Most of the documents belonged to victims in South Africa, some who were Australian citizens, police said.
Investigators were tipped off in October 2021, when an Indonesian business lost more than $100,000 in an email scam.
Konneh was charged with several offences, including possessing a false foreign travel document, while Diakada was charged with two counts of dealing in proceeds of a crime worth $100,000 or more, in addition to possessing false documents, and dishonestly dealing in personal financial information.
Konneh’s matter was heard in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Friday, where she was granted bail with strict conditions, including reporting to police twice a week, not using the internet except for certain circumstances, and not leaving Queensland.
The Commonwealth prosecution told the court Konneh’s alleged crimes were “sophisticated offending”, which carried a maximum 10-year jail term.
Diakada was also granted bail, provided she surrendered her passport to police, and complied with similar bail conditions to Konneh.
A Melbourne man and Adelaide man were arrested and charged over their alleged involvement, which police said included laundering fraud proceeds, and operating as a cybercrime syndicate with links to South Africa.
Chris Goldsmid, from the AFP, said cybercrime was increasing at an alarming rate.
He said Australians reported losses of more than $98 million to email scams in the past year, with an average loss of $64,000 for each reported incident.
Source: brisbanetimes.com.au
