May 31, 2013

Police have warned that unsuspecting members of the community are being used as “property mules” by criminals, and in the process, may be committing crimes themselves.

Investigators from the State Crime Operations Command’s Fraud and Corporate Crime Group have seen a sharp rise in the amount of people being caught up with fraudsters via social networking websites, religious chat rooms and internet dating sites for the sole purpose of being used to facilitate crimes.

“We see a large amount of people who become friends with a person overseas and are convinced to allow their homes to be the delivery point for goods purchased by the overseas entities who tell them it is cheaper to purchase the goods in Australia,” Detective Superintendent Brian Hay of the Fraud and Corporate Crime Group said.

The victims are then asked to on-send the delivered goods to the person overseas, often West African countries.

What these people don’t know is they are being exploited as “international property mules”.

“What the mule doesn’t know is that the goods are being purchased on compromised or stolen credit cards,” Det Supt Hay said.

“The business selling the goods loses out and the mule is quite often out-of-pocket for the shipping costs.

“They are also enabling a crime to occur and receiving property as party to a crime and may well find themselves answering questions from us.”

Police said people should not enter into any type of financial transaction with someone they did not know or have not met in person without doing thorough, third party checks, regardless of how simple or innocent it may sound.

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This warning comes too late for a Kingaroy man caught up in a similar scam last year.

The 49-year-old pleaded guilty in October last year to possessing tainted property after getting caught up in an internet scam which led to him sending electronic goods, jewellery and clothing to Cambodia.

Police alleged the man met a Cambodian woman 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 man was fined $2000.