TWO modest homes in Sydney's northern suburbs were the operating base of one of Australia's most sophisticated and successful credit card fraud syndicates, police allege.
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More than 15,000 fake credit cards with a combined value of $37.5 million allegedly were manufactured in the two Ryde homes, using identities stolen from locals and people overseas.
The cards were sold to buyers who allegedly embarked on shopping sprees, splurging on luxury items like jewellery and watches, before tossing the cards away.
A joint-operation involving the Australian Federal Police, NSW Police and the Department of Immigration and Citizenship has dismantled the syndicate, which authorities believe has links to Asia.
Police yesterday raided a Ryde home, arresting a married couple in their 40s who allegedly had computers and equipment to manufacture the fake cards.
The arrests brought to eight the number of Chinese nationals apprehended in the 12-month investigation, and police said they believed the syndicate's main players had now been caught.
"This is probably one of the most serious identity crime investigations undertaken by the AFP,'' Detective Superintendent Darren Booy said.
Police allege that the group used skimming devices and fake websites to obtain people's identities and credit card details, which then were transferred on to the fake cards.
The NSW Police fraud squad head, Detective Superintendent Col Dyson, said the syndicate's total number of victims had not yet been established.
But he said it was possible there were some who had not even realised they had been caught up in the scam.
''The names used on the cards are a mixture of fictitious names and names of legitimate people,'' he said.
Police said about $1 million in cash and assets bought with the fake cards had been recovered, along with fake Medicare cards and driver's licences also produced by the syndicate. The equipment used to produce the cards was legal and easy to obtain.
''Identity crime isn't an emerging crime type; it's a well established crime type that's growing on a global scale,'' Detective Superintendent Dyson said.
''This case is a good example of how an inadvertent click on a link or an email or someone discarding a credit card or bank statement without shredding it could result in their names being one of those on a credit card similar to the 15,000 recovered in this investigation.''
The couple arrested yesterday will appear in court next month.
