Former Gotham City worker Cindy De-Waij pleads guilty to South Melbourne storage fraud

An ex-Gotham City worker’s Catch Me If You Can fraud empire kept police on the hop for almost two years until her secret lair was exposed.

Cindy De-Waij pleaded guilty to further fraud offences.

A former Gotham City brothel worker who ran a sophisticated bunco racket while based at a South Melbourne fraud lair had her empire taken down by a pen.

Cindy De-Waij, 38, was sentenced in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday to an 18-month community correction order after pleading guilty to multiple fraud charges.

De-Waij’s lengthy racket came unstuck after she fraudulently secured a National Storage South Melbourne unit in late-2019.

The con queen’s bogus payments for the unit soon bounced which raised a red flag with the York St storage facility staff.

Staff eventually locked the unit on De-Waij after payments fell three months in arrears in February 2020.

In the meantime, De-Waij had landed on the police radar for other frauds.

De-Waij used fake and stolen identities and ill-gotten credit cards to leave several victims including multiple Melbourne women in debt.

De-Waij also rorted cash to splash-out on high-end accommodation, drugs and designer clothes and accessories.

National Storage staff eventually busted open the unit to sell the contents at auction in a bid to recover lost money in July 2020.

Staff were shocked to find De-Waij had decked out the space as an Aladdin’s Cave of fraud.

The haul included material which contained “hundreds” of passports, driver’s licences and Medicare cards and folders containing tax and foreign bank statements.

Bogus documents and IDs and an identity doctored with fraudulently obtained Victoria Police stamps were also located.

Various Commonwealth statements with notations and measures police believe were to produce fake bank statements were among the seized loot.

De-Waij also housed sophisticated equipment and material to doctor and produce false identities.

National Storage staff handed the fraud smorgasbord to police who linked De-Waij to the unit via CCTV and a pen seized by police at an earlier arrest.

Police interviewed De-Waij in November 2020 but the slippery con-artist denied any knowledge of the unit.

De-Waij fell into the law’s grasp after she booked a bogus stay at a victim’s apartment via Airbnb.

The victim called police to remove De-Waij after she found the fraudster nestled at her apartment in December 2020.

De-Waij was hauled off by the cops but the victim later realised a notebook containing personal details was missing.

It was only a matter of days before the victim was getting communication regarding attempted credit card and mobile phone plan applications.

De-Waij, who also used the victim’s information to secure an Abbotsford storage unit, managed to give police the slip.

However, her lengthy racket came to an abrupt halt after a victim initiated a sting operation to snare De-Waij at a Windsor post office in April 2021.

The 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 arrived to collect her wares but police pounced and arrested her on April 22.

The fraudster gave police a false name and claimed to be picking up the package for a friend, the court was told.

De-Waij told police she learned to carefully doctor photo IDs and falsify documents via the dark web.

De-Waij also 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 discarded identity documents, photographs, pay slips and fake credit card templates at her various short stay apartments while offending between October 2019 and April 2021.

The court heard De-Waij is on the straight and narrow after she was released from custody late last year.

De-Waij was released onto a community correction order after her original 18-month jail term was knocked down to four months on appeal.

Magistrate Fiona Hayes said during last year’s sentencing De-Waij was “essentially a con artist”.

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