These claims ranged from Covid support applications to income tax returns and amendments, with 59 myIR accounts being compromised.
Nicholas Ngwun attempted to receive $2 million by submitting 121 fraudulent documents to Inland Revenue. Photo / NZME
He would forge drivers’ licences, community service cards and utilities letters with electronic templates and used these to set up bank accounts in the names of people who did not exist.
He also set up accounts in four real people’s names after stealing their identities.
Any money from the fraudulent documents sent to IR was then sent to these bank accounts and later distributed to himself and family members.
IR’s information security leader Jay Harris said Ngwun’s offending represents the “new frontier of digital offending”.
“Inland Revenue’s systems mean we can detect this sort of fraud and IR is well prepared to combat attempts to defraud the tax system,” Harris said.
“Our systems prevented the vast majority of Ngwun’s attempts to obtain payments from us.
“We were also assisted by the banks and other organisations to help identify him.
“Inland Revenue will not hesitate to take action against fraudsters like Ngwun.”
Ngwun had been scheduled for sentencing on January 20 this year and had provided an affidavit that stated he graduated from a rehabilitation programme for drug and addiction issues alongside a certificate of completion supposedly signed by staff of the centre.
He was later found to have only attended one module of the rehabilitation programme and was discharged when he failed to show up again, with his certificate being a fabrication.
IR discovered the counterfeit while undertaking routine checks, with the certificate and affidavit having been filed to attempt to have a discount to his sentencing for the tax and Covid fraud offending.