How Bill Papas (allegedly) siphoned $500 million through printer contracts

The office technology industry has a history of fraudsters…

Which is the important reason why we started our business - to change the negative perception of the industry - which has been created over the years by these fraudsters.

We’ve talked openly how print technology and telecom suppliers inflate prices by stealth, get you to finance fresh air and make it financially difficult to end agreements.

But you can’t beat a real-life mega story to bring these fraudsters to life. Listen to this!

Although the scene is set in Australia and been reported by the The Sydney Morning Herald, this event could happen anywhere in the world, including the UK.

Picture the scene…

In the 90’s Bill Papas was a young truck driver who sought a new career direction. Eventually he was given a chance in sales at a small printer leasing business.

Following years of gaining industry knowledge Papas went out on his own, setting up the Forum Group, which would go on the dominate the Australian printer leasing industry.

In 2017 Papas and Forum struck a deal with Westpac bank to provide office equipment to Westpac’s big clients, the deal also included Forum looking after all the paperwork.

Due to having ownership of the paperwork Papas realised he could inflate these contracts by changing the requirement, from tens of machines to hundreds at a time.

To do this, he allegedly began forging signatures of executives at Westpac’s blue-chip clients.

This included some of the biggest companies in Australia such as Coles, Scentre Group, the country’s biggest landlord Australian Leisure & Hospitality Group and heavy equipment dealer WesTrac.

To avoid detection the genius in Papas’ alleged plan was for Forum (allegedly) to meet the payments on the loans in the names of these blue-chip clients, meaning the customer never knew of the loan and the bank thought it everything was legit.

It’s said the fleeced funds came to more than $500 million, and Papas used the cash to buy a range of businesses to expand his empire.

Soon Forum went from renting out photocopiers and printers to offering solar panel services and leasing waste digesters through its sustainable food waste business Iugis.

Since this alleged fraud have been uncovered (8 months ago) Papas has evaded banks, liquidators and even an arrest warrant, and is said to be living the high life in Athens while dozens of investigators, former staff, and victims back home, including small business owners, have been left to deal with the mess he’s left behind.

Interestingly the article also details how Papas operated his printing contracts.

Stuart Burnett (who worked as a salesperson for 8 months in 2018) says the culture was “ruthless” and “cut-throat” and there was expectation each salesperson would bring in $100,000 per month.

“People were in awe of Papas and what he had created from nothing,” said Burnett. “I was lost in, ‘wow, look at all this that’s happening. These guys are really going for it’.”

But over time, Burnett says the pressure sales tactics made him uncomfortable. Fine print in contracts would sting customers after a few years.

“You’ll sign someone up to a five-year contract; three years in, they’re paying twice as much.”

Eventually, the deceit became too much for Burnett and he quit, telling Papas on the way out: “You’re building something here that I’m not on board with.”

Yes, it’s extreme and very unlikely to happen on this grand scale again. But fraudsters (on a smaller scale) do similar things to all sizes and types of organisations every day, and don’t care.

And taking you back to the beginning of this article. Which is why we began our business, and are on a mission to change the negative impression of the office technology industry.

…and we’ll achieve this through fixed prices, rolling monthly agreements and simple honest service.