A Sydney man will spend six months in jail for fraudulently obtaining $31,000 as part of a crime network his lawyer said had received inside information from banks.
Ernesto Rainbow, 47, of Auburn in Sydney's west, on Thursday pleaded guilty in the Brisbane District Court to a string of fraud-related offences.
They included four counts of improperly using an Australian travel document - an offence carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail - as well as four counts of fraud and four of attempted fraud.
The court was told Rainbow was arrested by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) in Brisbane on August 24 last year, ending his three-month crime spree.
He had been using Australian passports bearing his photograph but the names of other people, and other forms of identification to bank false cheques and subsequently make large withdrawals from Westpac and the National Bank of Australia.
He also tried to purchase US currency at Travelex counters using credit cards belonging to other people.
Rainbow told police he was initially approached by a man at a Parramatta hotel who told him of a "way to make money".
He was then put in touch with another man and given money to buy airline tickets to Brisbane where they met.
Rainbow was given false passports and drivers' licenses, along with instructions on how to bank false cheques and withdraw amounts of money using the identification materials.
He was paid 10 per cent of the money he obtained.
The court heard Rainbow was responsible for $31,000 in losses and tried to obtain a further $24,000.
His defence lawyer Brad Farr said his client was "clearly not the instigator in these offences" and that a number of people were involved in the scam.
"It would appear that inside information had come from these financial institutions themselves," Mr Farr told the court.
He also indicated the matter was being further investigated by police, with at least one other person charged.
Mr Farr also said his client hadn't worked for about three months and "was short of some cash" when first approached in the hotel.
Judge Nicholas Samios imposed a two-year sentence, suspended after six months.