Sydney Fortune Teller Anya Phan and Her 25-Year-old Daughter Thi Ta Arrested Over Alleged $70M Fraud Scheme

The arrest of Sydney resident Anya Phan, a self-proclaimed fortune-teller and feng shui master, has exposed what authorities describe as one of the most sophisticated financial crime operations uncovered in recent years. The 53-year-old woman and her 25-year-old daughter, Thi Ta, were taken into custody at their Dover Heights home, marking a significant escalation in an investigation that began as a routine inquiry into fraudulent automotive financing.

What police allege they uncovered instead was a sprawling criminal syndicate involving large-scale personal, business and home loan fraud, money laundering through casinos, misuse of stolen identities and the exploitation of vulnerable victims within the Vietnamese community. The scale and depth of the alleged offences, estimated at nearly $70 million, have raised concerns about how long the syndicate operated undetected and the extent of its influence on Sydney’s high-value property market.

Exploitation of the Community and the Alleged Loan Scheme

According to New South Wales police, Anya Phan developed a role in her community built on trust, spiritual guidance and promises of prosperity. She presented herself as both a fortune-teller and a feng shui master, roles that helped her cultivate credibility and rapport among individuals facing financial difficulties. Investigators allege that Anya Phan used this position to persuade vulnerable clients to take out loans—sometimes large ones—based on predictions that a “billionaire” figure would soon transform their financial lives. In reality, police say, these clients were being manipulated into acting as financial mules for the syndicate.

Detectives assert that Anya Phan pocketed substantial sums from each loan application, often securing at least $150,000 from a single instance. The victims, many of whom were part of the Vietnamese community, were allegedly told that the borrowed funds were part of a larger plan tied to impending wealth foretold by Anya Phan’s spiritual insights.

Authorities have described the victims’ actions as “reckless” and “indifferent” due to the risks they willingly undertook in obtaining loans under their own names, yet investigators stress that these individuals were targeted partly because of their precarious circumstances. Several of these supposed mules have since been arrested, indicating a broader and more complex network of people involved in the financial operations of the syndicate.

When officers executed search warrants, they seized a range of high-value items illustrating the financial scale of the alleged scheme. Among the confiscated goods were mobile phones, electronic devices, luxury handbags, financial paperwork, casino chips worth $6,600 and a 40-gram gold bar valued at approximately $10,000. These findings, police say, demonstrate the level of wealth being moved through seemingly legitimate and illegitimate channels under the syndicate’s direction.

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Detective Superintendent Gordon Arbinja, commander of the financial crimes squad, detailed how Anya Phan had lived in Australia for more than two decades, receiving disability support payments throughout that time while allegedly maintaining a lifestyle that included high-end property repayments and regular gambling at a Sydney casino. Despite having no recorded employment for over 20 years, police allege she made repayments of $56,000 per month on the Dover Heights residence while being a VIP casino customer. On one occasion, she allegedly laundered $45,000 in just three hours.

Expansion of Strike Force Myddleton and Evolution of the Investigation

Strike Force Myddleton was initially established to investigate fraudulent automotive financing involving “ghost cars”—vehicles that did not exist but were used as the basis for loan applications supported by stolen personal information. Early inquiries revealed irregularities concerning loan documents and financial records, but as investigators dug deeper, they began to identify patterns linking the fraudulent activity to a larger and more organized enterprise.

The January 2024 investigations provided a decisive turning point when detectives uncovered connections between car financing fraud and high-value personal, business and home loan fraud across multiple financial institutions. According to police, this discovery exposed a far-reaching network of individuals operating with a high degree of sophistication. They allegedly used a mixture of legitimate banking channels, falsified identities, and manipulated victims to generate millions in fraudulent assets.

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Detective Superintendent Arbinja has described the operation as one of the most complex syndicates he has encountered in his career. Investigators allege that during the time the original leader of the group was before the courts, Anya Phan assumed control of the syndicate’s operations, overseeing loan applications, recruitment of financial mules and the distribution of funds across different channels including real estate and casinos.

Police believe approximately half of the syndicate’s members have been apprehended so far. Seventeen people had previously been charged under Strike Force Myddleton, and court proceedings for those individuals are ongoing. In total, about $60 million in assets connected to earlier charges were already restrained before Anya Phan’s arrest. The most recent developments have led to an additional $15 million in frozen assets, bringing the estimates of the financial reach of the operation to a new height.

Authorities are now turning their attention to what they describe as professional facilitators—lawyers, accountants and property developers—whom they suspect may have knowingly or unknowingly assisted the syndicate’s activities. Investigators are examining property purchases connected to the group, raising concerns that illicit transactions may have artificially inflated property values in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. These potential effects on the real estate market have added another dimension to the case, prompting closer scrutiny of sales records, buyer histories and loan documents.

Charges, Court Proceedings and the Alleged Role of Family Members

The charges filed against Anya Phan reflect the breadth of the alleged criminal activity. She faces 39 offences, including knowingly directing the activities of a criminal group, 19 counts of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception and 13 counts of knowingly dealing with proceeds of crime. Her daughter, Thi Ta, has been charged with two counts of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception and recklessly dealing with proceeds of crime valued at more than $5,000.

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Despite the overlap in charges, police suggest the mother played the dominant role in orchestrating and directing the syndicate’s activities, while the daughter assisted in facilitating financial transactions and property purchases. One notable example includes the alleged purchase of a $5.3 million unit in Rose Bay, a transaction police say was carried out under her daughter’s name and funded by illicit proceeds.

Anya Phan was refused bail and was scheduled to appear at Downing Centre Local Court. She did not apply for bail during the hearing, and the matter has been adjourned until mid-January. Her daughter, by contrast, was granted conditional bail and is also expected to reappear in court in January. The court proceedings are likely to draw substantial public and media attention given the scale of the allegations, the involvement of multiple financial institutions and the potential impact on Sydney’s property market.

The development of such a syndicate, operating over years and allegedly involving a wide network of participants, raises broader issues about financial oversight and the vulnerabilities within loan approval systems. Fraud involving stolen identities, falsified documents and fabricated assets poses persistent challenges for banks and regulatory bodies. What distinguishes this case, investigators say, is the blend of spiritual persuasion, community influence and high-level financial manipulation that made the alleged scheme both lucrative and difficult to detect.

As authorities continue to issue search warrants and interview suspects, the investigation is expected to broaden further. Detectives have emphasized their intention to pursue every individual involved, including those with professional expertise who may have provided essential support to the syndicate’s operations. The complexity of the financial networks and the volume of money allegedly laundered suggest that more arrests and asset seizures are likely in the coming months.

The case against Anya Phan and Thi Ta represents a major milestone in the ongoing efforts of Strike Force Myddleton to dismantle sophisticated financial crime operations across New South Wales. It highlights the evolving nature of financial fraud, the challenges of identifying large-scale criminal networks and the importance of coordination between financial institutions, law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies. As the investigation proceeds through the courts, further details are expected to shed light on the strategies used by the syndicate and the role of each participant within the alleged criminal enterprise.