One of Australia's largest identity crime syndicates dismantled

Issued on Tuesday 11 July 2006, 1pm

A multi-agency Australian task force has dismantled one of the country’s largest identity crime syndicates following a six-month operation in NSW.

Over the past two months, Identity Crime Task Force (ICTF) investigators from five Federal and State law enforcement agencies have arrested 13 people.

As part of ‘Operation Hickey’, police have laid 230 charges against nine men and one woman, aged between 20 and 41 years.

Two other men arrested during the operation were later deported to Malaysia, while another man was released pending further inquiries.

Operation Hickey was set up in January this year to investigate the manufacture of high quality counterfeit documents, including Medicare cards, passports, bank cards and driver’s licences.

The total cost of the fraud is yet to be determined, but it is estimated to run into millions of dollars.

It has been alleged that people within the syndicate assumed the identity of individuals and companies as well as created false identities which were allegedly used to obtain money from a number of financial institutions.

The Identity Crime Task Force comprises investigators from Australian Federal Police, NSW Police, the Australian Crime Commission, NSW Crime Commission and Australian Customs Service.

The ICTF is hosted by the Australian Federal Police at the AFP Sydney Headquarters.

Note: A display of the falsified documents will be available at a press conference being held at 2pm, TODAY, at the AFP Sydney Headquarters, 110 Goulburn St, Sydney, NSW.