Police have arrested a 22-year-old Western Sydney man over an alleged sophisticated identity theft operation and theft of $100,000.
The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that the arrested man is Shalin Patel who was arrested on Tuesday morning with detectives executing a search warrant at a western Sydney property and seizing mobile phones, electronic devices, laptops and allegedly stolen identity documents.
Several luxury goods including expensive watches and clothing items, besides banking records, were also seized.
According to the New South Wales Police, Mr Patel was part of an alleged syndicate that stole over $100,000 by porting 70 mobile phones using stolen identity between February and September last year.
He was charged with four counts of unauthorised modification of data, two counts of recklessly dealing with proceeds of crime, dealing with identity information with intent to commit an indictable offence, participating in a criminal group and attempt to obtain benefit by deception.
He was given bail with strict conditions to appear in Blacktown Local Court on April 11.
The police is alleging that the syndicate ported a mobile phone to a new carrier, unbeknown to the original owner and then contacted their bank to reset the account details and password to gain access.
The bank accounts were then registered for mobile payment applications to allegedly transfer funds overseas and to purchase goods.
Cybercrime Squad Commander, Detective Superintendent Matt Craft said the modus operandi is becoming increasingly common to commit financial crimes.
“In 2019, a mobile phone is central to a person’s financial security. It contains important information and when compromised, it can be devastating,” Commander Craft said.
“Generally speaking, the first a victim will know that their identity is being taken over is losing signal on their mobile phone, and in many cases, by the time they work out what has happened, they’ve lost access to their bank accounts and other services.”
The investigation into the case is continuing and further arrests are expected.
Commander Craft said financial crimes enabled by phone porting have cost the community more than $10 million in the last 12 months.
