Dwayne Davies stole $120K worth of goods from Bunnings, business using credit cards, trade accounts

The Miranda crim was arrested after he visited multiple warehouses as part of a planned operation to defraud Bunnings. He was later arrested inside a garbage chute.

A man has been jailed for four years after he ripped off businesses to the tune of almost $120,000 through dodgy transactions using fraudulent credit cards and trade accounts.

That included more than $100,000 from Bunnings Warehouses across Sydney.

Dwayne Davies, 32, was sentenced in Sutherland Local Court this week to four years and 29 days in prison with a non-parole period of two years and six months.

Magistrate Philip Stewart said Davies “played a principal role” in a “criminal group” that sourced and used cards that did not belong to him to obtain thousands of dollars.

He noted there were clear attempts across multiple days to visit Bunnings stores across Sydney to get valuable items through “means of deception”.

A man ripped off Bunnings at a number of the stores by using fraudulent trade accounts. NCA NewsWire / David Mariuz

“This was planned, organised criminal activity,” he said.

“The pattern is blatant, frequent and entrenched.

“Some of the offences involved fraudulent use of other people’s credit cards or trade accounts”.

Agreed facts tendered to court said Davies was arrested on August 18, 2021 in a garbage chute at an apartment complex in Kirrawee before he was charged with more than 40 dishonesty offences.

The documents said Bunnings provides businesses with Powerpass trade accounts where employees can go to the hardware store, purchase items and charge it to the account, which is then paid off monthly.

Davies fraudulently used the trade account from business Red Cedar Construction at Bunnings between August 6 and September 15, 2020 to purchase $31,500 worth of items, the documents said.

He racked up $21,311 on the trade account of Corrion Prestige Development at the hardware giant between July 2 and 10, 2021.

According to the documents, he also used Delaney Civil’s account at Bunnings, purchasing $9688 from July 16 to 18 last year.

Davies further used the trade account of Martinus Rail Group and made 17 transactions totalling $44,377 to fraudulently obtain goods on August 6, 7 and 8 last year.

He went to stores in south western Sydney, Sutherland Shire and in Sydney where he made purchases of different items in varying amounts, the documents said.

Purchases included repeated selections of large machinery and tools.

He was captured on CCTV footage, often with an associate, making purchases often on the same day or over a couple of days.

Police were also able to confirm his identity through CCTV which captured his distinctive tattoos and clothing.

Davies was eventually stopped by Bunnings’ loss and prevention officers at Kingsgrove where he admitted to purchasing the trade accounts from a website called Dream Market, which uses the Dark Web to disguise the identity of the user from police, the documents said.

He was prohibited from entering Bunnings stores.

Additionally, Davies admitted to using stolen identities to gain a financial plan using a short-term financing platform called One Pay, which allows consumers to make purchases and pay them at a future date.

Davies made a number of fraudulent transactions spanning several months in 2019 where he purchased a trampoline, which was later found in his backyard.

He also purchased tools, all together buying items worth $4126.

The court also heard Davies had tampered with a cheque which had been made out for $270 from a not-for-profit organisation called Uruguayan Social and Sporting Club for maintenance work.

However Davies had altered the cheque to $2070, but the transaction was reversed and the club did not lose money.

Davies also used credit cards from businesses or individuals to pay for timber from Hayters Timber and Paving, which amounted to $4169 in May 2021, the documents said.

Davies made some purchases over the phone and read employees the numbers.

According to the documents, the card numbers used were initially accepted but were declined a few days later after the timbre items were taken and the card holders’ financial institution disputed the transactions.

In court, Magistrate Stewart said Davies’ lengthy criminal history did not help him noting he had matters of dishonesty and drug offences, larceny and identity information on his record and he had served jail time.

He was also on parole or bail when he made some of the fraudulent transactions.

Magistrate Stewart took into account Davies’ motivation for the thefts was drug related, adding he needed to go to drug rehabilitation once released from prison.

“I am unable to find Davies has good prospects of rehabilitation or is unlikely to reoffend,” he said.

Davies was sentenced to four years and 29 days in prison, backdated to August 18, last year, with the term due to expire on September 15, 2025.

A non-parole period of two years and six months was imposed. Davies will be eligible for parole on February 17, 2024.