Dilpreet Singh, Manjinder Singh handed three-year prison sentence to telco scam

Two Brisbane men have been jailed for three years for their role in a cold call scam that tricked telco customers into sharing personal information which was then used to order phones that were never delivered

Dilpreet Singh and Manjinder Singh outside the Brisbane District Court in Brisbane. Picture: Newswire / Glenn Campbell

Two Brisbane men have been jailed for helping to run an eight-month scam worth $300,000 involving Optus, Telstra, and Vodafone customers being tricked into giving their personal information which the fraudsters used to order new phones or tablets at the victims’ expense.

The court heard that not only did the scheme involve cold calling customers from the three telco providers, but the duo also recruited StarTrack courier drivers to watch out for their packages and falsify delivery records before passing the parcels onto the syndicate.

Cousins Dilpreet Singh, 27, and Manjinder Singh, 33, pleaded guilty in Brisbane District Court on Thursday to the same charges – fraud of more than $100,000, attempted fraud of more than $30,000, and obtaining another person’s identifying information. They were formally sentenced on Friday.

Crown prosecutor Jennifer O’Brien said the scammers had basic information for the Optus, Telstra, or Vodafone customers they called, and used it to get further crucial information.

“The caller would establish that the customer was an existing account holder and then offer various loyalty discounts on their existing mobile phone plans,” Ms O’Brien told the court.

“The customer would then provide personal information and account details.

Manjinder Singh. Picture: Newswire / Glenn Campbell

Dilpreet Singh. Picture: Newswire/Glenn Campbell

“The caller would refer to information about the account the customer had so the customer would think they were a legitimate employee – for example, knowing how much their plan was per month, how long they had been a customer for, or their maiden name.

“Based on the personal information obtained from the customer, the caller would then request specific account information such as the customer’s PIN saying that a credit check needed to be completed.

“The caller would then impersonate the customer and make an order, using the customer’s details, for a new phone or other electronic device.”

Ms O’Brien said the scammers sent the bills for the new phones or tablets to the victim customers, and the devices were delivered to syndicate members.

“The phone or electronic device would then be sent to a delivery address that was not the customer’s and the parcels would be intercepted by the delivery drivers,” she said.

The court heard that Dilpreet Singh worked for StarTrack and recruited couriers who delivered in Chapel Hill and Forest Lake to intercept their packages and falsify that they had been delivered to the victim customers, and instead pass them to other syndicate members to be sold for profit on the black market.

Manjinder Singh received a $40,000 payment for their services which he split between himself, Dilpreet Singh, and the StarTrack drivers.

The court heard the telco companies suffered a loss of more than $214,000, and a further $88,000 worth of further fraudulent orders placed by the syndicate were intercepted and cancelled by the telco providers.

Ms O’Brien said the Singhs’ involvement spanned from March-November 2021.

The court heard the telco companies detected the fraudulent activity and launched an investigation, and StarTrack later linked the deliveries to Dilpreet Singh.

The court also heard that police raided Dilpreet Singh’s home in November 2021 and found WhatsApp messages on his phone with customer details and photos of the packages ordered, which were linked to the victims.

Ms O’Brien asked for the cousins to be handed four to five year prison sentences with eight to 10 months of actual jail time.

Defence barrister Gerard Elmore, representing Dilpreet Singh, said there were other people in Sydney and Melbourne who had devised the scheme and oversaw it.

“We were not the architects of this sophisticated scheme … we were introduced to it,” Mr Elmore said.

Defence barrister Daniel Caruana, acting for Manjinder Singh, asked for a wholly-suspended sentence for his client to give him a chance to reconnect with his 12-year-old son and continue to financially support his parents in India.

“It’s a shame that he didn’t give thought to these consequences when he was making the decision as to whether to be involved in this scheme,” Judge Carl Heaton said.

Dilpreet Singh has no criminal record, Manjinder Singh has one previous Magistrates Court conviction on a matter not involving fraud.

In sentencing on Friday, Judge Heaton said the men, who were born in India and came to Australia on student visas, were involved in a “quite sophisticated scheme which relied on a number of people”.

“This is serious offending … with extensive dishonesty causing considerable loss,” Judge Heaton said.

“This was not a momentary lapse in judgment … you saw the opportunity for easy money and you took it”

“Balancing the need to impose a sentence which reflects the seriousness of this offending, punishes you appropriately, deters you and others from acting out in this way, and protects the community, I find that no other penalty than prison is appropriate.”

Dilpreet and Manjinder Singh were both jailed for three years, but Judge Heaton ordered that they be released after serving six months and the remainder of their sentences be suspended for a period of four years.