Teen Computer Fraudster Jake Hall Jailed For 3 Years, 4 Months
July 5, 2016 | Fraud
A prolific teen fraudster who defrauded dozens of bank customers of more than $260,000 has been sent to jail for three years and four months.
Police attention was drawn to Gisborne 18-year-old Jake Hall in May last year after a customer noticed $15,808.36 had been transferred from his Westpac account into seven other Westpac accounts.
Hall had found the 'mule' bank account details after telling a friend he needed to find someone with a Westpac bank account so he could access money he was to receive by electronic banking. The friend contacted a number of people via Facebook. Seven people provided their account details.
Hall then used his computer to access the man's account and electronically transfer money into those accounts. Over the next few days he and his friend drove to the people who held the 'mule' accounts, and got them to withdraw the money from their accounts.
Frauds using 'mule accounts' are used around the world. Fraudulently obtained money is transferred into these accounts and withdrawn with our without the account holders knowing where it came from.
When Westpac became aware of the fraudulent activity on May 11 and 12 it informed the victim and suspended the 'mule' accounts. Police were called in on May 27.
Police spoke to Hall on June 10, and according to a police summary of facts Hall said he had set up the fraud "to make some easy money".
He said he used the money to buy methamphetamine, food, petrol and clothes.
Police seized Hall's computers and found a large number of email lists used for bulk email fraud scams and a large number of credit card details.
A search of his files showed he had communicated with a person using the name 'Bro Bro' and the pair had traded scams that deceived people into providing personal banking details.
The scams targeted customers of Apple iTunes, PayPal, Westpac, ASB, Kiwi Bank, ANZ and BNZ.
Hall appeared in court in June last to face fraud charges and was granted bail.
In November he was pulled up by police and arrested on a separate charge. As a result of a search police found more items that revealed that Hall had committed a similar spree of offending while he was on bail between September and late November. Kiwi Bank informed police they had identified 43 customers who had fallen victim. BNZ identified 32 customers and Westpac identified 11 customers. Customers from ASB were also victims.
Hall was found to have opened accounts in his victims' names so he could transfer money from the victims' credit cards.
The total cost of Hall's fraudulent transactions came to $263,691.00. Of this $148,249.90 related to Kiwibank, $50,695.64 to Westpac, $41,196.53 to ASB and $23,548.93 to BNZ.
Westpac sought reparation of $26,821.69 and Kiwi Bank sought $113.767 but judge Cathcart did not make an order.
Hall pleaded guilty to 38 charges of accessing a computer for dishonest purposes, 19 charges of using a document for pecuniary advantage and various traffic, drugs and firearm charges.
He appeared before Judge Warren Cathcart in Gisborne District Court on Monday and was sentenced to three years and four months jail.
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- Article originally on nzherald.co.nz.
