Edmonton detectives charged a 44-year-old Cairns woman with 50 addition fraud and property related offences following a protracted two-year investigation.
The investigation, which spanned August 2019 to August 2021 and involved police from Cairns and Edmonton Criminal Investigation Branches, as well as uniformed officers, saw police execute multiple search warrants at addresses in Cairns and Townsville.
Police will allege they located significant quantities of identifying documents belonging to other people, in the form of driver’s licenses, credit cards, medicare cards, as well as other data and documents, during the searches.
It will be further alleged that between August 2019 and September 2021 the identification documents were used to create false accounts, such as bank and telephone accounts and lines of credit.
On October 10 Edmonton detectives issued a Notice to Appear to the woman in relation to 50 offences, including 25 counts of fraud, 14 counts of obtaining or dealing with identification information, three counts each of forgery and uttering and two of impersonation.
The woman is due to appear in the Cairns Magistrates Court on November 1.
The woman was previously charged with 142 offences in relation to this investigation, including the alleged theft of mail, possessing and receiving tainted property, forgery, counterfeit currency offences, and fraud offences including alleged pawnbroking of stolen goods, use of stolen credit cards and fuel cards and the falsified creation and utilisation of business accounts.
If you have information for police, contact Policelink by providing information using the online suspicious activity form 24hrs per day at www.police.qld.gov.au/reporting.
Report crime information anonymously via Crime Stoppers. Call 1800 333 000 or report online at www.crimestoppersqld.com.au.
