October 12, 2012
A 49-year-old Kingaroy man has pleaded guilty to possessing tainted property after getting caught up in an internet scam which led to him sending electronic goods, jewellery and clothing – suspected of being either fraudulently obtained or stolen – to Cambodia.
Police Prosecutor Sgt Wayne Bushell told Kingaroy Magistrates Court on Thursday that Alexander Saunders had met a Cambodian woman named Mary Tran on an internet dating site.
She told him she had an electronics shop in Cambodia and wanted his help to import goods but avoid costly Customs fees.
Fairly soon she had him receiving goods at his home in Kingaroy, which he unpacked and then repacked and posted to Cambodia.
When police searched his home they found electronic goods and purchasing orders for items which police determined had been bought with invalid credit cards. The owners of other items could not be traced.
Amongst the items seized by police were a JVC Camcorder valued at $3849 and a JVC video camera valued at $2199.
There was evidence of other items already sent to Cambodia including clothing and 10 digital cameras, seven handycams, three laptops and miscellaneous electronic items including an in-car DVD player.
Saunders admitted to police that over a two-year period he had sent about 100 mobile phones, 20 digital cameras, 20 or 30 laptops, 20 or 30 iPods, five or six 3kg bags of jewellery and large amounts of top-of-the-range clothing to Cambodia.
Sgt Bushell said Saunders, who had no previous criminal history, had been caught up in a scam but it should act as a warning to other people who could be fooled by similar types of activities.
Magistrate Mark Bucknall said it sounded to him like significant ring was in place.
But Saunders, who was unrepresented, said he was under the belief that all the goods had been bought legally.
Mr Bucknall said Saunders was lucky there was no evidence of the exact value of the goods involved.
“There needs to be a strong deterrent to people who facilitate a mass fraud, which is what you’ve done,” he said.
Without this type of facilitation, there would be a reduction in other offences such as systematic fraud and break-and-enters, Mr Bucknall said.
He fined Saunders $2000. No conviction was recorded.
