A Canberra man who ripped off a string of Gumtree sellers to the tune of more than $6000 for mobile phones knew he would eventually get caught as he scammed victims to fund his illicit drug habit, a court heard.
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James Lawrence Michael Raftery, 29, told sellers he would transfer money to buy smartphones they had advertised on the popular website before he handed over his driver's licence details and fake bank transfer receipts.
The ruse involved amounts between $300 and $1000, and a total of $6300, for the phones between August 2016 and February this year.
Raftery was arrested after sellers went to police with screenshots of the fake receipts and photos of his licence.
He told police in an interview: "I did it but I would rather tell the magistrate why I did it in court."
Raftery pleaded guilty to nine fraud charges and faced the ACT Magistrates Court for sentencing on Tuesday.
Magistrate Peter Morrison said Raftery probably sold or traded the phones he acquired to get money for drugs, but noted his motivation did not lessen his moral culpability for his crimes.
Raftery's Legal Aid defence lawyer said while his offences involved some planning and premeditation, his methods were relatively unsophisticated and he knew he would be caught.
"He was so desperate to obtain the drugs he wasn't thinking consequentially," the lawyer said.
The court heard Raftery, who had an unstable childhood, disagreed with a pre-sentence report author's description of his behaviour as "thrill-seeking" and said there was nothing thrilling about a drug addiction.
He was at a high risk of general re-offending, largely due to his drug habit, gambling and financial problems, the report author said.
His lawyer said the offender had been using methamphetamine heavily when he swindled the sellers and "wasn't in a good headspace".
Raftery said his drug habit had destroyed his life and he was seeking help to tackle it.
Prosecutor Chamil Wanigaratne said Raftery had previous convictions for fraud from several years ago and argued his "concerning" behaviour" involved "quite a significant level of calculation".
His explanation that he was driven by a desire for drugs would likely be of little comfort to the people he targeted, the prosecutor said.
Mr Morrison said Raftery's offences involved some planning and "devious" use of information technology to defraud the sellers, but were at the lower end of the scale for offences of their type.
He said no sentence but a term of imprisonment would be appropriate.
Mr Morrison sentenced Raftery to 10 months imprisonment to be served in the community under an intensive corrections order. He gave the man a stern warning he would likely end up behind bars if he committed further offences.
Raftery was also ordered to perform 120 hours of community service.
ACT Policing in April urged the community to be cautious when selling items on website such as Gumtree as part of a wider investigation into sellers who were scammed out of cars, mobile phones and jewellery.
