Toowoomba man Ali Al-Halfi ordered to repay doctor after using scammed card for cash
A prominent on-duty doctor was scammed out of thousands when a young lackey used her card details to purchase foreign currency.
A prominent hospital doctor treating sick patients lost thousands after a man used her scammed card details to buy foreign currency at the Toowoomba exchange.
Harristown man Ali Kasem Mosa Al-Halfi, 23, pleaded guilty before Toowoomba Magistrates Court on November 24 to fraud after he stole $5000USD from a phone scam victim in January last year.
The court heard a prominent South Australian doctor at the Royal Adelaide Hospital was on shift when she received a phone call from a person claiming to be a NAB representative.
“They (told her) they suspected fraud transactions had taken place,” Police prosecutor Anita Page advised.
“(The doctor) explained to the man on the phone that she was on shift, dealing with very sick patients.
“He stated that this was in the context of an emergency and action needed to be taken immediately.”
In the chaos, the doctor provided her bank details over the phone, later realising the call had been a scam and alerting the police.
Al-Halfi was not charged in connection to the scam phone call.
That same day, Al-Halfi went to Crown Currency Exchange in Toowoomba using the doctor’s card details to purchase $5000USD in currency, charging $7890.63AUD to the woman’s account.
He was identified via CCTV footage and charged.
The woman received $4000AUD from her bank but was unable to recover the remaining losses.
Al-Halfi’s defence solicitor Ryan McCullough said the young man had committed the crime in “unusual circumstances”.
“Mr Al-Halfi had engaged with a group of people that were doing crypto and international currency trading; the starting point for that group was essentially some sort of mentorship program,” Mr McCullough said.
“That’s how he ended up coming by this card, which was said to be on the basis of some sort of returns involvement in this trading.
“Mr Al-Halfi certainly shouldn’t have taken their word of that and ought to have known it was fraudulent.”
Mr McCullough advised the court Al-Halfi had struggled with substance misuse at the time of his offending.
“Thankfully, Mr Al-Halfi’s relationship with drugs has very much changed since the time of this offending.
“His use of any and all other drugs (except prescribed medications) has completely ceased.
“Mr Al-Halfi has good support in his life.”
Alongside his fraud conviction, Al-Halfi pleaded guilty to possessing minor amounts of cocaine and cannabis, breaching his bail on two occasions and refusing access to his phone despite a court order.
Magistrate Kyna Morice advised Al-Halfi to practice critical thinking going forward.
“It is concerning without thinking you would accept that card in any circumstances,” she told Mr Al-Halfi.
“You need to be very careful in the future because you are the one now facing a period of imprisonment … and you are the one who is repaying whatever money is outstanding.”
Al-Halfi was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment, wholly suspended for 18 months.
He was further ordered to pay $3890.63 in restitution to the complainant doctor.
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Originally published as Toowoomba man Ali Al-Halfi ordered to repay doctor after using scammed card for cash
