Anthony Hendon played a lead role in a 2013 scam where advertisers in genuine publications were approached to place similar advertisements in publications to be printed by Anthony.
To encourage purchase, the magazines were titled in a way that suggested support of worthwhile causes such as road safety, parenting or family support. Anthony grossly misrepresented the number of magazines to be printed and failed to circulate those magazines as promised. Anthony attempted to obtain more than $1 million under the scam between October 2009 and October 2012 and did successfully obtain funds in excess of $750,000.
The magazines the victims were conned into buying advertisements in had titles suggesting worthy causes such as “Road Awareness”, “Safer Children”, “National Drug and Crime Review”, and often titles very similar to legitimate magazines.
He was also involved in a takeaway business in Motueka called Mot Hot Roasts.
Anthony received four years imprisonment for reproducing documents with intent to cause loss – charges resulting from a major joint investigation with OFCANZ, the Commerce Commission, New Zealand Customs and Inland Revenue, led by the SFO.
Crown Prosecutor of the fraud case Grant Burston had also said Hendon’s only work was to be a parasite, targeting victims who could not afford the loss, or exhausted their advertising budgets for no gain.
Hendon’s whole life was built around targeting 884 individuals, some of them repeatedly. “We have proposed that Murchison operate as a volunteer led First Response Unit, bringing it in line with other similar communities across rural and remote New Zealand. In concluding, the Council undertook to collect and collate feedback on behalf of the community and we look forward to reviewing that feedback and any alternative proposals in the coming weeks,” says Joelle.
Local woman Anna Bawi recently made the mistake of purchasing a car from Hendon who is believed to be locally based and who she thought was a registered car dealer. Not only was the car not registered it subsequently failed an AA check.
“I admit I had no knowledge of cars,” says Anna.
Wanting to be independent, Anna, a solo mum, went to buy the car on her own looking for something reliable and suitable for her and her son.
On top of the $4100 paid for the car, she’s now had to find hundreds of extra dollars to get the car registered and make it roadworthy. She’s also had to join the AA.
“I thought that because he said he was a registered car dealer
I could trust him,” says Anna.
“The brakes were faulty, the motor had leaks and tape had been placed over the engine light to hide the fact that it was constantly on.”
Convicted fraudster Anthony Hendon, advertises cars on Facebook and sells them from Motueka and Takaka, he was contacted but declined to comment, other than to say he would defend himself if the case ever made it to the small claim’s tribunal.
Anna who works at Countdown, is also training at NMIT to become a nurse.
She would often work 50-hour weeks to be able to save enough money to afford the car as well as cover her weekly expenses.
Anna contacted Anthony after she discovered all the faults with the car.
Initially Anthony said he would swap the faulty car for another one for her.
When she approached him he wouldn’t answer her calls.
She was happy to accept the arrangement but heard nothing further from him.
Chasing him up over a period of time he finally reneged on the offer.
Instead, Anthony stated Anna would need to pay him another $500 to be able to get another car.
Anna initially found her car advertised online on Facebook’s Marketplace and says that she would advise people to play it safe and go through a qualified car dealership, even if the seller says they are a registered dealer.