Environmental watchdog shuts down scammers that leave tyre mounds on businesses

The Northern Territory’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has shut down a tyre recycling scam that left two businesses with large stockpiles of old tyres and costly clean-ups. The scam targeted businesses with worn tyres, offering discounted recycling, collecting payment, and then dumping the tyres elsewhere.

In Darwin, a commercial site was found piled with tyres delivered by the fraudulent company Seoul Traders. A legitimate recycling firm, NTEX, was also defrauded when 20 tonnes of tyres were delivered for recycling but payment was not made, and the tyres were eventually dumped at the Darwin site.

The scam, which has affected businesses nationwide, involved scammers vanishing with cash while leaving large tyre piles for victims to manage, with disposal costs estimated at tens of thousands of dollars. Following a tip-off from interstate authorities, the NT EPA investigated Seoul Traders and revoked their licence. Northern Territory police are also conducting a probe.