Two Hong Kong kids, studying at university in Sydney. They become good friends, despite one of them returning to Hong Kong. They are such good friends they start investing money together. After a while one friend gets suspicious and starts asking questions. And it turns out his friend has bled him for A$5.5 million over 4 years (try this for registration). Was it a sophisticated web of deception? Not really:

The tall tales Mr [Michael] Chin spun began in 1999 when he falsely claimed to be the director of Edin Investments Pty Ltd...Before long, he had Mr [Joshua Wai Kim] Chu pouring millions of dollars straight into his personal ANZ savings account at Chatswood to pay for bogus investments including property in Japan and shares in companies not even publicly listed...Mr Chin so convinced him of his investment prowess that Mr Chu eventually dipped into his own family's businesses for cash...He [Chin] never presented his friend with a single document from their "investments" on the share market and in property amounting to 11 complicated business proposals.

Mr Chu even paid $4376 for several "hotel bookings" for Mr Chin when he was supposedly overseas drumming up business for Edin. He would call Mr Chu, saying that he was terribly busy, and could he book him a room at the Bangkok Marriott Hotel.

"Make sure it's a suite on the higher floors," he said, according to Mr Chu's claim. "Then book me two nights at Banyan Tree in Phuket ... make sure I've got a double bed there. I need you to then book accommodation for me in Seoul at the Grand Hyatt for three nights ... The company will pay you back."