Dear Hosts,

We have just been warned about a father & son duo who are going around with an old WWOOF Book, visiting unsuspecting hosts and then allegedly stealing things; they are alleged to have a POLICE RECORD. The informant says they are good 'con men'. SO BEWARE if you are contacted by anyone naming themselves (as above) OR passing themselves off as father & son WWoofers, be very careful.

Do not host them until you have checked their names AND the membership number on the book they are using, then ring or email us with the membership number so we can see which m/ship number they are using.

This is the main reason why we ask hosts to CHECK ID!! See more info below from the victims.
Be Vigilant and you'll be fine,
Cheers,
Debb

Dear All, please find attached a newspaper clipping referring to a father and son who are traveling about (whereabouts unknown) claiming to be 'handymen' they apparently have an unsavory past and possible agenda.



We have recently returned from a field trip where these two persons were 'working' on one of our families stations, the family did confide that the couple displayed 'odd' behaviors and that the family felt uncomfortable. Very recently at another playgroup another one of our parents was relaying a story about a couple of men who had 'turned' up to her property looking for work doing odd jobs etc, this family were instantly on guard by the men's sketchy details and the younger man let slip that he had been in a relationship with someone in Charters Towers that the family knew. The family rang Charters Towers and was told in no uncertain terms to get the men off of their property as they were untrustworthy. The mum then took it one step further and did some of her own investigating and came up with the attached article. She also reported them to crime stoppers unfortunately (or fortunately) the men disappeared during the early hours of the morning and she was unable to get their number plate, the same goes for our family near Mt Garnet after working doing some building work for this family the men floated in the early hours while the family slept.



This email is not meant to alarm anyone but to raise awareness of these two so that you are better equipped to protect yourselves and family.

We will be reporting our limited interaction with these two men this morning to The Mareeba Fraud Squad. So if anyone out their has sighted these two men I urge you to report it to either your local police or crime stoppers as they are sought after by the police.



When we saw them at the Mt Garnet Property both men had beards, they wore the same hats (white bucket hats with a green band) they look very similar (apart from the obvious age difference) they have olive complexions. ( I stated at the time that they reminded me of Mennonites, a stricter order of the Amish communities prominently in the USA, this comparison is not meant to reflect unkindly on the Amish) dark hair and dark eyes.



Please be on the look out as the thought of these two men engaging their possible criminal activities against any of our families is alarming. Please feel free to pass on this email to all other remote and isolated families in your area.

NEWS ARTICLES FROM THE HERALD SUN - 2007
A PAIR of modern-day pirates stole the identities of friends, family members and even a priest to finance a three-year cruise around Australia's east coast, police allege.
Accused father-and-son buccaneers Gino Stocco, 49, and Mark Stocco, 27, assumed the identities of those they met at ports stretching from the NSW north coast to Adelaide, it is alleged.
Victorian police said they had found three victims who were allegedly defrauded of a total of $20,000.
And they believed there could be more.
"We believe these people have run amok in other people's names," Port Fairy's Sergeant Mick Wolfe said.
So far the men are facing 15 charges, including burglary, theft, criminal damage, deception and making false passports.
Their voyage began in 2003 when Gino Stocco's marriage broke down.
Using $100,000 from the divorce settlement, he is believed to have bought a yacht, the Kiwarrak, from a man in the NSW town of Taree.
After that, he and his son set off on along the picturesque coastline – allegedly at the expense of those they defrauded.
Among their known stops in the past six months were Tasmania's Huon River, Adelaide, King Island, Kangaroo Island, Port Fairy and Apollo Bay.
Water police are downloading data from the GPS system fixed to the duo's yacht to ascertain other movements.
It is alleged the pair seized the identities of those they met along the way, using personal documents to obtain mobile phones, credit cards and create bank loans – one for as much as $15,000.
That victim – an Australian soldier serving in Iraq – was a former neighbour of Mr Stocco's during the time he lived in Queensland.
Police said the man had been questioned over traffic violations and made to pay bills that were not his.
"He was dubious that he was getting credit card statements and debt collectors chasing him, but he was able to prove he was overseas on a deployment," Sgt Wolfe said.
Another man – a priest from Port Macquarie, in NSW – told police two men had befriended him before using his tax documents and his certificate of ordination to assume his identity.
The alleged seafaring swindlers are accused of duping immigration officials into believing they were someone else.
Police believe Gino Stocco used someone else's birth certificate to persuade authorities to issue a genuine passport that displayed his image alongside someone else's name.
The Stoccos spent a week in Port Fairy before leaving on December 17 last year – the day after a mysterious break-in at the local yacht club from which $2000 was stolen.
Port Fairy police tracked them to nearby Apollo Bay, despite the men allegedly telling locals they werebound for Adelaide, in the opposite direction.
The alleged buccaneering cruise came to an end on December 21 when police and Customs officials raided the yacht.
Among items seized were a $3600 wad of cash and two balaclavas, police said.
The duo denied any involvement in the yacht club break-in.
Police said the men gave false names at each port and did not pay mooring fees.
The men allegedly told police their sole source of income had been from fruit-picking jobs.
Police said they believed otherwise. "For the last two years they have been sailing the seas using false names and we believe their trip has been financed by other people," a spokesman said.
An estranged family member alleged Gino Stocco had even misused his own brother's driving licence.
"He is the black sheep of the family," the family member said.
Eddie Stocco, another of his brothers, had not seen Gino in several years.
"He split up with his wife and he went haywire after that," he said.
Police have asked anyone with more information to call Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000.
A FATHER and son's high- seas pirate adventure from NSW to Victoria has landed them behind bars.
The swindling seafarers lived like pirates along Australia's eastern and southern seaboards for more than two years.
They stole the identities of a priest, a soldier serving in Iraq and acquaintances to finance their high jinx.
Their voyage started in 2003 when Gino Stocco's marriage broke down and he used a $100,000 divorce settlement to buy a yacht.
Stocco, 49, and his son, Mark, 27, then conned a luxury lifestyle from people they met in ports along the coastline.
The pair cheated people by using their personal documents to obtain credit cards and mobile phones and to create bank loans.
Police say a Christian minister claimed the men befriended him before using his certificate of ordination to assume his identity.
Another victim was a soldier, a former neighbour of Gino Stocco, who accumulated traffic fines in his name while the man served in Iraq.
The father and son were jailed this week by Warrnambool magistrate Michael Stone.
"It is quite apparent that you were just drifting around the coast of Australia taking advantage of whoever you could take advantage of," Mr Stone said.
Gino Stocco pleaded guilty to 10 charges, including burglary, theft, criminal damage, making false passport statements and obtaining financial advantage by deception.
His son faced three charges, including robbing his mother in a Melbourne car park in 2004.
The pair was in custody for 45 days after being arrested over a $2000 burglary from the Port Fairy Yacht club in December.
The court heard Gino Stocco was sailing an unlicensed vessel without an operator's licence.
Gino Stocco was sentenced to four months and one week jail and fined $2400. His son was sentenced to two months jail and fined $600.