Hundreds of Illegal Nicknames Seized in Dawn Raids: Mini Golf Hire Melbourne

Mini Golf Hire Melbourne has little, if anything, to do with this story.

Taskforce Elmo detectives raided four eastern suburbs homes today in early morning raids that seized over 300 illegally obtained nicknames and resulted in six arrests.

The haul is the largest of its kind in Australia.

Assistant Commissioner Lance Davies praised the work of the taskforce.

“Today’s arrests are the result of a six month joint investigation with Federal Police. We have discovered and disrupted a sophisticated syndicate with international links who have been creating and installing nicknames for customers by various methods.

Users have either been paying to have fake background stories confirmed by syndicate members posing as old friends or in some extreme cases have been paying for the syndicate to stage real time scenarios which in most cases result in the user acquiring a nickname of their choice. They are a very organised group of individuals with a very high success rate of achieving the desired nickname for their customers.”

The group will face over 300 counts of ‘Procure Nickname by Deception’ as well as ‘Conspiracy to Obtain False Nickname’.

Commissioner Davies emphasised the difficulty Police face in getting witnesses for the prosecution.

“We are finding a reluctance in customers of the syndicate to cooperate with the investigation. These people have been enjoying the privileges that come with a great nickname. Not only do they face almost certainly losing their great nickname, but they are pretty much guaranteed of getting a very negative nickname once they have been exposed. There are some very high profile and professional people that have been using this service. We are talking athletes, judges, politicians and even journalists”

The six will face court later this month.

 

Chris ‘Thunder Fist’ North