newsbytes@clarinet.com (02/04/90)
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1990 JAN 29 (NB) -- An Australian doctor has been accused in Federal Parliament of masterminding a computer-based "rip-off" by selling "speculative investment" software. Dr. John Page of Wyong, the accused doctor, told Newsbytes he was holding talks with a group of investors interested in buying the system he claims to have spent more than six years writing in Basic on a Commodore PC. The doctor is alleged to have used the PC system to scam $750,000 out of his patients through claims that investments recommended by his system would pay 20% interest per month. He said the system, yet to be named, reduced the risk of speculating on futures markets, stock exchanges, and even horse racing, to almost none, while retaining a high profit level. He declined to give technical details. "All the 17 investors on the system have been paid interest according their individual agreements," Page stressed. The prospective buyer, he said, signed a pact in July that included some cash up front," he said. "As far as I'm concerned the system is sold, We are just waiting for the money to come through." (Paul Zucker and Computing Australia/19900131)