A "somewhat naive courier" helped facilitate an "extortion racket" which scammed a woman out of $70,000, a court has found.
"He's got himself involved in something he frankly didn't understand," defence lawyer Michael Kukulies-Smith told the ACT Magistrates Court on Monday.
"He has been used by those actually engaging in the scam."
Amarish Kumar Patel, 29, faced the court after previously pleading guilty to possessing and attempting to possess proceeds of crime.
Charges of blackmailing, aiding and abetting a demand with a threat to kill, and conducting transactions to avoid detection were previously withdrawn.
Magistrate Jane Campbell accepted that while Patel's offending was part of a bigger operation, his involvement was "limited to him being the person who collected money on two occasions".
"It allows the main players of the extortion racket to remain anonymous and they're allowed to continue their offending by exploiting other persons to actually do the hard yards," Ms Campbell said.
The man was convicted and sentenced to a six-month good behaviour order.
Agreed facts state the victim first received a phone call in November 2022 from a man who identified himself as "Jerry" and who claimed to be from the NCA, which she believed to be the National Crime Authority.
After providing the man with her name and residential address, the victim was told she owed $10,000 in cash and if she did not pay people would be sent to "knock her off".
"They were threatening to kill me," the woman said in a victim impact statement.
The woman eventually withdrew the money before being given a password to use when a man came to collect it at her residence.
"From then on, Jerry began calling [the victim] almost daily demanding money," agreed facts state.
The victim continued to withdraw and hand over sums of money for over a month, by which time she had given Jerry, whose identify remains a mystery, approximately $70,000.
On one occasion in mid-December, Patel attended the woman's residence as the courier, collecting $7500 from her.
"There is nothing that is objectively threatening about his actions," Mr Kukulies-Smith said.
Earlier that day, Patel had received multiple text messages from a friend he met in India which detailed the victim's address, what he needed to wear, the password, and the amount he was picking up.
He was then tasked with depositing that money into a number of bank accounts and was paid $200.
By the time Patel returned for a pick-up of $4000 in January, the woman's children were made aware of the scam by friends the victim had asked to borrow money from.
They alerted police, who provided them with money "to which AFP forensics had added a highly transferrable ultraviolet substance".
Police arrested Patel, who first tried to run away, and he told officers he did not know anything and that he was just the courier.
According to agreed facts, Jerry told the victim to enquire about her deceased husband's bank account when the woman pleaded she had run out of money.
He also told her "scanners" could show if money was being kept inside her home.
The court heard on Monday the victim had temporarily moved to a motel and often stayed with neighbours after living in "constant fear".
"I didn't feel safe at my house for fear of scammers coming back to kill me," she said.
Patel previously spent eight days in custody for the offending.
"That is a very significant period of time for a person who has never been in trouble with the law previously," Mr Kukulies-Smith said.
