Students and immigrants caught in Australian racket: 'Innocents' help commit credit card fraud

 
AN ORGANISED crime ring is recruiting unwitting Victorians to commit credit card fraud, police say.
 
The ring advertises on legitimate job sites, offering large sums of money for people willing to work as ''dispatch managers''.
 
Detective Senior Constable Tim Johns said the ring used stolen credit card numbers to buy items over the internet, such as cameras, laptops, or expensive bicycle parts. The items would be shipped to the recruit's home, where a courier would collect the goods and ship them out of the country.
 
Senior Detective Johns said the group was preying on international students and new migrants, and did not pay people for the work they did.
 
''Once the recruit has worked for a month and starts asking for payment, the syndicate stops replying to their emails and the recruit is never paid.'' He said police had uncovered $100,000 worth of fraud committed by the group and three recruits in Victoria, NSW and Queensland. But he believed that was the ''tip of the iceberg''.
 
Anyone with information should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.