A man who entered Australia on a false passport to run a credit-card skimming syndicate has been sentenced to 11 years in jail.
Jeyavel Thangavelautham was last month found guilty of four offences relating to conspiring with others to steal credit-card details and using false identifications in 2011.
Judge Colin Charteris told a District Court sentencing on Thursday that Thangavelautham was the clear mastermind of the group's "seriously organised criminal activity".
He said the 49-year-old had entered the country with a false Canadian passport in 2011.
He then organised for the importation of an EFTPOS terminal from Canada and for a co-conspirator with technological expertise to be flown to Australia.
The EFTPOS terminal was modified to record credit-card details including the holder's name and PIN number without the transaction being sent to financial institutions.
Judge Charteris said the "dummy" terminal was intended for a western Sydney grocery store.
In a conversation recorded by police, Thangavelautham allegedly told a co-conspirator he would pay the store owner for 1000 skimmed cards during a week-long operation.
In another conversation he boasted he had skimmed 700 cards in one day in London, the judge said.
Judge Charteris said Thangavelautham was motivated by "pure greed" and had come to Australia to harvest large sums of money.
He said the sentence was meant to send a message internationally that card skimming attracted significant punishments in Australia.
"I accept card skimming is a significant problem in our commercial lives," Judge Charteris said.
"The true victims of these offences ... are the honest card holders."
Judge Charteris said Thangavelautham had allegedly organised for a young Indian man to be employed in the store who could be blamed for the skimmings.
He also allegedly organised "boys" from Singapore and Malaysia to withdraw the money.
Judge Charteris sentenced Thangavelautham to a minimum eight years and three months' jail.
He will be eligible for parole in November 2019 with time already served.
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