Detectives from the Cyber and Identity Crime Unit have arrested a 30-year-old man after allegedly uncovering specialist equipment used to produce fake identities at Godwin Beach in Queensland in February.
Fraud investigators executed a search warrant at the May Street property yesterday where they allegedly seized a commercial grade identity card printer and around 500 blank magnetic stripe cards.
They also allegedly found forged driver licenses, bank cards, staff ID cards, mobile phones, sim cards and a variety of identification-related documents.
A 30-year-old Godwin Beach man has been issued with a Notice to Appear in Brisbane Magistrates Court on February 21 on one count each of fraud and using a thing to forge document and five counts of obtaining identity information for the commission of an offence.
Further examinations and inquiries into items seized may lead to further charges.
Fraud and Cyber Crime Detective Superintendent Terry Lawrence said identity fraud was a serious criminal offence.
“The production of fake identities is a serious crime as it is often just the tip of the iceberg and typically connected to various other large scale fraud and stealing offences,” Detective Superintendent Lawrence said.
“This weekend’s arrest was the result of information provided to us by a member of the public and we continue to encourage anyone who has information about suspicious activity to provide it to police.”
A timely reminder to use the National tenacy Database when approving tenants for rental properties.
For more information about protecting yourself from identity theft view our fact sheet here: https://www.police.qld.gov.au/programs/cscp/Documents/IdentifyTheftFactSheet.pdf