Couple Arrested in Australia`s Biggest Identity Crime Investigation

A couple from the Sydney suburb of Ryde was arrested this morning after allegedly manufacturing false documents and credit cards in the biggest identity crime investigation in the country`s history. Officers handcuffed the 48-year-old man and the 40-year-old woman at their house, according to AFP.

The arrests are part of a multimillion dollar identity crime investigation, in which detectives have already arrested eight people, shut down two identity crime facilities, and confiscated more than 15,000 false credit cards that could have netted fraudsters $37.5 million.

“This includes 12,000 false credit cards seized in November 2011, which was the largest singular seizure of fake credit cards in Australian history,” police said. “Major manufacturing equipment has also been seized throughout the investigation.”

The man arrested today has been charged with dealing in proceeds of crime, providing false or misleading information, and using a false document, while the woman is accused of more offenses. Fake documents, equipment and materials were found in her possession. The couple is scheduled to appear in Hornsby Local court on 25 October 2012.

Australian security news made today`s headlines once again, after a governmental website was hacked because of a vulnerability. Carried out by Venomsec, the attack led to various administration data from Victim Support ACT being leaked on the Internet. Some passwords used by the Australian service helping crime victims included weak credentials such as “test123″ and “l3tm31n”(let me in).