Perth Bullion Liquidation

Hi guys, I am also holding my life savings in a SDB with them. I sent them the proof of everything last Monday and received nothing in the form of confirmation. I tried speaking to them today and after numerous attempts, I got through and spoke to the admin lady. I tried to argue that the contents of the SDBs should not be mixed up with the rest, that the contents are our property and it should not take this long to get access to see whether the contents are still there or not, but she wouldn't have it.

I'm all for creating a group.
Could I ask what you mean by contents of the SDB mixing up with the rest? Are they just mixing everything categorically or are they actually moving the inventory and mixing it up with others?
 
Who are the real crooks here? You think its Perth Bullion? The real crooks are the taxation department and the liquidators. PBC and anyone who had holdings with them are the victims. You think the liquidator is just going to automatically send you your stuff? They don't want to. They would rather it go unclaimed and then they get to keep it. Maybe you lost or deleted your invoices and have no way to claim, then they get to keep it. That's why they will make it as hard as possible and jerk you around until you feel like its all hopeless and just leave it. Or maybe you wont even here about the liquidation in time and then its too late. You think this Neil bloke is doing this for fun and to help people? He is doing it to make money and cash in, so of course they will come up with all kinds of BS like missing records etc. Maybe PBC told a few people to pay them into another account so that they could ship them stuff without the liquidators knowing about it. Maybe they wanted to ship out a last few orders and had to tell people to pay the shipping cost into a new account as the liquidators had taken over the old one. Who knows but I doubt they were trying to scam people.

All speculation of course but at the end of the day, the message here is that the liquidators will jerk you around, believe that.
 
Could I ask what you mean by contents of the SDB mixing up with the rest? Are they just mixing everything categorically or are they actually moving the inventory and mixing it up with others?
I meant that I understand that, for example, for the allocated / unallocated stock there needs to be a reconciliation process, and for all the other matters that have to do with the finances of company there has to be a review, but if I hold my property in their boxes and I provide proof for it and the SDB number, I see this as a straight-forward process, which should take priority over the other investigations. Yeah, one could suppose all sorts of ulterior motives...
Or am I wrong??

Another huge red flag is that people here had access to their records for a while after the liquidators took over, which goes against their claim that there are no records. This is worrying!!
 
I meant that I understand that, for example, for the allocated / unallocated stock there needs to be a reconciliation process, and for all the other matters that have to do with the finances of company there has to be a review, but if I hold my property in their boxes and I provide proof for it and the SDB number, I see this as a straight-forward process, which should take priority over the other investigations. Yeah, one could suppose all sorts of ulterior motives...
Or am I wrong??

Another huge red flag is that people here had access to their records for a while after the liquidators took over, which goes against their claim that there are no records. This is worrying!!


Also, how are they able to email all who are involved in this when there are no records
 
Was chatting to a mate earlier on today re Perth Bullion and its implications. One thing he said to me (point 1 below), led me to something that may be of use / comfort to those affected by the liquidation of Perth Bullion (point 2).


Pls note, I'm not a lawyer or liquidator, so pls take the below as general information only (not advice) and pls seek your own professional / legal advice on same.


1) My friend has a safety deposit box with a large well known non-bank custodian company. He has lodged a PPSA registration over (need to confirm with him was it the just the box in his name, the contents or box and contents??). Thus whilst Bailment laws come into play with such arrangements (ie you and your safety deposit box provider), a PPSA registration perfects your security interest in your name under law. Search PPSA/PPSR for details. I will be looking to do same myself. Can’t comment re a PPSA on unallocated / allocated programs but worth a looksee for those utilising similar services..

Pls note under Australian Corporations law, an asset held by a company (not the company’s asset, but someone else’s) vests with the insolvent company when a insolvency events occurs and an Administrator / Receiver / Liquidator is appointed…if the owner of that / those assets did not perfect their security under the Australian PPSA laws. There is recent NSW Supreme Court judgement on such. Thus whilst Bailment laws and the below will hopefully assist those impacted by Perth Bullions insolvency, the value of a PPSA registration is worth a look as added security (belts and braces). I haven’t taken any PPSA registration steps myself as yet, thus comment on cost or timeframe for same.


2) In looking for information re the above ie PPSA and Bailment I came across this WA Court ruling from 2014 (links below), in which a Liquidator of a WA Coin and Note dealer (put into liquidation by Westpac) went to the WA Courts to confirm their position that where someone (ie you a buyer / storer of goods) can prove ownership to assets held by the coin store (cross checked against the company’s records), then you get the assets back rather than other creditor. Not sure how this plays out for purchases made in early July but not received, but pls note para 16 of the judgement which notes:


“The Receivers undertook an extensive review of the claims made by Investors for Goods and other items. The review included requesting Investors to provide documents to support their claims to the Goods. The initial application concerned only those Investors who provided sufficient documentation and which the Receivers verified as matching the records of Arcabi.”

From my experience, documentation is king so and I've said it before, find everything that relates to your purchases, invoices, contracts, holdings, SBD's EFT's, emails etc, collate in date order and put a summary sheet on front with all your details. The easier you make it for the Liquidator and work with them, they'll be more inclined to work with you...but give them some breathing space now as the first few weeks of a Liquidators appointment is frantic as they work to get their hands around the company, it's assets, documents etc. If the record keeping was poor, then reconciling financials, bank accounts, inventory, orders, assets held for customers will take time.


Given the similarity between the coin store and Perth Bullion’s business, here's the links to the case summaries and the full 40 page ruling which if you have the time is worth the read.


https://www.brightlaw.com.au/case-note-ppsa-receivership-and-goods-on-consignment-or-bailment/


http://www.eralegal.com.au/2014/09/18/bailed-ppsa-loopholes-closed/


https://www.chapmantripp.com/publication pdfs/Arcabi.pdf


I'm going to ask this simply from skimming on what a PPSA is for now, but isn't this practically telling a government body what you're actually owning? I get that registering gives you protection when a liquidator is involved but from my understanding, some of the stackers here didn't seem fond of having any government body know that they are stacking PMs and how much they're stacking.

I'm quite happy to debate and look further into this but wanted to be sure on what gets involved
 
PPSA does not apply to safety deposit boxes.
For the Personal Property Security Act (PPSA) to apply there must first be a "Security Interest". the definition of Security Interest is drafted very widely, and it captures certain arrangements that would not previously have been regarded as a security interest, such as consignments and leases but it is not so wide as to capture safety deposit boxes or their content. The property remains the depositors. There is no Security Interest and no registrable interest under the PPSA.
You can read the definition of a Security Interest in section 12 of the act here: http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ppsa2009356/s12.html
I'm sure that if you go to register an interest they will accept it (given they are paid to do so) but the registration can't give you any greater legal right.
 
I have SDB's there too, one for SMSF and one personal - latter one only rented since January... We have documentation but I'm sure not everyone will.

How can there be such shoddy records? I have emails with all "note added to your account" messages that include any order numbers etc. My account had info in it.
I was able use the links until yesterday, today the link goes to a site notifying the webpage has been parked. Why is the liquidator taking steps to make life difficult for those relying on their account?

If it's not organised yet let's start talking about when is a good time to gather. Whinging on a blog does othing to make RSM pull their finger out.

Unfortunately most people will be most available when the liquidator is not. How about we try to get him out on a Saturday morning? First Saturday of July? Out the front of PBC? If enough people call him to attend it won't matter if he comes because we will get the attention required to make him respond. It may even do a favour for the industry by shedding light on the circumstances brought about by the tax laws leading to this (if that's all there is to it....).

I'm sure everyone here has been searching Google to find out more. FYI I did a duckduckgo search and found the results were HEAPS more pertinent.

Good luck to those who rely on luck.

For the others good luck with the phone calls, emails and meetings - I'll look forward to discussing this with you.
 
Who are the real crooks here? You think its Perth Bullion? The real crooks are the taxation department and the liquidators. PBC and anyone who had holdings with them are the victims. You think the liquidator is just going to automatically send you your stuff? They don't want to. They would rather it go unclaimed and then they get to keep it. Maybe you lost or deleted your invoices and have no way to claim, then they get to keep it. That's why they will make it as hard as possible and jerk you around until you feel like its all hopeless and just leave it. Or maybe you wont even here about the liquidation in time and then its too late. You think this Neil bloke is doing this for fun and to help people? He is doing it to make money and cash in, so of course they will come up with all kinds of BS like missing records etc. Maybe PBC told a few people to pay them into another account so that they could ship them stuff without the liquidators knowing about it. Maybe they wanted to ship out a last few orders and had to tell people to pay the shipping cost into a new account as the liquidators had taken over the old one. Who knows but I doubt they were trying to scam people.

All speculation of course but at the end of the day, the message here is that the liquidators will jerk you around, believe that.

Pretty close to the mark i reckon.
People do you really think this bloke is going to package up your goods and send them to you? Do you think he will offer refunds? Maybe if your lucky you will get a small window providing you have all the documentation to have access to your SDB in person, dont hold your breath.
When he is telling people to get insurance - read between the lines - ya gonna get screwed.
If Iam proven to be wrong and you get your metal/refunds then thats a great outcome for all those that have been caught up in this mess.
Be aware of the tactics being used to turn public sentiment against PBC.
 
Hey guys I'm actually curious as to what kind of scenario SDB holders could get screwed over by as you would think that if you have a box and can prove that you have ownership of the contents of the box you have leased, you should get your stuff back unscathed.

I was wondering why SDB holders would be worried if this would be the likely outcome unless they would think otherwise. I would like to know what could possible go wrong for SDB holders when the process should be straightforward in their case.
 
Pretty close to the mark i reckon.
People do you really think this bloke is going to package up your goods and send them to you? Do you think he will offer refunds? Maybe if your lucky you will get a small window providing you have all the documentation to have access to your SDB in person, dont hold your breath.
When he is telling people to get insurance - read between the lines - ya gonna get screwed.
If Iam proven to be wrong and you get your metal/refunds then thats a great outcome for all those that have been caught up in this mess.
Be aware of the tactics being used to turn public sentiment against PBC.
There are 450 safety deposit box holders, many of them with a large chunk of their wealth I would bet.

I'm not sure any of them would sit quietly while they try and steal the contents. Gladstone also would have significant exposure in the way of insurance I would imagine they would fight tooth and nail to ensure the contents are returned.

If it comes to it, and let's hope it doesnt, but I'm sure there are legal options that could be pursued to file some sort of injunction to stop them illegally accessing the boxes. They would have to drill out all the locks in order to get to the contents how the hell are they going to think they can get away with that when you have an army of people with invoices, keys and other paperwork showing they are the licensees of the boxes.

You have valid points though and I do believe they will make.it difficult but I'm not sure the administrator has some agenda other than to ensure all property is returned to the right parties. Given the last circular they may not have an ex employee or director helping them, they may just be trying to wade through all the shit on their own.
 
This is not my fight so good luck with your PMs. However, we are stackers not orators, FFS can someone in Perth put together a group?

Meanwhile, what can we take away from this? In Sydney there are a few private vaults. What if they went belly up? It makes sense to use them for SMSF where everything is documented and insurance is not a privacy issue. But, as to private holdings, is there a need for a "dark" vault owned and run by a collective? Perth Bullion proves that if you don't hold it, you don't own it.

I'll put my thinking gear around this and talk it through at the next Stackeratti meeting.
 
Who are the real crooks here? You think its Perth Bullion? The real crooks are the taxation department and the liquidators. PBC and anyone who had holdings with them are the victims. You think the liquidator is just going to automatically send you your stuff? They don't want to. They would rather it go unclaimed and then they get to keep it. Maybe you lost or deleted your invoices and have no way to claim, then they get to keep it. That's why they will make it as hard as possible and jerk you around until you feel like its all hopeless and just leave it. Or maybe you wont even here about the liquidation in time and then its too late. You think this Neil bloke is doing this for fun and to help people? He is doing it to make money and cash in, so of course they will come up with all kinds of BS like missing records etc. Maybe PBC told a few people to pay them into another account so that they could ship them stuff without the liquidators knowing about it. Maybe they wanted to ship out a last few orders and had to tell people to pay the shipping cost into a new account as the liquidators had taken over the old one. Who knows but I doubt they were trying to scam people.

All speculation of course but at the end of the day, the message here is that the liquidators will jerk you around, believe that.

Definitely ATO are the biggest crooks here, the Liquidators probably are as well.

But I think the big surprise for me that the Perth Bullion guys are crooks too !!! Perth Bullion have set up an bank account after the company was put into administration but while they still had access to their website !

So I and other repeat customers have paid into this new account.

They did this to steal my and others money ! As they didn't even have access to the office or the their vault but the website was still taking orders and people's money.

I also think it's ridiculous that the company has been put into liquidation for nearly a week but the website was still taking orders so trading as normal.... What the hell were the administrators doing to try stop him from stealing people's money from the website?

I feel for Everyone in this situation, especially because I think we're asking a bunch of criminals For our money or metals back.
 
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INSURANCE
So the liquidator recommended that you arrange immediate insurance.
Unfortunately I think that is a good idea.

Has anyone got any tips/links for companies that will insure items held in a SDB?
What are we insuring against?
 
But I think the big surprise for me that the Perth Bullion guys are crooks too !!! Perth Bullion have set up an bank account after the company was put into administration but while they still had access to their website !

So I and other repeat customers have paid into this new account.

They did this to steal my and others money ! As they didn't even have access to the office or the their vault but the website was still taking orders and people's money.

Unfortunately, and I speak from experience, scammers prey on situations like this. They spoof email address headers and send emails to people already in panic mode.

What's to say that someone (possibly even attached to the liquidators) sells a list of customers to scammers who then fleece any unfortunates who respond?

Changing account numbers is a common attack vector. Unless we know who controls the new account numbers, we cant presume anything. Also the bank never compares the account name you give them, it is not checked. So they can call it Kermit the Frog Pty Ltd, but it really belongs to Gerard Turtletard. Try and verify ownership and the banks wont check for you citing privacy reasons. So if this happens, and someone changes account details in an email, be immediately suspicious and confirm through another verifiable channel, i.e. Phone.

Don't assume these emails are from anyone connected to PB. The small amounts that come through would not be worth their while.
 
INSURANCE
So the liquidator recommended that you arrange immediate insurance.
Unfortunately I think that is a good idea.

Has anyone got any tips/links for companies that will insure items held in a SDB?
What are we insuring against?
Pretty sure Lloyd's provides safe deposit box insurance, but you may need to go through a broker such as JLT: https://www.jlt.com/industry/specie-insurance

However, I think at this point you would struggle to insure or if you can insure, then claim against a loss.

Those who have a safe deposit box don't have access to it, how would you be able to prove to the insurer that the loss occurred after you took out the policy?

Really awful situation and for those who have a substantial sum tied up in this mess it may be worth investigating the insurance angle, but it would be a bit like trying to take out a home insurance policy once the building is already on fire.
 
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