Couple caught with blank credit cards, documents, used in scams

Wodonga officers raided Natasha Lee Harper's home on Melrose Drive on March 19 last year.

Harper shared the home with her partner, Ben Kennedy, with officers finding a huge stash of bank cards, stolen identity items, machines to make fake credit cards and receipts.

Books and diaries had personal information used to make false Openpay and Zip Pay accounts, which Harper said she had used for six months.

She would load up accounts or gift cards with money, which was then used to buy items, including from Bunnings.

Those tools and items were sold or traded for ice, a small amount of which was found during the raid with steroids and weapons.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Harper told police the scam had netted $5000 to $10,000.

Lawyer Marcel White told the Wodonga Magistrates Court Kennedy was the "brains behind the operation and the prime mover".

"Methamphetamine animates all of this offending," he said, and noted it continued to be a problem.

Kennedy had been jailed over his offending.

The raid came 12 days after stolen plates from nearby OzCar were found on a blue Mercedes at their home.

Harper also tested positive to meth after being caught driving on December 10, 2020.

"It's a one way ticket to the cells or the cemetery, in the end," magistrate Peter Dunn said of ice.

"These credit card type frauds, people suddenly get the debt collectors knocking on their door for things they know nothing about.

"It becomes really difficult for the individual to separate themselves from these debts that are made in their names.

"They're often in multiple different places, and I think it just creates a massive or a very large issue for the person in whose name the debt is created."

Harper must perform 120 hours of unpaid work or counselling and was banned from driving for one year.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: