A Sydney man has been sentenced to two years and six months imprisonment for swindling more than $66,000 from a dozen victims after abusing his role as an IT contractor with a third-party provider to the Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM).
The Macquarie Park man, 25, used his role as a contract IT support worker to access the ANMM’s accounts payable system and illegally change bank account details to his own.
The man unlawfully obtained the financial details of several individuals and businesses recorded in ANMM’s systems, which he later used to make fraudulent purchases, including more than $15,000 on 4WD upgrades and mechanical work, and more than $20,000 on high-powered IT equipment.
The ANMM detected irregularities in its financial records in November 2022 and reported the fraudulent activity to the AFP. Members of the AFP Eastern Command Cybercrime Operations team identified the Macquarie Park man as the perpetrator and arrested him at his home in March 2023.
The man was sentenced by the Central Local Court on Friday (15 March, 2024) to two years and six months’ imprisonment, with a 15 month non-parole period.
He was convicted of:
- One count of unauthorised access and modification with intent to commit a serious computer offence, contrary to section 477.1 of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth);
- One count of dishonestly obtaining or dealing in personal financial information, contrary to section 480.4 of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth); and
- One count of dishonestly obtaining property by deception, contrary to section 192E of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW).
AFP Detective Superintendent Tim Stainton said the AFP was committed to protecting Australians from cybercriminals attempting to defraud them and disrupt their business operations.
“This man exploited his trusted position of employment to fraudulently access and spend thousands of dollars belonging to others for his own benefit,” he said.
“The greedy behaviour in this matter came at the expense of hard-working Australian individuals and business owners.
“Australians work hard for their money and the AFP is working tirelessly to prevent cyber criminals from scamming, stealing and defrauding them.”
The AFP launched the Joint Policing Cybercrime Coordination Centre (JPC3) in March 2022 in response to the escalating cybercrime threat in Australia. The JPC3 brings together the powers, experience, investigative and intelligence capabilities of all Australian policing jurisdictions, key international law enforcement and industry partners to inflict maximum impact on high-harm, high-volume cybercrime affecting the Australian community.
The JPC3 identifies organised cybercriminals targeting Australia, disrupts their criminal activities and prevents further harm and financial loss to the Australian community.
If you are a victim of cybercrime, report it to police via ReportCyber. If you need assistance with reporting cybercrime to police, please call the 24/7 Australian Cyber Security Centre (ASCS) Hotline on 1300 CYBER1 (1300 292 371).
Contact your financial institution if your details have been compromised.
