Detective investigating $30k fraud on 74yo woman steals her credit card for $16k shopping spree

Sonia thought she could trust the detective who was investigating fraudsters who stole $30,000 from her. She was astonished by what the officer did next.

A police detective tasked with catching the fraudsters who stole $30,000 from an elderly woman instead stole her credit card details and ­attempted to purchase more than $16,000 worth of goods with it.

The officer who attempted to swindle 74-year-old Western Sydney woman Sonia claimed in court he “went off the rails” in a depressive state, thanks to his time working as an undercover cop that resulted in him being kidnapped, his house being shot at and his cover being blown, leading to his identity circulating among criminals.

Sonia, who asked for her surname to be withheld because he she is afraid of being targeted in the future, was the victim of con artists posing as NBN workers who convinced her to transfer them $30,000 in May 2021.

She reported the theft to her local police station and, in June 2021, a detective was assigned to the case and made several visits to her home.

The officer, who wore full police uniform during several visits, gained her trust and even told her over coffee that she “reminded him of his own grandmother”, according to police documents tendered to Liverpool Local Court.

Sonia was ripped off by a police officer who stole her credit card details and PIN. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

During one of the visits he asked to see her online banking details, credit cards and Personal Identification Numbers (PIN).

Sonia handed them to the detective, trusting that he needed them for the ­investigation.

He then told Sonia his girlfriend was phoning him and she left the room to give him privacy.

There was no call.

Instead, the investigator used the time to steal Sonia’s banking and credit card ­details.

Days later, he attempted to use them on a shopping spree, where he tried to purchase almost $20,000 worth of goods online, including iPhones, Apple Watches and GoPro cameras from JB Hi Fi, Big W and Myer.

All of the purchases, which occurred on July 2 and 3, were rejected after they were flagged as suspicious.

The penny dropped for Sonia around 11pm on July 2, 2021, when she received a text message from her bank saying there had been unusual ­activity with her credit card.

“I thought: ‘You rotten ­little thing’ — and maybe a bit worse,” Sonia told The ­Sunday Telegraph.

That abuse of trust has left her feeling anxious and ­uneasy.

“You get to the stage where you don’t trust anybody,” she said.

“You think you would be able to trust the police.

“The whole issue is still getting to me — I can’t switch off from it all. I can’t switch off a feeling that I was stupid in the first place.

“That goes through my mind, you know: ‘I trusted this guy and then he did that’ … But where else can you go? You’re supposed to be able to trust a police officer.

“I trusted him (because) he carried the authority of the police.”

The corrupt officer also spun other stories to gain Sonia’s trust.

“He came to me without his uniform on and told me he had a brain aneurysm and ‘I haven’t told my girlfriend, I haven’t told work, I haven’t told anyone’,” she said.

The former police detective ­appeared in Liverpool Local Court this week, where he pleaded guilty to stealing Sonia’s banking details.

He has also pleaded guilty to illegally looking up details on the internal police ­database and using his ex-girlfriend’s identity details in an unsuccessful attempt to get $140,000 loans in her name in 2021.

The former detective, who cannot legally be identified, leaves Liverpool Court. Picture: Jonathan Ng

In court on Wednesday, lawyers for the state government successfully applied to have the former detective’s identity suppressed, using laws that prevent the personal details of police who have been involved in undercover operations from being made public.

Outside court, the officer’s solicitor Simon Joyner said: “My client is remorseful and the offending happened at a time when mental health ­experts concluded that he was suffering from a depressed mental state, caused in part by events that occurred in his workplace”.

His barrister Greg James KC told Magistrate Emma Manea that two medical ­experts had diagnosed his client as suffering from PTSD and a depressive state that was sparked by his work as an undercover police officer.

“Until his fall from grace he was apparently a worthy ­serving police officer (and) performed actions that were heroic,” Mr James told the court.

“He seems to have suffered a mental condition … he went off the rails.”

Mr James told the court the officer’s cover had been blown in 2019 and that his photo had been circulated on an ­encrypted messaging app by criminals.

The barrister also told the court the officer’s home was targeted in a drive-by shooting in April 2019, and that he reported to the psychiatrists that he was kidnapped by Middle Eastern men, who he believed were armed, who forced him into a car.

Prosecuting lawyer Kate Kenny disputed this and told the court it could not be ­proven there was a “causal connection” between the ­officer’s offending and mental issues he experienced because of his work.

Ms Kenny also told the court that the officer may have lied to the psychiatrists.

According to court documents, the officer attempted to purchase the items with Sonia’s credit card by using a fake email address.

The email address had been set up using the personal details of a man that the ­officer stole in May 2020 when he pulled him over and asked to check his driver’s ­licence.

The officer also used the email address to set up an Australia Post parcel locker. This and other evidence was found on the officer’s laptop after it was seized by internal police investigators, the documents said.

He was arrested on August 24, 2021, and originally charged with 57 offences, which were eventually ­whittled down to the six he pleaded guilty to.

The arrest came after Sonia suspected the officer had ­defrauded her because he was the only other person who was aware of her credit card details.

She began putting the pieces together after receiving the call about suspicious purchases on her credit card.

“I thought: ‘Wait on a minute. Brand new credit card. I don’t use it hardly ever and he’s the only one that saw it and saw my PIN numbers’,” Sonia said.

Despite the betrayal, she went to the police station again.

“So I went back to the police station and said to them at the counter: ‘I could be totally wrong but I need a private room so I can talk to someone about what my concerns are’,” Sonia said.

“I had to (trust the police again). I’m in a situation and I had no other option. Where else do you go?” she said.

About two weeks later, Sonia received a call from an officer from NSW Police internal investigation team.

“He said: ‘We got him’,’ Sonia said.

The arrest came after ­investigators found incriminating evidence on the officers laptop, including that he had accessed Sonia’s personal email ­address.

Magistrate Manea will reveal on May 12 in the Downing Centre District Court how the officer will be punished.

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