A 22-year-old Springvale scammer has been sentenced to jail over a dark-web trade of fake bank accounts using the stolen identity details of up to 20 victims.
Victor Dieu pleaded guilty to identity theft over his trade on the notorious cybercrime website Genesis Marketplace in late 2022-early 2023, a prosecutor told Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on 15 November.
He would sell stolen identity details from driver licences, Medicare cards and bank accounts, or use them to create and sell fake bank accounts for cryptocurrencies.
Dieu would also “scam the scammers” on on-line forums who were looking to set up cryptocurrency accounts.
As a further side-hustle, he offered online tuition on how to perform the scam.
Police raided his home, seizing a laptop, mobile phones, SIM cards registered to victims, an imitation gun and Dieu’s ‘burner’ phone.
A defence lawyer told the court that the former Lighthouse Christian College student succumbed to “gambling” and “materialism” under pressure from finances and a negative peer group.
But gambling sent him further backwards and he made poor choices to offend. Though at first, he “scammed the scammers” to make “easy money”, his lawyer told the court.
The “youthful offender” had no prior convictions.
He had since made detailed admissions, was “incredibly apologetic”, rediscovered religion, embarked on an electrician apprenticeship and attended Gamblers Anonymous.
The lawyer submitted for Dieu to receive a good-behaviour bond without conviction, with a donation to charity.
However a police prosecutor told the court the community would expect punishment for the “incredibly serious” offending.
The rorting was not a “one-off” or “spur of the moment”. It required significant training, equipment and pre-planning, the prosecutor said.
“The impact of this type of offending on the community cannot be over-estimated.
“(It) appears to be assisting the commission of further offending by the setting-up of bank accounts.”
Magistrate Hugh Radford said Dieu’s “sophisticated enterprise” aimed to defraud, scam and “rip-off” others.
Victims who lost their “preciously held” identities endure “so much grief” trying to gain a passport, bank account or driver licence.
“There are people like yourself causing havoc in people’s lives”.
Dieu was sentenced to 12 months’ jail – which his lawyer immediately appealed.
He was released on bail to appeal at the Victorian County Court on 11 March.
