By KATH GANNAWAY
A MILLGROVE man has escaped jail, but will do 300 hours of community work for his part in a scam which fleeced elderly victims of nearly $100,000.
Kirk V. Martin, 44, was sentenced on Friday 29 July at the Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court after earlier pleading guilty to more than 100 charges of obtaining property by deception.
The charges were the result of a complex investigation headed up by Acting Detective Sergeant Rod Newbery of Yarra Ranges Criminal Investigation Unit, with ongoing investigations linked to the scam also underway by the Major Fraud Squad in Western Australia.
The court, before Magistrate Michael Wighton, heard that during 2015 Martin was a knowing and willing participant in the scam which involved victims being contacted by a woman known as “Lisa” who gained personal details, either by hacking into their accounts or over the phone, on the pretext she was from Centrelink.
Their victims include pensioners and retirees in their late sixties through to an 89-year-old Sydney pensioner.
Amounts taken from the five victims, that police know of, range from $14,000 to $36,640.
In his police statement, Martin claimed he had been contacted by ‘Lisa’ out of the blue and told he owed money which led to him setting up bank accounts into which money would be transferred from the victims’ accounts.
ADS Newbery said the scam was sophisticated and executed in a way designed to avoid suspicion.
He said ‘Lisa’, using information gained, would set up an online banking account on the victim’s bank account and transfer amounts, always under $1000, into one of Martin’s accounts.
He would then go to the bank and withdraw the same amount from an ATM, take some for himself as payment and put the rest into an account linked to ‘Lisa’ and her partners.
Arguing for a Community Corrections Order, Martin’s defence lawyer, Mark Rawson, said he had done everything to assist police and said a forensic psychology supported the proposition that Martin was vulnerable, gullible and not able to cope well with being put under pressure.
“It would appear this is a fairly well-organised operation,” he said.
“Some of these funds have been funnelled into Asia, so it could be a bigger operation than originally thought.”
Mr Wighton said this type of online theft was a growing problem for the community and in relation to both the way Martin was recruited, and the way the victims were taken advantage of, likened the major players as similar to car thieves who test handles and keep going until they find one that’s unlocked.
He said Martin’s actions were extremely serious offences and said while there was a claim of gullibility, he knew it was wrong and did it anyway.
Ordering Martin be assessed for a CCO, Mr Wighton said while taking into account significant issues raised about Martin’s childhood the charges were serious, large in number and involved the theft of a significant amount of money stolen from a large number of vulnerable people.
He said while Martin was charged with knowingly and willingly participating in a much bigger scheme, knowing and willing was one of the issues in imposing a sentence that would be a specific deterrent to Martin, and a general deterrent.
“It needs to send a very clear message to people who otherwise might feel inclined to partake that without willing participants these schemes cannot operate.
He said if not for Martin’s early guilty plea, no prior criminal history and the psychologist’s report, he would have sentenced Martin to 18 months in prison with non-parole of 12 months.
He said Martin would be required to do 300 hours of unpaid community work over 24 months. He ordered Martin to give a forensic sample and approved a forfeiture application by police for ‘tainted’ items, including Martin’s mobile phone.
He ordered Martin to repay the 89-year-old victim $10,480, noting that the other victims have been reimbursed by their respective banks.
ADS Newbery said the investigation was sparked by an ANZ teller who called in police when she became suspicious of Martin’s withdrawals.
Yarra Ranges CIU executed search warrants on every bank account held by Martin and talked to the victims.
“Once I had the first file, they all started to come in,” he said.
He said some of the victims he spoke with were horrified that they had fallen for the scam.
The operation was very slick with ‘Lisa’ transferring as much as $30,000 in just 20 days and recordings obtained as part of the investigation show her as very convincing and professional.
“We don’t know whether every victim of his has come forward; some don’t want to say they’ve been caught out.”
Some of the account numbers seized at Millgrove had links to accounts that are helping the WA police investigation where some warrants have been executed.
ADS Newbery said people needed to be aware of the lengths criminals will go to to get details that they can use to steal money online.
He said anyone who was asked for personal details should always ring back the organisation using the regular contact number to check if it was legitimate.
He said while Centrelink was an obvious inroad, with most elderly people having some business with Centrelink, it could be a call from the tax office, Telstra, a utility organisation, or anyone.
Anyone who has been, or suspects they have been, the victim of online theft should report it imediately to their bank, and to police.
