Michael Tupou sentenced for $26,000 credit card fraud in Beverly Hills

A man responsible for signing up new gym members swiped a customer’s credit card details to fraudulently buy a whopping $26,000 worth of pizza across 388 occasions. Find out how he got caught.

Michael Samuel Manuika Tupoi, 29, was sentenced in Sutherland Local Court on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception. Picture: Ashleigh Tullis

A gym employee’s hunger cravings saw him bite off more than he could chew when he fraudulently used a customer’s credit card up to every second day to buy $26,000 worth of Crust Pizza.

Michael Samuel Manuika Tupou, 29, avoided jail when he was sentenced in Sutherland Local Court on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception.

Agreed facts tendered to court state the Beverly Hills man was working at Fitness First Platinum gym in Sydney from 2018 until November 2021 where he signed up customers and took payment for new memberships.

A man signed up to the gym on October 19, 2020 and used his company credit card to pay for the membership. Tupou processed the payment and retained the man’s credit card details.

He made his first order online from Crust Pizza Kingsgrove the following day for $57, with the food delivered to his home, court documents say.

Michael Tupou avoided jail when sentenced in Sutherland Local Court.

Over the next 23 months, Tupou used the same card to make 387 transactions, always ordering food from Crust Pizza Kingsgrove, totalling $26,332.

Tupou used different names on the orders but the same mobile number and home address.

The victim’s team noticed the fraudulent transactions on September 20 last year and alerted credit card provider, American Express.

An Amex representative contacted police to report the fraud on October 21 and repaid the man’s company. Amex also charged Crust Pizza Kingsgrove $2746 for failing to detect the fraudulent transactions.

Tupou was arrested on July 5 at his home before he told police, “I totally forgot it happened” and “this is something I need to take responsibility for”.

In court, Tupou’s lawyer Dean Fernandez conceded the offence was serious and involved planning but noted his client was remorseful and “wanted to make it right”.

“Mr Tupou said he was on autopilot and he had the card number and kept using it,” Mr Fernandez said.

The lawyer said a psychological report detailed Tupou’s mental health issues and cognitive impairment, which he said he was addressing with his psychologist.

Mr Fernandez also submitted at the time of the offending Tupou was socially isolated due to Covid and was gambling in online games.

The court also heard Tupou was already serving an intensive correction order at the time he committed the fraud.

Magistrate Hugh Donnelly said Tupou’s actions amounted to “significant fraud” which went “undetected for a long time”. However he noted Tupou’s “strong personal case”.

”You have a promising future if you abide by the treatment plan from the psychologist,” he said.

Tupou was sentenced to an 18-month intensive correction order where he must complete 250 hours of community service and continue psychological treatment. A compensation order was made to reimburse Amex $23,585 and $2746 to Crust Pizza Kingsgrove.