The 20-year-old man who tried to scam money from customers affected by the Optus data breach has avoided a jail sentence after attempting to defraud $2,000 from customers impacted by the September data breach at Optus.
Dennis Su, who was 19 years old at the time, admitted guilt in November for two charges of utilising network-connected equipment to commit a serious crime.
Using the details from a leak of 10,200 customer records available online, Mr Su confessed to sending messages to 92 Optus customers demanding $2,000 and warning that failure to pay would result in the use of that information for further financial crimes.
The data breach costs $140 million for Optus, and as a result, the government has increased funding for the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
Mr Su told police he downloaded personal information from a website that shared breached Optus data, telling police he was having a difficult time being unemployed and wanted to make some “quick money”.
Crown prosecutor Emma Manea, agreed the scam was relatively unsophisticated but deliberate.
Mr Su, was sentenced to an 18-month community corrections order leaving some people outraged with the judgment.
