Fraudster Stirling William Wilcox caught with personal, credit card info for 100+ people

A dad has pleaded guilty to more than 130 charges after he was caught with dozens of potential targets’ personal information – even managing to rip off several victims before he was caught.

A dad busted with the personal or credit card information of more than 100 people ripped off several victims before his scheme was cut short by police.

Officers raided Stirling William Wilcox’s Pimpama home on August 1 last year, where they found he had access dozens of victims’ details through his laptop and phone.

Southport Magistrates Court was told Wilcox had used other people’s information in four fraudulent transactions, totalling $1608.

Prosecutor Erin Garland said the 34-year-old initially denied the offending, claiming other people – including his former housemate, who was in custody at the time – were to blame.

“This kind of offending is prolific in the community today,” Ms Garland said.

“Every day in the media, people report losing their life savings to scammers or hackers, and it is my submission that he … potentially had the ability to carry out those transactions.”

Wilcox spent three days in custody after being charged.

Stirling Wilcox (left) leaving the Southport courthouse.

Defence lawyer James Treanor, of Quinn Law Group, said his client had a disadvantaged upbringing and was using drugs at the time.

“I would submit it’s a low level of sophistication – as (the prosecutor) has said, anyone can do this nowadays,” Mr Treanor said.

“You can download information on the dark web – by today’s standards, that’s unfortunately quite easy to do and quite common.”

Mr Treanor told the court the single dad had lost his custom fish tank business due to Covid pressures, but showed potential through his work and had since moved away from the area.

Acting Magistrate Sarah Thompson said there could have been “great potential” for Wilcox to have defrauded numerous others through his scheme.

“As was submitted by the prosecutor, people have their identities stolen on a daily basis – it is all through the media,” Ms Thompson said.

“I cannot sentence you on the basis of what you could have done, but in my view the police executed the warrant when this scheme was in its infancy.”

Wilcox pleaded guilty to 127 counts of obtaining or dealing with another entity’s identification information, four of fraud, and other minor offences.

He was sentenced to 12 months’ jail, wholly suspended for 18 months.

Originally published as Fraudster Stirling William Wilcox caught with personal, credit card info for 100+ people