A teenage fraudster who masterminded an elaborate eBay rip-off during his Year 12 studies kept a journal detailing his illegal activities, a court was told as he was sentenced today.
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The journal proved helpful for police who uncovered his crimes after he was busted trying to access $2 million erroneously deposited in one if his bogus bank accounts, Brisbane District Court heard this morning.
Philip John Heggie, 19, pleaded guilty to more than 100 charges relating to an online fraud scheme he set up in 2009 while a senior at St Laurence's College in South Brisbane.'$2 million net mastermind' to stand trial
Prosecutor Patrina Clohessy said Heggie came to the attention of police on New Year's Eve 2009 when he went to a suburban Brisbane Suncorp branch and tried to withdraw some of the $2 million that had been transferred into an account operated by him.
The money had appeared in his account after a bank error and the bank teller, suspicious of Heggie's behaviour, called police who discovered the account had been set up in a false name.
Detectives continued their investigations and found he had opened 119 bank accounts in bogus names linked to false PayPal and eBay accounts.
Ms Clohessy said Heggie had sold electronic goods on eBay but customers never received their purchases.
He had made almost $40,000 from the fraudulent scheme.
"It was persistent, systematic and reasonably sophisticated," she said.
The police case against Heggie was strengthened when they discovered journals in which he had recorded his activities in detail.
Defence barrister Ruth O'Gorman said her client had been legitimately selling goods on eBay but he accumulated debts with the online business and funds he held in ebay accounts were frozen.
He began the fraud to get back what he believed was his, she said.
"He didn't appreciate the level of criminality he was engaged in," she said.
Ms O'Gorman said when the $2 million appeared in one of his false accounts, it was a spur of the moment decision to try to access it.
"[He was] literally thinking all his Christmases had come at once," she said.
Judge Kerry O'Brien said he was concerned with the sophistication of Heggie's fraud but said he was still a young man and had good prospects for rehabilitation.
Heggie was jailed for three years. He will be eligible for parole after 12 months.
Taking into account time spent in pre-sentence custody, Heggie will be eligible for parole later this month.
