Curtis McNulty: Commbank business retail consultant used inside knowledge to defraud people of thousands of dollars

A Commbank worker used his inside knowledge to steal customer details and defraud them out of tens of thousands of dollars through fraudulent cards and transactions.

Curtis McNulty previously photographed outside Downing Centre. Photo: Bianca Healey

A Commbank business retail consultant allegedly used his inside knowledge to steal customer details and defraud them out of tens of thousands of dollars through fraudulent cards and transactions.

Ex-private school student Curtis McNulty, on Tuesday, admitted to charges at Downing Local Court of dishonestly obtain or deal in personal financial information, access data by carriage service, dishonestly obtain financial advantage by deception, and possess identification information to commit fraud.

The pleas were not formally entered by Magistrate Susan Horan, however, the 25-year-old‘s lawyer Christopher Cole confirmed the guilty pleas in court.

Court documents reveal how in one case, McNulty allegedly used his work login credentials to access a customers details and open an account and credit card in her name, which was flagged for fraud.

Months later court documents state how McNulty allegedly created another Commonwealth Bank of Australia profile in another man’s name and made several withdrawals worth thousands of dollars from multiple ATMs across Sydney’s inner city and inner west.

The Downing Centre. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

Investigations allegedly uncovered multiple CCTV images at the different ATMs capturing a man believed to be McNulty in action before it was discovered he had used the same email address – ‘[e-mail]’ – to create the fraudulent accounts and credit cards.

In both instances McNulty allegedly used the same derelict Balmain home, a short distance from his mother’s address, as the mailing address to receive the fraudulent credit cards.

Commbank records also revealed how McNulty allegedly attempted to cover his tracks by flagging his surveillance of his own fraudulent accounts on the bank’s internal systems as “incorrectly accessed”.

“A review conducted by CBA accounts held by the accused revealed the following activity between March 29 2021 and August 1 2022: [that] $59,095.22 was [allegedly] credited into the accused’s account … from multiple other financial institution accounts, [and] seven cash deposits totalling $11,490.00,” the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions fact sheet states.

“The accused [allegedly] frequently [moved] funds between accounts held in his name.”

A subsequent Australian Federal Police raid at McNulty’s mother’s house allegedly uncovered a large amount of credit cards in the name of the accused, multiple credit cards in other peoples names, a large number of SIM cards, and four laptops.

Police also allegedly uncovered six mobile phones belonging to McNulty, a yellow hoodie matching CCTV footage obtained from Commbank’s ATMs and a “stamp which depicts the NSW Police badge”.

McNulty allegedly declined to be interviewed at the time, but has now entered guilty pleas to the four fraud offences despite the court hearing on Tuesday, some aspects of the facts were still being negotiated and were not yet agreed.

The 25-year-old is due to be sentenced at Downing District Court on October 27.