Sydney. May 7, 2010. An alleged ringleader of a multi-million dollar identity fraud racket based in Sydney is facing multiple charges after an early morning raid. As of press time, his identity has been suppressed but will probably be made known to public when proven guilty.
The 41-year-old Filipino man who is reportedly from Quakers Hill, NSW is the 23rd person to be arrested by police strike force Gamut, set up to investigate the theft of about $7 million from unsuspecting bank and superannuation account holders.
He is charged with 57 counts of identity fraud and money laundering relating to transactions valued at more than $550,000. Police and immigration officials arrested the man at a western Sydney property during a search about 7am (AEST) on Friday. He has been refused bail and is due to face Blacktown Local Court.
“To date, we have arrested 23 people who we allege were involved in stealing mail from residences across Sydney to obtain personal details and then defraud millions of dollars from bank and superannuation accounts,” Inspector Greg Jewiss said in a statement.
“In several cases, victims have been unaware their entire superannuation accounts were fraudulently rolled over into bogus accounts and then simply emptied.”
The police strike force has already laid more than 2,000 charges in the past 20 months and more arrests are expected.
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