Infamous Australian conman Peter Foster was dramatically arrested on Four Mile Beach in Port Douglas on Thursday morning following a lengthy investigation by NSW Police and a private investigator into an alleged multimillion-dollar sports betting scam.

Private cybercrime investigator and IFW Global Chairman, Ken Gamble, said he had assisted NSW police with an investigation into a complaint he received alleging that an Asian-based company called Sport Predictions was a bogus front that enabled Mr Foster to scam money.

IFW Global is an international investigation firm focused on serious organised fraud and cybercrime.

Mr Gamble said he began investigating Mr Foster after a businessman in Asia contacted him in early 2020.

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“The businessman felt he’d been the victim of an elaborate scam and asked me to investigate in an effort to recover his investment,” Mr Gamble said.

Mr Gamble said he referred the complaint to NSW Police, as payments to Sport Predictions were allegedly being made in Bitcoin to an exchange in Sydney.

Mr Gamble’s investigations led him to track down Mr Foster in Port Douglas where he has been covertly tailing him for the last month.

Mr Foster is believed to have been staying in a rented holiday home in Port Douglas and according to Mr Gamble he had been looking to buy a luxury motor yacht, valued at over a million dollars.

NSW police detectives formed Strike Force Apron Two launching their own investigation into Foster’s alleged activities before issuing a warrant to Queensland Police for Mr Foster’s arrest.

Three plain clothed Queensland Police officers arrested the 57-year-old man at around 8:00am Thursday morning while he was out walking his dogs.

Later in the day detectives from the Far North’s Major and Organised Crime Squad searched an Andrews Close residence before leading Mr Foster away in handcuffs.

Mr Foster is expected to be charged by police for various offences including fraud and money laundering.

A NSW Police spokesperson said, “he has been taken to a local police station, where the NSW warrant for fraud-related offences will be executed. 

“Detectives from Sydney City Police Area Command will travel to Queensland in due course to apply for the man’s extradition to NSW,” the spokesperson said.

It’s not the first time IFW Global and Mr Gamble have played a role in seeing Mr Foster arrested. In 2014, Mr Gamble was hired by an Australian media outlet to assist in finding Mr Foster, while he was on the run from a prison sentence and the subject of an Interpol Red Notice.

The successful manhunt saw Mr Foster arrested in northern NSW and at the same time exposed a $30 million scam involving by Mr Foster called Sports Trading Club.

Mr Foster is a career criminal who has spent time in jail in Australia, Vanuatu, the United States, and Britain on various elaborate financial scams.

He first rose to infamy in the 1980’s for falsely spruiking a weight loss tea and hiring model Samantha Fox to promote it.

He was also involved in controversially helping Cherie Blair, wife of then British prime minister Tony Blair, buy properties in Bristol at a discounted rate in 2002.