Crypto con victim turn $500K scammer jailed

A former bank employee fleeced of most of his savings in a crypto con has been jailed for using his inside knowledge to rip off customers.

A man fleeced of most of his savings in a crypto con has been jailed for then devising a $500,000 scam of his own.

A man fleeced of most of his savings in a crypto con has been jailed for then devising a $500,000 scam of his own.

The day after being duped, Dennis Nguyen called in sick to his job at NAB and set about using his inside knowledge to rip off customers.

Nguyen has now been imprisoned for a minimum 18 months, having pleaded guilty to three charges of theft and four of fraud in Victoria’s County Court.

“It was premeditated behaviour,” Judge Samantha Marks said in her reasons for sentence. “It occurred over some 15 months. The number of different incidents, significant planning, it was in breach of trust.”

Nguyen lost the bulk of his savings – about $20,000 – in a cryptocurrency scam. He realised he had been deceived on November 14, 2021.

Financially and emotionally devastated by being duped, the next day Nguyen told his boss at NAB he was unwell and couldn’t work.

Dennis Nguyen embarked on what Judge Samantha Marks described as a “relatively sophisticated” fraud.

Instead he embarked on what Judge Marks described as a “relatively sophisticated” fraud.

First, he created a fake Commonwealth Bank profile, based on a real NAB home-loan customer.

Then Nguyen went into NAB’s internal system and changed the real customer’s email address to the one he had used to establish the CBA profile.

He left a note in the NAB system saying the amendment had been made at the customer’s request.

After altering other details in the NAB account, he initiated a $70,000 redraw from it to CBA. A few days later the customer saw the redraw and contacted NAB, which reimbursed him.

But by the time the customer had noticed the rogue transaction and alerted NAB, Nguyen had already fleeced another client of $50,000 in a similar fashion. That was reimbursed by the bank as well.

In her reasons for sentence, Judge Marks wrote: “You were spoken to by NAB in relation to the allegations comprising these two charges. You denied fraudulently accessing the accounts, stating you would have been smarter than to transfer money into your own account, knowing there would be an audit trail.”

On November 26 he was dismissed. NAB would later refer its investigation to the police.

Before the police acted, Nguyen got a job at Judo Bank. On October 5, 2022, a customer named Elaine called to confirm the balance of her term deposit and was connected to Nguyen.

NAB dismissed Nguyen and later referred its investigation to the police. Picture: David Gray/AFP

He told her she had $167,500. She mentioned she had been in hospital for five months.

Five days later Nguyen rang Elaine and offered her a better interest rate, which wasn’t standard practice for his role. She told him she had multiple sclerosis, which affected her ability to remember the details of the previous conversation.

Twenty-four hours later, Nguyen changed the phone number and email address in Elaine’s Judo account, then linked his own ANZ account as a beneficiary.

After that he sent an email to Judo requesting an early release of $40,000. Once it was granted, he changed Elaine’s email and phone details back to what they had been. In two more transactions, he took the rest of Elaine’s savings, including the interest.

Judo received a tip-off and confronted Nguyen. Judge Marks said he responded by denying any wrongdoing: “You again said you were intelligent enough not to use your personal details, knowing everything would be audited. You claimed to be the victim of an identity takeover.”

He was sacked and Judo referred its investigation to the police.

Soon after, Nguyen created reviews on savings account comparison sites, falsely offering higher interest rates if customers contacted Judo’s via an email address supposedly for a senior manager named Patrick.

Nguyen had set up the email address.

Among those to respond was a couple seeking to invest $500,000. After several email exchanges in which Nguyen posed as Patrick, he mistakenly signed off with his real first name: Dennis. The couple became suspicious and contacted Judo. They didn’t transfer any money.

But another person did transfer $200,000 to an account Nguyen had opened. Judo reimbursed that person.

Police later arrested and charged Nguyen. In total he stole $489,000.

Judge Marks said while Nguyen’s moral culpability was significant, it was “informed by … personal circumstances” that included his father being an alcoholic, physically abusive and a gambling addict.

Character references described Nguyen as kind, gentle, caring and “ordinarily hardworking and who fully intends to become a better person”, she noted.

And while Judge Marks said she accepted that Nguyen felt remorse, “given the gravity of your offending, the sentencing considerations of general deterrence and denunciation are very significant”.

Nguyen will be eligible for parole in September 2026.

Originally published as Crypto con victim turn $500K scammer jailed