An Uber driver impersonated the principal of a Sydney law firm and tricked a client into sending him more than $200,000, in what a magistrate described a “calculated, deceptive and significant” fraud.
Pardeep Pardeep has been jailed for a maximum of two years for dishonestly obtaining property by deception and dealing with proceeds of crime, leaving the victim mentally and financially distressed as he recovered just $900 of his savings to buy a house that were traded in for gold.
On Wednesday, Liverpool Local Court heard the 28-year-old Indian national was in Australia on a student visa, had studied information technology and worked as a ride-share driver when he embarked on a cunning ploy that swindled a man out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
His victim was looking to buy a home for his family in October 2024 when he sought the services of a Sydney real estate law firm and spoke on the phone with its principal and founder.
The Herald has chosen not to name the firm and victim.
Around the same time, Pardeep somehow gained the victim’s details, registered a near-identical domain name to the law firm, and sent the victim a fraudulent email from an address which closely resembled that of the principal and had an identical signature block.
Communication between Pardeep and the victim continued for several weeks, documents tendered to court show.
Within that time, Pardeep registered a company with ASIC almost mirroring the law firm’s name, created a Westpac business bank account which he linked to the business and listed himself as the beneficial owner and director.
On November 13, Pardeep requested payment of $209,000 relating to the house purchase, including stamp duty fees. The victim transferred this amount across two payments that totalled $209,874.
A week later, the penny dropped.
During a phone call between the victim and the actual lawyer, the former realised that he had not been emailing her and his money was missing.
Upon making this realisation, court documents state, the man’s life snowballed into a pit of mental and financial stress. As of Pardeep’s sentence date, he had only recovered $900.
After the fraud was reported to police, investigators traced it to Pardeep. He initially told them his shoddy company was set up as a “transport company” but admitted he had no customers. Footage from CCTV captured him buying gold with the stolen funds.
On Pardeep’s phone was a hidden folder containing selfies of him posing with gold bullion and photos of Westpac bank statements from the fraudulent company.
In arguing against full-time prison, Pardeep’s lawyer Ikbal Khan told the court his client claimed he acted under the direction of another man.
Khan said Pardeep was deep in medical debt, having not qualified for Medicare, and “this person” advised him to open a business account which could potentially help him receive a bank loan (which he was rejected for as an individual).
“Then the money started coming in, and he says he turned a blind eye,” Khan said, adding his guilty plea showed he had “found some remorse and contrition” despite being misled.
At this point, the prosecutor told Magistrate Andrew Miller that the alleged co-accused was investigated and “found not to be involved”.
Miller sentenced Pardeep – who had been in custody since his arrest nine months ago – to two years’ jail with a non-parole period of 14 months. Pardeep sat emotionless as he heard his punishment via audiovisual link from prison.
“This is a matter where there was detailed planning and premeditation,” the magistrate said.
“The value of property is significant … [it was] a calculated plan to go out and defraud over $200k from an innocent party.”
Miller said Pardeep “knew exactly what he was doing” and “failed to take responsibility” for what he described as a “serious example” of fraud.
“White-collar fraud is pervasive in the community; it is becoming evermore prevalent and the number of victims is significantly increasing,” he said.
“There is a need to send a message that this type of fraud will be punished by the courts.”
Pardeep, who lived with his partner in Granville in Sydney’s west and had no other family in Australia, would likely be deported from the country upon his release, the court heard.
He was directed to repay $100,000 in compensation – the maximum amount permitted to be ordered in the local court.
Pardeep had initially pleaded not guilty to the two counts he was convicted of, as well as a third charge of accessing or modifying restricted computer data. The third charge was dismissed and he changed his other pleas to guilty on the day of a scheduled contested hearing in December.
Due to the backdating of his sentence to his arrest, he will be released on parole in June.
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