A former Australian bank employee has been sentenced for illegally accessing bank customers’ accounts and personal information to allegedly swindle more than $53,000 from another financial organisation.
The man, 26, was sentenced by the Downing Centre District Court on 27 August 2024 to an intensive correction order for two years and eight months and 500 hours of community service after pleading guilty in September 2023 to four offences relating to identity theft and fraud.
The man pleaded guilty to one count each of:
- Dishonestly obtain/deal in personal financial information, contrary to section 480.4 of the Criminal Code 1995 (Cth);
- Access data by carriage service with intent to commit a serious offence, contrary to section 477.1(1)(a)(i) of the Criminal Code 1995 (Cth);
- Possession of identification information, contrary to section 372.2(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth); and
- Dishonestly obtain financial advantage or cause disadvantage by deception, contrary to section 192E(1)(b) of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW).
The man used the personal identification information of bank customers to facilitate fraudulent activities, resulting in obtaining more than $53,000 in criminal proceeds from the financial organisation. The man utilised bank customer details to open falsely registered accounts and obtain numerous debit cards.
Eastern Command Cybercrime launched an investigation in June 2022 after an Australian financial institution reported that the employee suspected he had unlawfully accessed several customers’ accounts in June 2022.
Police executed a search warrant at the man’s Balmain East home on 10 August 2022, where they located and seized six phones, four laptops, between 50-60 debit cards in his name, six debit cards in the names of multiple victims, a large amount of SIM cards and bank documents.
AFP Commander Kate Ferry said the AFP would continue to work with domestic law enforcement and other partners to identify and disrupt the criminal activities of people who attempt to defraud Australians.
“The consequences of identity theft can have devastating impacts on victims, and we encourage any Australian who notices anomalies in their banking accounts to contact their bank immediately and report the matter to Report Cyber at cyber.gov.au,” Cmdr Ferry said.
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