Former Gotham City brothel worker Cindy De-Waij jailed for multiple fraud offences
An ex-Gotham City brothel worker kept cops hot on her tail after she allegedly ran a fraud racket across Melbourne.
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A former Gotham City brothel worker who committed a prolonged and sophisticated identity theft racket which left a slew of victims in her wake has been jailed.
Cindy De-Waij, 38, was sentenced in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Thursday to 12 months’ jail after she pleaded guilty to multiple fraud and theft offences.
De-Waij used fake and stolen identities and ill-gotten credit cards to leave her victims, which included multiple Melbourne women, in debt.
Police alleged De-Waij obtained her victims’ identities to rort cash and splash-out on high-end accommodation, drugs and designer clothes and accessories.
De-Waij’s alleged modus operandi included devious methods she told police she learned form the dark web which included carefully doctoring photo IDs and falsifying documents.
De-Waij allegedly used a Melbourne woman’s identity to take out a $17,000 bank loan and order a $4500 Citibank credit card.
The alleged rorts were uncovered after police were led to an Aladdin’s Cave of fraud material which contained “hundreds” of passports, driver’s licences and Medicare cards at a South Melbourne storage facility.
Folders containing tax statements, foreign bank statements and multiple names and documents doctored with false Victoria Police stamps were also located.
De-Waij, who allegedly booked the unit with a bogus credit card, was linked to the unit via CCTV, the court was told.
De-Waij also allegedly used bogus credit cards and IDs to book herself into luxury accommodation in Richmond, St Kilda, South Yarra, Prahran, South Melbourne and the city.
De-Waij, whose alleged offending occurred between October 2019 and April this year, left discarded identity documents, photographs, pay slips and fake credit card templates at her various short stay apartments.
An owner also allegedly found various printing tools including erasers, markers, drawing and drafting pencils, rulers and A4 foam boards and assorted bank statements in an apartment vacated by De-Waij.
Police also found a diary which allegedly outlined where De-Waij planned to stay under a particular stolen identity.
The accused fraudster’s lengthy racket came to an abrupt halt after an alleged victim initiated a sting operation to snare De-Waij at a Windsor post office.
The alleged victim, who hunted De-Waij after discovering $11,500 had been ran up on her credit card, traced a Jadore Hair products order to the post office.
The woman inquired but was told the order had already been collected however the post office manager said another delivery for knee high boots, a Michael Kors watch and Saint Laurent sunnies was waiting to be collected.
The pair set a trap to snare De-Waij when she came to the store.
De-Waij allegedly arrived to collect her wares but police pounced and arrested her on April 22.
The accused fraudster allegedly gave police a false name and claimed to be picking up the package for a friend, the court was told.
“I wasn’t doing very well …,” De Waij allegedly told police.
“My degree was down the drain … I f***ed everything up … and I was locked up and I lost my job.”
The court heard De-Waij told police she wasn’t “denying anything” she was just “having a hard time remembering”.
Police also quizzed her about the various identity documents and credit cards.
“They’re just details you can get on the dark web and stuff …,” De-Waij told police.
“I just needed to not be me, I can’t help it.”
David McKenna, for De-Waij, told the court his client made a “significance entrance” to the criminal justice system while working at South Melbourne brothel Gotham City.
“Her employment through the Gotham Club led to the lifestyle she has now become entrenched in, the drug-addicted lifestyle,” Mr McKenna said.
Mr McKenna unsuccessfully sought a sentence indication for De-Waij after telling the court all but a single brief had been resolved.
“The majority of charges have been offered as pleas of guilty,” Mr McKenna said.
De-Waij, who appeared via videolink from Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, will face court again on August 12.
Magistrate Fiona Hayes said De-Waij was “essentially a con-artist”.
De-Waij, who had spent 112 days in custody, was jailed for a maximum 18 months.
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