Fraudsters drained more than $250,000 out of a finance company that allows loan applications online and over the phone.
One of those fraudsters, repeat scam offender Brendon Karl Dean Harris, today admitted 13 charges and has been remanded in custody for sentencing in the Christchurch District Court on August 28.
Harris, 24, is a serving prisoner due to be considered for release by the Parole Board in October. He is serving a two-year nine-month jail term imposed in March for scamming elderly victims during 2015 and 2016.
Harris’ part in that offending totalled $82,000 but the total known losses from the scamming ring were $600,000. He was not sentenced with the other members of the scamming ring because of his poor health. He needs surgery to reduce his weight.
The frauds against the finance company and a car yard date back to 2017 and early 2018.
Harris today admitted six charges of causing loss by deception, two of accessing a computer system for dishonest purposes, three of dishonestly using a document, obtaining by deception, and driving to court while his licence was suspended.
The finance company operates in New Zealand but is Australian-owned. The Crown said that it allowed electronic applications from potential customers, and it had been defrauded of more than $250,000 through a series of frauds involving Harris and his associates.
Typically, someone would contact a person looking for rental accommodation, or to sell a vehicle. They would request identifying details, often including a drivers’ licence and bank account details, so that a deposit could be paid.
Those details were then used in applications to the finance company for loans in the name of the person who had been contacted.
The company paid out a series of loans ranging from $8000 to $35,000. The money was paid into the bank accounts of Harris’ associates or family members.
Twice, Harris logged into the IRD computer system, getting into a secure area to get documents and information on people who had been contacted, to support the loan applications. The Crown said that once Harris got onto the IRD website with the inadvertent assistance of the call-taker.
Harris also admitted obtaining a Range Rover by deception. He had got details off someone advertising a vehicle for sale on Facebook and Trade Me. He then used that information in a phone call to a Christchurch car dealership to buy a $30,000 2006 Range Rover, with a story that a finance company had pre-approved the loan.
He arranged for a woman to pick up the vehicle, but the scheme came unstuck when the person whose details were used received a letter congratulating him on the purchase. The vehicle was found parked across from Harris’ address in Hornby. It had Harris’ fingerprints on the mirror and a cup inside the vehicle.
The Crown said Harris had two previous convictions for driving while disqualified. On July 6, 2018, he was suspended for having too many demerit points. A month ater, he was seen driving out of a carpark building on Lichfield Street after a court appearance.
The Crown said no reparation was sought from Harris because the police intended to seek reparations from those who received the fraudulent loans into their bank accounts.
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