14 DAY TRIAL // Australia’s Federal Police (AFP) continues to dismantle one of the most successful identity crime syndicates the country has ever seen.
Authorities arrested two additional suspects – husband and wife – at their home in Ryde. It’s believed that this residence was the place where the fraudulent documents utilized by the Sydney-based criminal organization were manufactured.
Starting with October 2011, law enforcement shut down two manufacturing facilities where false documents and credit cards were made. A total of 15,000 fake payment cards – with a potential fraud value of $37.5 million (30 million EUR) - were seized, along with manufacturing equipment.
Eight suspected members of the criminal ring have been detained.
The 48-year-old man, arrested yesterday, has been charged with using false documents, false or misleading information, and two counts of dealing in proceeds of crime.
His 40-year-old wife has been accused of forgery, possession of identification information, possession of false documents, using a telecoms network with intent to commit a serious offence, possession of equipment for making false documents, using false documents, and dealing in proceeds of crime.
Back in November 2011, when 12,000 fake payment cards were confiscated, the AFP called it the “largest singular seizure in Australian history.”
“Identity crime isn't an emerging crime type; it's a well-established crime type that's growing expediently on a global scale,” AFP Detective Superintendent Darren Booy told The Sidney Morning Herald.
“This case is a good example of how an inadvertent click on a link or an email or someone discarding a credit card or bank statement without shredding it could result in their names being one of those on a credit card similar to the 15,000 recovered in this investigation.”
This law enforcement operation is the result of an investigation started in April 2011 by the Identity Security Strike Team.