Concerns over supplement scam in Ireland

Reports in the British press claim that a convicted conman, Peter Foster, has set up fake dietary supplement sales scheme in Ireland.

Foster, who is originally from Australia's Gold Coast, has already been convicted of fraud in both Australia and the UK, but is now thought to have resurfaced in Ireland, where he has allegedly placed ads in Irish newspapers promising to turn investors into millionaires.

The AAP news agency reports that Foster's adverts claim that investors can make €1.3 million a year with the dietary supplement Trimit. All they have to do is pay him €200,000 for the privilege.

The scheme has apparently attracted a great deal of interest, the AAP reports, with calls flooding in from potential investors.

Foster disappeared from the UK while on day release in 1996 after serving nearly 18 months for fraud. The British police were at the time preparing to charge him with three counts of using false documents while trying to set up slimming products companies.

He returned to Australia, but was arrested there for fraud, serving 900 days in jail before being extradited back to the UK, where he pleaded guilty to the remaining fraud charges. The judge ruled he had served enough time in prison and released him to return to Australia.