A man who used New Zealand's RealMe identity verification service as part of serious fraud offending has been sentenced to nine years and eight months in prison.
Hayden Gobey was sentenced in Wellington District Court on Friday, according to RNZ and New Zealand Police.
The offending involved the dishonest use of personal information, forgery and impersonation, with victims losing thousands of dollars.
Police described the offending as sophisticated and deliberately deceptive. They said the consequences extended beyond the immediate financial losses, damaging victims' confidence in people, organisations and services.
Detective Inspector Stuart Mills acknowledged the assistance victims had provided during the investigation and the financial pressure they had experienced.
Police have not detailed in the supplied statements exactly how each victim's information was obtained or the full sequence of fraudulent transactions.
Concerns about digital identity
RealMe is an identity verification service used in New Zealand, and the case has raised concerns about the misuse of digital identity systems.
Department of Internal Affairs investigations identity manager Mireille Johnson said impersonation and the abuse of identity verification services could undermine trust in those systems.
She said the department took the security and integrity of RealMe seriously and worked with New Zealand Police and domestic and international partners to detect and respond to this type of offending.
Johnson welcomed the sentence, saying it demonstrated that people who abused identity systems could be held accountable.
The available reports establish that RealMe was misused as part of the offending. They do not, however, establish that the service itself suffered a technical security breach.
Nor do they provide evidence that any particular ethnic or migrant community was disproportionately affected.
What to do if personal details are misused
The case is a reminder that identity-related fraud can involve more than the loss of money. Personal information may also be used to impersonate individuals when dealing with organisations and digital services.
For households managing banking and other important accounts online, unexpected transactions or suspicious activity involving personal information should be treated seriously.
New Zealand Police have provided two specific steps for people who believe they have been victims of fraudulent activity.
They advise contacting the affected bank and reporting the matter to Police through the 105 reporting service.
The statements do not say how many people were affected by Gobey's offending or whether all victims have recovered their losses.
The sentence brings the criminal proceedings described in the reports to a conclusion, while the case illustrates the potential financial and personal consequences of identity fraud.
