NSW Police have arrested two Nepalese nationals from a Telopea home about 04:30 p.m. on Monday (22nd June, 2020) for their alleged involvement in an international fraud syndicate.
According to NSW Police, the pair, a 22 year old woman and a 19 year old man were a part of a sophisticated international fraud syndicate which was operated out of India with a network of members based in Australia.
An 85 year old Telepea woman reached out to the Cumberland Police Area Command claiming ‘she had received a call from someone claiming to be a representative from her bank stating her accoung had been compromised and she needed to open a new account’.
She was instructed to provide $3000 to a male courier, who came to her Telopea home, and said would be deposited into the new account. Detectives from Cumberland Police Area Command commenced an investigation after hearing her complaint.
According to NSW Police, “after reporting the matter to police, the woman received further calls from members of the syndicate advising she would be required to provide a further $5000, and a courier would collect the cash on Monday (22 June 2020).”
The subsequent investigation uncovered a sophisticated international fraud network operating from India with Australian-based members collecting cash before electronically transferring funds overseas. Investigators also identified other victims who received similar phone calls.
The pair were arrested from the Telopea home after they arrived to collect the $5,000 from the 85 year old woman. They were taken to Granville Police Station where they were each charged with five counts of dishonestly obtain property by deception and three counts of knowingly deal with proceeds of crime.
Both have been refused bail to appear at Parramatta Local Court today (Tuesday 23 June 2020).
