MD Mostofa Tareque: Disability worker sentenced for role in scamming nearly $80k from elderly

A 37-year-old disability worker who collected nearly $80,000 from unsuspecting elderly victims has been sentenced in Wollongong Local Court.

A Bankstown disability worker has been sentenced to a 12-month community corrections order for his role in fraudulently collecting money from four elderly victims from Sydney and the Southern Highlands.

MD Mostofa Tareque was on bail and appeared in Wollongong Local Court last week where he faced six counts of dealing with the property or proceeds of crime to a value less than $100,000.

Tareque, 37, also faced a further count of attempting to deal with the property or proceeds of crime to a value less than $100,000.

The offending occurred between July and September last year with the victims aged between 68 and 83.

The oldest, a woman from Mosman, got caught up in a scam when she received a call from an unknown male purporting to be from Amazon.

The man convinced the victim there had been a clerical error and if it wasn’t rectified he would “lose his job”.

MD Mostofa Tareque leaving Narellan Police Station after his arrest last year. Picture: Lauren Ferri

The victim went to her bank and withdrew $10,000, telling them she was withdrawing it to buy a car for her daughter, before driving to Bankstown in the middle of Covid lockdowns.

The victim was on the phone to an unknown man once she was in Bankstown when Tareque approached her car.

She asked for a receipt as she handed over the cash, but the man on the phone said it would be emailed to her.

Tareque walked away with the cash as the call was terminated, leaving the victim “alone and panicked in an unfamiliar location”.

A similar scam played out with victims in Dulwich Hill and Moss Vale, however, the fourth victim had been contacted on Facebook by someone claiming to be the fictional “Agent Pat Rusch”.

The 81-year-old woman received a call the following day from “Sam” who claimed to be from the Australian Federal Police, demanding she pay up to avoid being arrested.

The victim from Harrington Park kept being harassed and she eventually relented and handed over her personal identification to “Sam”.

MD Mostofa Tareque was sentenced in Wollongong Local Court. Picture: Annie Lewis

On September 6, six transactions of $6000 were made to her account from Tareque before they were transferred to an unknown person’s account in Western Australia.

Three days later she was instructed by “Sam” to withdraw $9000 from her ANZ Pensioner Advantage account which he said an ”officer” would collect.

That afternoon Tareque arrived at her address with “Sam” on the phone to instruct her to hand over the cash.

A further $15,000 was attempted to be scammed from the 81-year-old, but at that point her back alerted police which led to Tareque‘s arrest.

Tareque had previously written a letter to the court to “express his sincerest apologies” for his ”stupid act”.

“I should have known better,” he wrote.

“I was arrested and this was broadcasted in the news channel which was humiliating for me because I didn’t know I was being sent to collect scammed money.

“I should have thought more carefully about what I was being sent to do.”

Magistrate Michael O‘Brien sentenced Tareque to the year-long CCO which will expire on June 23 next year.