation into a tobacco-smuggling syndicate operating in Victoria.
The department estimated that the illegal tobacco products, also including 615,000 cigarettes, seized during the operation equates to about $3.5 million in attempted revenue evasion.
The Australian Federal Police has seized more than $1.3 million in associated cash and property as a result of the operation.
Border Force Assistant Commissioner Investigations Wayne Buchhorn said these figures highlighted the scale of organised crime’s movement into the illegal tobacco market.
“Because it is so highly taxed, tobacco is very attractive to serious criminal groups,” he said.
“Given that organised crime syndicates often use the proceeds of their crimes to fund additional criminal activities, the ABF targets illicit tobacco smuggling as a priority.”
Authorities started the operation after identifying a significant tobacco-smuggling network linked to a “cheap cigarettes” website.
ABF investigators established links across the network’s supply chain and from August raided seven premises, including homes, warehouses and shops.