Three people have been charged over an alleged $600,000 business email compromise scam, after police traced suspicious gold bullion purchases across Sydney.

Police allege the group used stolen funds from the scam to buy large quantities of gold bullion, including five separate purchases worth about $100,000 each over a two-week period.

Siara-Lee Barrett, 20, was arrested along with two suspected accomplices at a Sydney CBD gold dealership last Thursday afternoon.

A tip-off from the National Australia Bank (NAB) led to the identification of “suspicious funds” believed to be linked to a lucrative email scam campaign.

According to the Australian Federal Police (AFP), cybercrime detectives linked the funds to a business email compromise (BEC) scheme in which scammers allegedly impersonated legitimate business representatives to trick victims into transferring money.

The alleged scammers extorted victims out of some $600,000.

According to Australian Federal Police (AFP) Superintendent Marie Andersson, about $300,000 of allegedly stolen funds “have been recovered”.

“The [Joint Policing Cybercrime Coordination Centre] will continue working with our police, government and industry partners to alleviate the impact these types of scams have on our community,” said Andersson.

Thousands nabbed from trio’s car

Barrett was reportedly accompanied by 36-year-old Sirelkhatim Mohamed Ali and 29-year-old Sophoni Tumaini, who were also arrested at the Sydney bullion dealer.

While the trio were taken to Surry Hills Police Station, police conducted a search of the group’s car and seized a further $34,000 in cash along with three mobile phones.

An apartment in Zetland was later searched, where police located three mobile phones and “documentation” deemed relevant to the investigation.

Barrett was charged with recklessly dealing with proceeds of crime and participating in a criminal group, according to the AFP.

Tumaini was charged with two counts of dealing with property proceeds of crime, while both he and Ali were accused of participating in a criminal group and dealing with identity information to commit an indictable offence.

All three were initially refused bail and appeared in Bail Division Local Court 7 the same day.

Information Age understands that although Barrett and Ali were then granted conditional bail which involved surrendering their passports to authorities, Tumaini neglected to apply for bail and remains in custody at the time of writing.

NAB account used for alleged scam proceeds

Police first received a tip-off after some of the alleged scam proceeds were sent to an NAB account, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

AFP noted the suspicious funds were linked to a suspected BEC scam, which cost Australians $12,169,317 across 2,510 reported incidents in 2025, according to the National Anti-Scam Centre's Scamwatch.

Information Age understands the bank was not itself a victim of the alleged BEC scheme.

Chris Sheehan, executive for NAB group investigations and former 27-year AFP member, confirmed the bank had “worked closely with NSW Police and the AFP on this matter”.

“NAB continues to work in close partnership with law enforcement and authorities, sharing intelligence and acting quickly to help stop criminal activity and protect customers,” Sheehan told Information Age.

Andersson meanwhile suggested the scam was detected at an “early stage” thanks to “industry partnerships with law enforcement”.

"Timely information from [NAB] was crucial in helping police identify this alleged criminal activity and act quickly to disrupt it and place people before the courts," Andersson said.

The suspected trio is scheduled to re-appear at Downing Centre Local Court on 28 May.