Australia Fraud Kanda: 2 Nepali in police custody.
New South Wales Police say they have charged and arrested two Nepali for their participation in an alleged international fraud syndicate targeting an elder Australian.
According to police, they detained a 22-year-old, Neha Giri and a 19-year-old, Aayush Bhattarai from outside their home in Western Sydney. The couple were taken to Granville Police Station at about 4.30 PM on Monday. Neha and Aayush were refused bail to appear at Parramatta Local Court today.
After the arrest, the Nepali couple were taken to Granville Police Station and charged with five counts of dishonestly obtain property by deception and three counts of knowingly deal with proceeds of crime, the police statement reads.
NSW Police commenced an investigation on 19 June after finding out about the 85-year-old woman that was targeted by the scam.
Teresa, 85 year old woman, victim of scam (Photo:Nine news sydney)
Teresa told police that she received a phone call claiming to be from the bank. The person on the phone said her bank account had been ‘compromised’ and she needed to open a new account. Teresa was instructed to provide $3000 to a courier who was supposed to deposit the money into her new account. She later got another call, asking her to provide $5000 more.
As part of inquiries, detectives uncovered a sophisticated fraud syndicate operating out of India with Australian-based members collecting cash before electronically transferring the funds overseas.
It is not clear those arrested Nepali couples are part of the scam or also victimised and used by scammers from overseas, to collect money from other victims.
This isn’t the first case of fraud from Nepalese. In March 2020, a 20 year old named Pravin Mainali was jailed for a similar case.