Cannington Detectives have charged a woman in relation to identify theft and fraud offences worth over $500,000 after an extensive investigation conducted over 19 months.
On Wednesday 31 October 2018 a search warrant was executed at a residence in Admiral Grove, Heathridge. During the search warrant a box was located that contained a number of items including a notebook containing the handwritten details of a large number of people, along with bankcards and other identification material.
An investigation was commenced into the purpose of that information and it will be alleged the details of more than 60 people had been recorded. It will be further alleged the personal information of some of those people was used to commit a range of fraud offences including the opening of bank accounts, obtaining loans and establishing lines of credit (credit cards). The loans and lines of credit were obtained from 14 financial institutions with a total value of approximately $517,000, which includes both the funds obtained and the funds that were attempted to be obtained.
The fraudulent loan applications were typically in the $20,000 – $25,000 range, while applications for lines of credit ranged from $6,000 to $100,000.
On Wednesday 13 May 2020 detectives arrested the 34-year-old woman and she has been charged with:
– 62 x Possession of identification material with intent to commit an offence
– 49 x Gains Benefit by Fraud
– 8 x (Attempted) Gains Benefit by Fraud
– 2 x Stealing
She was refused bail and appeared in the Perth Magistrates Court yesterday, Thursday 14 May 2020. She is next due to appear in the same court on Thursday 25 June 2020.
Acting Detective Senior Sergeant Ron WINKLER from Cannington Detectives said the investigation was complex and required extensive liaison with a large number of financial institutions.
“The scale of the investigation was significant, with 14 financial institutions identified as being victims of fraud offences and over 60 innocent parties potentially having their details used in the commission of those fraud offences.
“The investigation included the requesting of 55 Data Access Orders through the courts and required 70 legal requests for documents from financial and telecommunications entities, who have worked closely with detectives to identify the alleged offences.”
