An Indian Uber driver in Australia on a student visa has been jailed for impersonating a lawyer and scamming a homebuyer out of $200,000, which has not been recovered.
IT student Pardeep Pardeep, 28, initially claimed innocence before pleading guilty to dishonestly obtaining property by deception and dealing with proceeds of crime on the day of his scheduled contested hearing in December.
He faced Liverpool Local Court on Wednesday where he was sentenced to two year’s jail with a non-parole period of 14 months, which backdated to the day of his arrest makes him eligible for release in June, and the court heard he would likely then be deported, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Pardeep’s lawyer Ikbal Khan told the court his client should be spared a full-time custodial sentence as he acted on the direction of another man who advised him to open a business account to help him receive a bank loan, and said Pardeep then “turned a blind eye” when the money started coming in.
But the court heard Pardeep had photos of himself posing for selfies with gold bullion he bought with the stolen funds and photos of bank statements, and the prosecutor said the alleged mastermind had been investigated by police and found “not to be involved”.
The court heard Pardeep managed to gain the details of a man who had hired a Sydney real estate law firm while looking for a home to purchase in October 2024, and registered a nearly identical domain name.
He then sent the victim an email from an address that resembled the one belonging to the principal of the law firm and with an identical signature, and communicated with the victim for several weeks.
During the same time period he registered a company with a similar name, created a Westpac bank account linked to the business, made himself owner and director, and on November 13 convinced the victim to transfer $209,000 for the house purchase, which included stamp duty.
The victim realised he had been scammed a week later during a phone call with the lawyer, and the court heard the realisation left him mentally and financially distressed, and that he has only recovered $900.
When police traced the company to Pardeep he told officers it was a transport business but admitted having no customers, and he was caught on CCTV buying the gold bullion, the court heard.
Magistrate Andrew Miller ordered Pardeep to repay the maximum allowed in local court of $100,000, and said in sentencing the scammer “knew exactly what he was doing” and “failed to take responsibility” for his crimes.
“White-collar fraud is pervasive in the community; it is becoming ever more 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.”
Header image: Liverpool Local Court (NSW Courts).
