Federal police have arrested four members of an alleged cybercriminal syndicate which allegedly stole more than $1.7 million from Australian and overseas victims.
They say the syndicate ran at least 15 cybercrime operations between January, 2020 and March, 2023.
The investigation was sparked when an Indonesian business lost more than $100,000.
AFP Commander of Cybercrime Operations Chris Goldsmid said the incident in Indonesia was a case of business email compromise.
"Business email compromise is a type of cybercrime where criminals will take control of an email account of a company representative or a company employee. They'll then use that email account to send legitimate-looking emails that contain payment requests or invoices," he said.
"The account details will be altered to accounts controlled by criminals."
The AFP executed five warrants yesterday at locations in Queensland, Victoria and South Australia.
Two Brisbane women, a Melbourne man and an Adelaide man were arrested.
Fake passports, international driver licences, luxury handbags and digital devices were seized.
Commander Goldsmid said about $1.1 million was allegedly being laundered in bank accounts in South Africa.
"With the assistance of several financial institutions, we're working to close the fraudulent accounts that the criminal group is using to launder funds out of Australia," he said.
"The group was working with associates who sourced legitimate identity documents and altered the photographs and dates of birth so Australian syndicate members could use them.
"We allege that [the four] were involved in the laundering process.
The Brisbane women were arrested in Sherwood and Durack.
'Sophisticated offending'
Twenty-seven-year-old Sherwood woman Mayamu Konneh appeared in the Brisbane Magistrates court via videolink this morning.
She faces up to 10 years in jail after she was charged with six counts of possessing a false document and six counts of possessing a false foreign travel document.
The court heard it is alleged the false documents found in Ms Konneh's possession during the raids were being used for "sophisticated offending" which involved "fraudulent banking".
Ms Konneh was granted bail on a range of strict conditions including that she must not leave Queensland, report regularly to police, have no contact with her co-accused and adhere to restrictions on her mobile phone use.
Thirty-four-year-old Durack woman Olivia Leko Diakada was also granted bail.
She was charged with three counts of possessing a false document, one count of dishonestly obtaining or dealing in personal financial information, two counts of dealing in proceeds of crime worth $100,000 and five counts of producing a false document.
She faces up to 20 years in jail.
In Adelaide, a 30-year-old man was charged with two counts of producing a false document and one count of dealing in proceeds of crime worth $100,000 or more.
He could go to jail for up to 20 years.
In Melbourne, a 26-year-old man was charged with one count of possessing a false document and one count of possessing a false foreign travel document which carries a 10-year maximum sentence.
Commander Goldsmid said more arrests cannot be ruled out.
"Laundering networks are really important to these crimes, without the ability for the criminals to take stolen funds and out of Australia, they get no profit from these crimes. So, we allege that the individuals involved in this type of laundering [and] they're a key part of facilitating organised crime."
He said the four were not known to police prior to the investigation.
