Levant Bozkurt: Broadmeadows couple raid Traralgon businesses with elaborate fraud

A Broadmeadows couple were rolling in it after they pulled off an elaborate fraud — but things don’t look so good for the pair now.

Levant Bozkurt and his ex-girlfriend used stolen credit cards to claim thousands of dollars worth of fradulent refunds, a court has heard.

A Broadmeadows man who stole thousands of dollars from big name Australian companies using a fake name has faced court.

Levant Bozkurt, 38, pleaded guilty in the Broadmeadows Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday for using an alias in an elaborate ploy hatched with his then girlfriend in August 2019, targeting Bunnings, Barbecues Galore and Sweet Lullabies.

Police prosecutor Senior Constable Tim Luscombe said Bozkurt, and his ex, the now-imprisoned Nazreen Omar, used names taken from stolen credit cards — a tactic which netted the pair thousands before they were caught.

Senior Constable Lucombe said that on August 15, 2019, Bozkurt and Omar drove to Sweet Lullabies in Traralgon in a Kia station wagon the pair had hired off GoGet two days prior, also by using fake documents.

After the pair entered Sweet Lullabies they bought a cot and a mattress for $1598 on a victim’s Westpac credit card, Omar re-entered the business and asked for a refund on the grounds that the pair had had a “disagreement” over the items.

In processing the refund Omar used a separate card — her own card — which transferred the entirety of the amount into her own bank account, Senior Constable Luscombe said.

On the same day the pair went to Barbecues Galore in Traralgon and bought a dining set worth almost $3000, however the court heard that the manager on duty refused to pay the refund because of his suspicions over the pair.

Bozkurt and Omar had better luck at the Bunnings in Traralgon, where the same trick was used to buy a Machita toobox set worth more than $1000.

Senior Constable Luscombe said after making the purchase the the pair went to the Bunnings in Morewell, where they claimed to have bought the wrong item, and received a full refund.

Bozkurt was arrested on December 19, 2019.

Claudia Flocke, for the defence, said her client’s offending was “quite dated” and stemmed from a meth addiction, itself born from a failed marriage.

Ms Flocke said that Bozkurt had married at 16 and worked consistently until 2010, the year his marriage “went downhill.”

She said Bozkurt, who now rents in Glenroy and sees his two children regularly, is working with his brother and has a letter of support from his sister-in-law.

Magistrate Urfa Masood agreed with the defence and ordered Bozkurt to be assessed for Community Corrections Order (CCO).