Anthony James Langdon jailed over dodgy cheque scheme

A man has been jailed after a year-long fraud spiralled out of control, cashing hundreds of thousands of dollars of bad cheques.

A Melton man has been jailed for fraud after cashing dodgy checks for almost a year – netting more than $370,000.

Anthony James Langdon, 29, faced the County Court on Monday after pleading guilty to a rolled-up charge of obtaining financial advantage by deception.

The court heard the fraud began in November 2016 when he deposited a $1200 cheque into his Bankwest account drawn from his own Westpac account.

His Westpac account didn’t have the funds to cover the transaction but because of the delay in cashing cheques the amount was delivered into his Bankwest account.

Over the coming year he deposited 19 further cheques in a similar fashion, growing more confident as the fraud continued to work.

In just a seven days in January 2017 he cashed $148,000 to a Credit Union Australia account in three transactions.

It all came to a head, however, in February 2018 when he was arrested on suspicion of knowingly representing the cheques he deposited as valid.

In court, a psychological report identified mental health problems and drug abuse as factors associated with the offending.

Sentencing Langdon to a two-year term of imprisonment, Judge Geoffrey Chettle said his detection was “inevitable”.

“Your offending is a serious example of fraud,” he said.

“Your actions created a paper trail. Others minded to act as you did need to be aware the courts will take it seriously.”