ATM supplier atm2go begins removes machines from stores linked to illicit tobacco trade
The move by Queensland-based atm2go follows an ABC investigation which revealed how ATM companies were fuelling predominantly cash sales of illegal cigarettes by placing their private machines in stores.
Rival supplier Next Payments publicly acknowledged the problem late last month and began removing 40 machines it believed were linked to the illicit trade.
Major payments processing company EFTEX, which industry sources said handled transactions for atm2go, has vowed to cease handling transactions for tobacco stores from September following media scrutiny.
Atm2go refused to discuss the matter when contacted by the ABC.
"No comment," one senior member of the company said this week, before hanging up.
The ABC had found atm2go machines in a string of stores selling illicit cigarettes — with sales occurring even after some shops in Queensland had been suspended by health authorities for breaching tobacco laws.
Court documents also showed atm2go had cut deals to install ATMs with a man charged and later convicted with proceeds of crime and tobacco offences.
In another case in Darwin, a man jailed for massive cannabis dealing had atm2go machines that he told an underling to load with drug cash.
The ABC this week revisited four south-east Queensland locations that had been selling illegal cigarettes.
In the past two months, atm2go machines were found inside but the machines were gone this week from three shops.
A sign outside one of the stores in Oxley, on Brisbane's southside, said: "The ATM has been removed. Please use the ATM located inside where Woolies is."
People with knowledge of the machines said the removalists had come suddenly.
The fourth store in inner Brisbane's West End had a sign plastered across the atm2go machine saying it was not working and implored customers to: "please bring cash next time as the ATM will be out for awhile!"
Atm2go was once heavily focused on events and used a franchise system, but industry sources said COVID-19 and ensuing lockdowns had disrupted its model.
The company had in recent years been crowing in social media posts about putting machines in stores selling tobacco.
Federal Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke's office has asked regulators to examine private ATMs.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
27 minutes ago
- ABC News
eSafety sommissioner says Youtube turning blind eye to child abuse
Australia's internet watchdog has accused the world's biggest social media firms of still "turning a blind eye" to online child sex abuse material on their platforms, and said YouTube in particular had been unresponsive to its enquiries. In a report released on Wednesday, the eSafety Commissioner said YouTube, along with Apple, failed to track the number of user reports it received of child sex abuse appearing on their platforms and also could not say how long it took them to respond to such reports. The federal government decided last week to include YouTube in its world-first social media ban for teenagers, following the commissioner's advice to overturn its planned exemption for the Alphabet-owned Google's video-sharing site. "When left to their own devices, these companies aren't prioritising the protection of children and are seemingly turning a blind eye to crimes occurring on their services," eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said in a statement. "No other consumer-facing industry would be given the licence to operate by enabling such heinous crimes against children on their premises, or services." Google has said previously that abuse material has no place on its platforms and that it uses a range of industry-standard techniques to identify and remove such material. Meta — owner of Facebook, Instagram and Threads, three of the biggest platforms with more than three billion users worldwide — has said it prohibits graphic videos. The eSafety Commissioner, an office set up to protect internet users, has mandated Apple, Discord, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Skype, Snap and WhatsApp report on the measures they take to address child exploitation and abuse material in Australia. The report on their responses so far found a "range of safety deficiencies on their services which increases the risk that child sexual exploitation and abuse material and activity appear on the services". Safety gaps included failures to detect and prevent live-streaming of the material or block links to known child abuse material, as well as inadequate reporting mechanisms. It said platforms were also not using hash-matching technology on all parts of their services to identify images of child sexual abuse by checking them against a database. Google has maintained its anti-abuse measures include hash-matching technology and artificial intelligence. The Australian regulator said some providers had not made improvements to address these safety gaps on their services despite it putting them on notice in previous years. "In the case of Apple services and Google's YouTube, they didn't even answer our questions about how many user reports they received about child sexual abuse on their services or details of how many trust and safety personnel Apple and Google have on-staff," Ms Inman Grant said. Reuters
News.com.au
2 hours ago
- News.com.au
Weekend auction wrap: Sydney family smashes neighbour's record
A home in Sydney's northwest has sold for a suburb record, smashing the price paid for a home owned by the neighbours - the previous highest price in the area. The property on Anthony Rd sold for $4.7 million, setting a new record for a house sale in West Ryde. The auction saw the sellers pcoket a price $300,000 above their $4.4 million reserve. It has come amid rising auction activity that suggests Sydney is due another round of stellar growth in home prices. Auction clearance rates have been above 70 per cent for weeks, with preliminary figures showing nearly three quarters of auctions last week produced a sale. Historically, this kind of success rate over successive weeks has coincided with widespread price rises. Pello Northern Suburbs sales agent Michael Dowling said the West Ryde auction was 'really competitive' with bidding starting at $3.8 million. 'The previous highest sale in West Ryde was the house next door, and that sold for $4.19 about two years ago,' he said. 'So we knew it was going to be better than that, but I didn't think it was going to be $510,000 better than that.' Mr Dowling said the home sold to a mother and two sons moving from Cheltenham who wanted a more spacious home that was ready to move in to. 'A lot of people in our area want that move-in ready feel, rather than going through the hassle and the inconvenience of dealing with council,' he said. 'A lot of people just want that finished product now.' Based on results received so far, about 75 per cent of Sydney auctions were successful last week. Auction clearance rates above 70 per cent have historically correlated with rises in prices across the Sydney market as a whole. Ray White NSW head of auctions Dave McMahon said the first weekend of August saw a 25 per cent decrease in scheduled auctions from the week prior. 'The notable difference was that only half of them proceeded through the day,' he said. 'With stock levels low, agents have been more open to entertaining offers prior with circa 15-20 per cent selling before auction day. 'Despite lower auction numbers today, we continued to see spirited competition from buyers with an average of 5.8 registered and 3.6 actively bidding.' Two auctions hosted by Scerri Auctions auctioneer Fadi Hajjar on Friday were moved inside to Saliba Estate Agents' offices in order to get bidders out of the rain. 'The decision to move it in-room was brilliant,' Mr Hajjar said. 'It created a really warm environment for bidders.' The homes under the hammer on King Rd, Hornsby and Kooringal Ave, Thornlie sold for prices well over their respective reserves. The property on King Rd sold for $2.095 million, a price $195,000 over reserve, while 78 Kooringal Ave sold for $2.395 million, $295,000 above its reserve. Mr Hajjar said it was a 'hesitant start' to the bidding, before they 'heated up very quickly.' Fifty-six bids were placed for 78 Kooringal Ave and a staggering 117 bids were placed during the auction for 8 King Rd. MORE: Pub baron's lavish lifestyle while owing $1bn criticised Further out west, a family were reported to be delighted with the sale of their property in Hassall Grove. No. 33 Monica Ave sold over reserve for a price of $1.015 million, with bidding opening at $800,000. Sales agent Meshel Bahnam of Ray White United Group said there were 17 registered bidders, the most he has seen in 'well over 18 months'. 'People are trying to buy before rates change this month,' she said. 'In the end, local first home buyers who have been looking for six months bought the house. 'They are so happy as they keep missing out on auctions,' said Mr Banham. Mr Banham said it was a suburb record price for a three-bedroom, one-bathroom house on a 454 sqm block. Sellers Brooke, Alex and their three children were reported to be contemplating a move to Lake Macquarie for a lifestyle change. Other sales included the auction for 50 Iandra Street, Concord West, which sold to its first bidder, going for a price of $3.51 million. Horwood Nolan founder and director Ben Horwood said interest was strong in the lead up to the auction. 'We had three registered bidders, all who had shown strong interest throughout the campaign,' he said. Mr Horwood said the home's location mostly attracted interest from families.
Daily Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Daily Telegraph
Weekend auction wrap: Sydney family smashes neighbour's record
A home in Sydney's northwest has sold for a suburb record, smashing the price paid for a home owned by the neighbours – the previous highest price in the area. The property on Anthony Rd sold for $4.7 million, setting a new record for a house sale in West Ryde. The auction saw the sellers pcoket a price $300,000 above their $4.4 million reserve. It has come amid rising auction activity that suggests Sydney is due another round of stellar growth in home prices. Auction clearance rates have been above 70 per cent for weeks, with preliminary figures showing nearly three quarters of auctions last week produced a sale. Historically, this kind of success rate over successive weeks has coincided with widespread price rises. Pello Northern Suburbs sales agent Michael Dowling said the West Ryde auction was 'really competitive' with bidding starting at $3.8 million. 'The previous highest sale in West Ryde was the house next door, and that sold for $4.19 about two years ago,' he said. 'So we knew it was going to be better than that, but I didn't think it was going to be $510,000 better than that.' MORE: Aus worse off as RBA rate cut panic sets in Mr Dowling said the home sold to a mother and two sons moving from Cheltenham who wanted a more spacious home that was ready to move in to. 'A lot of people in our area want that move-in ready feel, rather than going through the hassle and the inconvenience of dealing with council,' he said. 'A lot of people just want that finished product now.' MORE: 'Pivotal moment': chance to buy in Sydney for half price Auction clearance rates above 70 per cent have historically correlated with rises in prices across the Sydney market as a whole. Ray White NSW head of auctions Dave McMahon said the first weekend of August saw a 25 per cent decrease in scheduled auctions from the week prior. 'The notable difference was that only half of them proceeded through the day,' he said. 'With stock levels low, agents have been more open to entertaining offers prior with circa 15-20 per cent selling before auction day. 'Despite lower auction numbers today, we continued to see spirited competition from buyers with an average of 5.8 registered and 3.6 actively bidding.' MORE: Where your luxury car can come to dinner 'The decision to move it in-room was brilliant,' Mr Hajjar said. 'It created a really warm environment for bidders.' The homes under the hammer on King Rd, Hornsby and Kooringal Ave, Thornlie sold for prices well over their respective reserves. The property on King Rd sold for $2.095 million, a price $195,000 over reserve, while 78 Kooringal Ave sold for $2.395 million, $295,000 above its reserve. Mr Hajjar said it was a 'hesitant start' to the bidding, before they 'heated up very quickly.' Fifty-six bids were placed for 78 Kooringal Ave and a staggering 117 bids were placed during the auction for 8 King Rd. MORE: Pub baron's lavish lifestyle while owing $1bn criticised Further out west, a family were reported to be delighted with the sale of their property in Hassall Grove. No. 33 Monica Ave sold over reserve for a price of $1.015 million, with bidding opening at $800,000. Sales agent Meshel Bahnam of Ray White United Group said there were 17 registered bidders, the most he has seen in 'well over 18 months'. 'People are trying to buy before rates change this month,' she said. 'In the end, local first home buyers who have been looking for six months bought the house. 'They are so happy as they keep missing out on auctions,' said Mr Banham. Mr Banham said it was a suburb record price for a three-bedroom, one-bathroom house on a 454 sqm block. Sellers Brooke, Alex and their three children were reported to be contemplating a move to Lake Macquarie for a lifestyle change. Other sales included the auction for 50 Iandra Street, Concord West, which sold to its first bidder, going for a price of $3.51 million. Horwood Nolan founder and director Ben Horwood said interest was strong in the lead up to the auction. 'We had three registered bidders, all who had shown strong interest throughout the campaign,' he said. Mr Horwood said the home's location mostly attracted interest from families. MORE: Aus worse off as RBA rate cut panic sets in
