‘Entrenched’ fraudster jailed over $1.2 million rort

An “entrenched and remorseless” fraudster with an extensive criminal history has been jailed for his role at the centre of a $1.2 million scam targeting Telstra and the big banks.

Samir Mustum, 56, pleaded guilty to dozens of fraud charges for his role at the helm of a fraud syndicate, which used real people’s names to obtain credit, home loans and hundreds of mobile phones.

Between 2017 and 2020, he enlisted others to help create fake documents, including false IDs, payslips, bank statements and cards, to steal a total of $1,265,000 in property and credit from Telstra and banks including ANZ, NAB and Westpac.

The fraudster set up lines of credit in the names of real banking customers by submitting fake identifications and supporting documents.

Mustum pretended to be an employee of a dental company linked to Bupa to steal more than 200 mobile phones from Telstra, setting up fake contracts with the telecommunications giant.

He defrauded Telstra by more than $500,000 and the scamming continued while he was in jail where he used prison phones to instruct associates on how to sell the phones.

Mustum, who was at times committing fraud two to three times a day, roped his wife into the syndicate as he used her to fraudulently obtain a $600,000 mortgage.

He appeared in Melbourne’s County Court via video link from prison on Friday, where he was jailed for up to six years and five months.

“I regard you as an entrenched and remorseless offender,” Judge Liz Gaynor said.

“You will become very familiar with jail routines because you will be spending a long time in there.”

Judge Gaynor said Mustum had an extensive criminal history involving similar offending, dating back to 2005.

He stopped offending between 2013 and 2018 while he was serving a prison sentence, she said.

Mustum must spent four years and six months in prison before he will be eligible for parole.

He has already served two years of his sentence.