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The man was sentenced following an international investigation into a website selling illegal spoofing services.
A 31-year-old Melbourne man has been sentenced to a two-year prison term for a range of offences involving identity theft.
An Australian Federal Police investigation, dubbed Operation Stonefish, began in August 2022 after UK authorities began an investigation into a website selling a range of spoofing services – some costing only £20.
Soon after, an NSW man reported to the Australian reporting site Report Cyber that a bank account had been created in his name without consent. The AFP’s inquiries led them to a Melbourne man who had used fake driver’s licenses – with his picture but with the names and other details of his victims – to create two cryptocurrency accounts online.
In November 2022, the AFP executed a search warrant at the man’s Boronia home and seized a raft of fake documents, both blank and with the details of his victims, including passports, Medicare cards, and cryptocurrency exchange cards.
Police identified an encrypted messaging platform open on the perpetrator’s computer where he had been discussing identity theft and various manuals on how to create fake identity documents.
The man was convicted of one count of providing false or misleading information, one count of dealing with money or other property reasonably suspected of being proceeds of crime worth less than $100,000, one count of producing false or misleading documents, one count of making a false document, one count of possessing a false document, and one count of failure to comply with a section 3LA of the Commonwealth Crimes Act 1914 order.
“The theft of someone’s identity can have serious implications for victims and is a serious criminal offence punishable by significant time in prison,” said AFP Detective Superintendent Tim Stainton in a statement.
“A stolen identity and the use of associated fraudulent documentation can have a devastating impact on people’s lives if sold online or used for criminal purposes.”
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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