Taxi boss accused of running an illegal e-tag syndicate

The owner of a taxi company has been arrested over allegations that he ran a $2.2 million e-tag fraud that involved using dodgy credit cards to finance the devices.

A 37-year-old man was charged with 204 fraud-related offenses, and two drivers were also detained, making a total of 67 fraud-related offenses.

The three, arrested in the Sydney suburbs of Smithfield, Blacktown and Punchbowl, are accused of distributing 870 fake tags over five years, most of which were sold to taxi drivers.

Authorities said more arrests are likely as police track down more alleged syndicate members.

Financial Crimes Squad detectives began investigating the alleged e-tag network in January following allegations that the company was selling toll collection devices linked to fraudulent payment methods, including shoddy credit cards sourced from the dark web.

The syndicate bought about 10,000 compromised identities and banking details associated with the tags, paying about $150,000 for the information, police say.

Searches of the property led to the seizure of 74 e-tags, $25,000 in cash and a 2019 Mercedes AMG, along with toll notices and electronic devices.

Police say a batch of fake e-tags arrived at the Granville property during the search.

Financial Crimes Squad Commander Gordon Arbinja said police were holding those behind the fraud accountable.

“This is about standing up for the honest people of New South Wales who pay their road tolls from their own funds,” he said on Wednesday.

“This investigation and the consortium itself were actually quite simple… the company purchased legitimate electronic tolls from two vendors and was funded by fraudulent credit funds.”

In addition to the fraud charges, the alleged ringleader was arrested in Smithfield and charged with leading a criminal group and dealing with the proceeds of crime.

A 38-year-old man was arrested in Blacktown and charged with 32 fraud-related offences, including conspiracy to deal in the proceeds of crime and participating in a criminal group.

A 28-year-old man was detained in Punchbowl and charged with committing 35 counts of fraud and participating in a criminal group.

All three men were refused bail, with two due to appear in court on Wednesday and the third to appear in court on Tuesday.

Following the arrests, police carried out an operation at the taxi marshalling yard at Sydney Airport on Tuesday.

As part of the investigation, officers spoke to 200 taxi drivers and confiscated 12 e-tags believed to be part of the fraudulent scheme.

“Some taxi drivers don’t even know they have these tags, which have been infected with fake credit card details,” said Superintendent Arbinja.

“The majority did the right thing… if you suspect you have one of these e-tags with credit cards on them that do not belong to a toll operator, be sure to report to the police.”