Dennis Su was arrested in Rockdale in October and pleaded guilty the following month to two charges of using equipment connected to a network to commit a serious offence,being blackmail,carrying a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment.
Dennis Su leaves court after he was sentenced on Tuesday.AAP
Su texted nearly 100 Optus customers demanding they transfer $2000 to a CBA bank account,which belonged to a young relative,“or face their personal information being used for financial crimes”,according to the agreed facts.
No money was transferred,but one person responded with an emoji. Su returned to the data-sharing website and gathered more information about the victim to “prove his credibility”.
The victim of his text scam responded:“The police have your details,and I have nothing you can gain so good luck.”
Optus was the subject of a massive data breach in September when anonymous hackers stole the personal information of thousands of customers. Su was not accused of involvement in that hack.
Su’s barrister Ian Archibald described it as an “unfortunate sequence of events”,starting with his client being at home with too much time on his hands.
He said,“it began with a news report about the Optus data leak” and Su’s “curiosity” led him to a site with the leaked information.
Archibald described the scheme as “amateurish” and “doomed to fail”,and said that the then-teenager had been hoping to make a few thousand dollars.
“That was the level of his aspiration,” he submitted.
Anonymous hackers stole the personal information of thousands of Optus customers.AP
The court heard it took Su about half an hour for the details of each individual to be downloaded.
Prosecutor Julia Detheridge submitted Su had “spent a considerable amount of time dedicated to this scheme”.
Su deleted the text messages before his arrest on October 6.
“When the consequences start to come to light,he’s panicked,” magistrate Emma Manea said on Tuesday. “But,as we know,digital information ... remains traceable.”
The prosecutor said Su made “opportunistic use” of the Optus hack data “to blackmail those individuals whose data had been leaked”,and argued that the threshold for imprisonment was crossed,but did not submit for that to be full-time imprisonment.
The magistrate said she was “very close” to sharing the view the threshold had been crossed.
Manea convicted Su on both counts and imposed two 18-month community corrections orders,to be of good behaviour and each carrying 50 hours of community service. Su received a discount for his early plea and has no prior criminal record.
“A conviction is somewhat crushing for a person of your age in terms of your future employment opportunities,” she said to Su. “However,in my view,it is a matter that warrants conviction.”
The magistrate said the lack of sophistication in the offending – using his own number and his relative’s bank account rather than an offshore account – reflected “his youth and immaturity”.
“He was going to be caught,” she said.
Manea said a message needed to be sent that these types of crimes are unacceptable,given their impact on numerous people “by pressing one button,so to speak”,in a modern world where people are reliant on passwords and information held within their devices.
The court heard Su had been unemployed and studying for a bachelor of science after receiving an ATAR of 85 in 2020,but took the second semester of 2022 off due to health issues,being heart palpitations.
His mother and father,a waitress and chef respectively,were in court to support him on Tuesday.
Su’s barrister told the court his client had “deep remorse” and had brought deep shame to his family.
The magistrate said:“It is regretful that the strong work ethic of his family has not quite sunk into him because he admits that he was after quick money.”
Outside court,Su said he was “sorry” to his victims.
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