Sydney man, 22, charged in $100,000 organized identity theft

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https://www.9news.com.au/2019/03/13/11/ ... te--sydney

Sydney man, 22, charged in $100,000 organized identity theft syndicate

By AAP
11:33am Mar 13, 2019

A 22-year-old man from Sydney has been charged over a sophisticated identity theft and fraud syndicate using "phone porting" where the scammers steal a victim's phone number and use it to gain access to bank accounts.

The arrest stems from an investigation into up to 70 compromised accounts and fraudulent transactions totaling more than $100,000 between February and September 2018.

The man was charged yesterday following searches on two properties in western Sydney where a large number of items were seized, from equipment to perpetrate the fraud and luxury items illegally bought.


A 22-year-old man has been charged over a sophisticated identity theft and fraud syndicate. (NSW Police)
The man was granted strict conditional bail to appear at Blacktown Local Court on April 11.

Police will allege in court the syndicate operated by porting a victim's mobile number to a new carrier, and then contacting a financial institution to reset account details and passwords and gain access.


A 22-year-old man was charged on Tuesday following searches on two properties. (NSW Police)
The account is then registered for mobile pay apps to fraudulently buy goods and transfer funds to overseas accounts.

Cybercrime Squad Commander Detective Superintendent Matt Craft says identity crimes are a multimillion-dollar organized crime "business" and phone porting is becoming increasingly common.

Police said they seized equipment used to perpetrate the fraud and luxury items illegally bought. (NSW Police)

"Generally speaking, the first a victim will know that their identity is being taken over is losing signal on their mobile phone, and in many cases, by the time they work out what has happened, they've lost access to their bank accounts and other services," Supt Craft said.

"In the last 12 months, crimes enabled by phone porting have cost the community at least $10 million - and that is a conservative estimate based on what has actually been reported to police.”