Fake IDs, dodgy cards

Fraudster busted in Audi buy

THIS OFFENDING OCCURRED AT A DIRECTION OF ANOTHER PERSON. IT WAS NOT HIS IDEA BUT HE PLAYED AN ACTIVE PART.”

A FORMER car rental worker who used fake IDs to buy almost $60,000 in cars, jewellery and electronics claimed he only got $500 and a laptop from the scheme.

Clinton Ross (inset) says that he was working for an anonymous man who asked him to use fake identification and dodgy credit cards to buy the items online from Lloyd’s Auctioneers.

The 37-year-old was caught when he went in person to pick up an Audi he had purchased from the site.

It was not the first time that Ross had been caught for fraud and he was sentenced in 2018 for using a fake ID to get a mobile phone.

Ross pleaded guilty in the Southport District Court to multiple charges, including fraud, attempted fraud and obtaining another person’s identification information.

Judge Deborah Holliday sentenced him to two years prison with immediate release on parole.

Crown prosecutor Lara Soldi told the court that Ross had committed the offences in February 2018.

Police did not charge him until last year.

CROWN PROSECUTOR LARA SOLDI

Ms Soldi said that in one month Ross purchased four cars worth $36,000, about $10,000 in jewellery and a number of electronics, which included an Apple Mac laptop which he kept.

“This offending occurred at a direction of another person,” she said.

“It was not his idea, but he played an active part.”

The court was told that when police questioned Ross, he told them he had found the bag of identification documents weeks earlier.

The court was told in 2019 Ross breached a suspended jail sentenced and spent a short time in custody.

Defence barrister Nick

McGhee, instructed by Allen & Searing Criminal Lawyers, said: “That time in custody was the biggest wake-up call anyone could hope for and since that time he has worked continuously to rehabilitate.”

Mr McGhee said there had been no offending since his release in 2019. He said Ross currently worked full-time as a carer for his father.