How a young woman swindled more than $3million from hardworking Aussies in a sophisticated email scam that was almost impossible to detect
- A Melbourne woman has been jailed for her role in a cyber crime syndicate
- The group stole millions from Australian superannuation and share accounts
- One fraud victim said she endured a nightmare of anxiety and sleepless nights
A Melbourne woman has been jailed for her role in a cyber crime syndicate that stole millions of dollars from innocent Australians.
Jasmine Vella-Arpaci, 24, admitted playing a central part in the fraudulent scheme, which targeted superannuation and share trading accounts.
The syndicate succeeded in defrauding $3.238 million, while there were further attempts to obtain $1.8 million from super funds and $5.7 million in shares.
Stolen funds were deposited into newly opened bank accounts and debit cards were sent to false addresses in Hong Kong, where $2.5 million was laundered.
Vella-Arpaci’s role included setting up a phishing scam to access account login details, and targeting admin, HR and bookkeeper usernames in the hopes of accessing superannuation account details and identification documents.
Jasmine Vella-Arpaci, 24, (pictured) was a part of an international fraud syndicate who stole millions from Australian superannuation and share accounts
Australian Federal Police and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission began investigating the syndicate in late 2018.
Vella-Arpaci was arrested at Melbourne Airport in April 2019 as she returned to Australia from Turkey.
The 24-year-old last month pleaded guilty in the Victorian County Court to two charges of conspiracy to defraud and one of conspiring to deal in proceeds of crime.
She was sentenced on Friday to five years and six months in jail, with a non-parole period of four years.
Friends and family of Ms Vella-Arpaci, who sat silently throughout her sentencing with her hands clasped at her lap and her eyes fixed intently at Judge Fiona Todd, shed tears outside court once the sentence was handed down.
The victims, whose names are suppressed by order of the court, included a couple in their late 80s and early 90s, and another whose super was razed a year before their retirement.
Australian Tax Office deputy commissioner and chief of the Serious Financial Crime Taskforce, John Ford, welcomed the sentence, saying police would continue to crack down on cyber crime.
The syndicate succeeded in defrauding $3.238 million, while there were further attempts to obtain $1.8 million from super funds and $5.7 million in shares. Pictured is Vella-Arpaci in court today
Stolen funds were deposited into newly opened bank accounts and debit cards were sent to false addresses in Hong Kong, where $2.5 million was laundered. Pictured is Vella-Arpaci in court today
‘Today’s outcome demonstrates that for those who seek to cheat the system, especially at the expense of others, there really is no place to hide,’ Mr Ford said on Friday.
‘We will take firm action.’
Advertisement
DailyMail
