Sydney man jailed for online money-laundering-related crimes

A 27-year-old man from Sydney has been sentenced to a jail term after using stolen login details to access the accounts of five Australian victims as part of a money-laundering scheme.

The stolen funds were later transferred to members of an international syndicate run by someone known only — and melodramatically — as “the Russian”.

The man pleaded guilty to three charges on 2 February and received a sentence of three years and six months behind bars. The three charges were:

Commit offence for the benefit of a criminal organisation, contrary to section 390.5(1) of the Criminal Code 1995 (Cth);
Using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence, contrary to section 474.17 of the Criminal Code 1995 (Cth); and
Failure to provide information and assistance that was reasonable and necessary to allow access to data held in accessible form from a computer that was on warrant premises/person, contrary to section 3LA of the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth).

After receiving the account details from the Russian, the man withdrew a total of $92,000 from the five accounts on five separate occasions.

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The AFP-led Joint Policing Cybercrime Coordination Centre was behind the investigation, which is still ongoing, as the remaining syndicate members remain at large. AFP Eastern Command Cybercrime officers arrested the man at his home in Brighton-Le-Sands on 11 February 2021.

AFP Detective Acting Superintendent Nuckhley Succar has empathised with the five victims.

“Australians are struggling with the current cost of living and having their slowly built savings stolen from them is a massive setback,” acting Superintendent Succar said in an announcement.

“The AFP is committed to identifying these criminals and, through our partnerships with financial institutions and law enforcement agencies in Australia and offshore, stopping them from harming more Australians.”

David Hollingworth

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.