S M Akhlaqur Rahman, Imtiaz Chowdhury: Men convicted over ‘devious’ Telstra phone scam

Two scammers from Melbourne’s west have been blasted for their roles in a “devious scheme” that fleeced thousands from people across the country.

Two men in Melbourne’s west have been slammed over their involvement in an elaborate phone scam stealing $17,000 from “vulnerable” people.

S M Akhlaqur Rahman, 48, and Imtiaz Chowdhury, 39, were sentenced in Sunshine Magistrates’ Court after pleading guilty to dishonestly obtaining property by deception.

The court heard Rahman had begun experiencing financial stress in early 2019 when he was contacted by a friend, who he knew only as Koshi, from Sydney’s Bangladeshi community.

Rahman told police Koshi had offered him $200 if he received money in his bank account and transferred it onwards to another bank account.

When arrested by police in October that year, he denied knowledge of the scam and said he didn’t know where the money came from.

Police had previously accused Rahman of being the mastermind behind the scheme, but withdrew the allegation in court.

They said a follow-up investigation had failed to identify who Koshi was.

Rahman’s lawyer, Jarrod Behan, argued his participation in the scheme was “reckless and naive” but he was just an unwitting participant exploited because of his money problems.

“There is a deception but there is no evidence that Mr Rahman or Mr Chowdri are directly responsible for the scheme,” he said.

In court on Tuesday, prosecutors said two Australians fell victim to the scam after receiving a call from a man named “Bruce” who claimed to work for Telstra, offering to help them fight off hackers.

“The male claimed that in order for him to catch the hackers, the victim needed to deposit $10,000 into a particular bank account,” senior constable Gao said.

On June 12, an Adelaide man was scammed $8500, which was later seized by Commonwealth Bank’s Scamwatch and returned to the victim.

On August 22, Rahman roped in his friend, Chowdhury, to receive money from a second victim after his account was blocked by bank fraud measures.

Chowdhury, who worked as a taxi driver, received $8,500 from a woman in Queensland which he then transferred on.

His lawyer, Angpal Singh, said Chowdhury’s offending only amounted to “stupidity” by blindly trusting a friend who asked for help.

“A friend living nearby gave him a call that day and asked for a favour,” he said. “He trusted him and didn’t know anything about the scheme.”

Magistrate Greg Robinson fined Rahman $5000 with conviction and Chowdhury was fined $3000 without conviction.

“Any reasonable person of that maturity should have been on notice that this was improper,” he said.

“They can’t have been oblivious to this being a devious scheme.”

He said the phone scams were a “serious problem” in Australia with people being subjected to emails, phone calls and text messages daily, which required “strong denunciation” from the courts.

Police sought a reparation order for Rahman to repay $8500 to the woman in Queensland, but this was opposed by Mr Behan.

The respiration application will return to court at a later date.