EXPRESS The
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Locally owned and proudly independent
Mareeba shines at art awards
A SLICE of Mareeba’s rich history has earned national accolades. Local artists Anne-Maree Keating and Tom Cosic (pictured) won a gold medal the Australian Sign and Graphics Awards this month for their recently finished mural at Mareeba Centre. From the Aboriginal Dreamtime to the town’s farming heritage, Mr Cosic said locals had been instrumental in sharing their stories to create the masterpiece. FULL STORY – PAGE 11
Scam strikes locals By Michael Serenc
A MAREEBA accountant has warned Tablelands residents not to fall for a pushy tax scam trying to extort thousands of dollars from people. Grubers Beckett Mareeba principal Bronwyn Price said she had fielded several reports of scammers randomly calling residents claiming they were from the tax office.
The scammer would then tell the resident they owed money and threatened to have them arrested by police if they did not pay $4000 cash into a nominated bank account. Scammers have also used threat of publicly naming and shaming residents in their local newspaper if they did not pay them the money. “It’s just really nasty stuff and these people are getting pretty upset,” Ms Price said. “There’s two problems. One, people can get
caught up in the trap and they pay this money and two, the level of stress it’s putting on people. “I haven’t come across a scam of this scale where they’re being verbally pressured so much.” Café Piazza Mareeba owner Maria Aloia said she was almost the victim of the scam a few weeks ago after hearing a threatening message left on her phone to pay the tax office. Because Mrs Aloia knew she already owed money to the tax office, she wrongly assumed
the message was genuine and promptly called the number left on the message before she was instructed to withdraw $4000 in cash from her bank. “Then I chickened out. As I was standing there I thought to myself “This isn’t the tax office. The tax office doesn’t call you”,” she recalled.
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