Part 5AIdentity theft

Part 5A—Identity theft 144A—Interpretation close relative—a person is a close relative of another if— (a) they are spouses or domestic partners; or (b) one is (whether by blood or marriage) a grandparent, grandchild, parent, child, brother or sister of the other; criminal purpose means the purpose of committing, or facilitating the commission of, an offence; digital signature means encrypted electronic or computer data intended for the exclusive use of a particular person as a means of identifying himself or herself as the sender of an electronic communication; electronic communication means a communication transmitted in the form of electronic or computer data; false identity—a person assumes a false identity if the person pretends to be, or passes himself or herself off as, some other person; The other person may be— (a) living or dead; (b) real or fictional; (c) natural or corporate. personal identification information—a person's personal identification information is information used to identify the person, and includes— (a) in the case of a natural person— (i) information about the person such as his or her name, address or other contact details, date or place of birth, marital status, relatives and so on; (ii) the person's driver's licence or driver's licence number; (iii) the person's passport or passport number; (iv) biometric data relating to the person; (v) the person's voice print; (vi) each of the following: (A) the person's credit or debit card (whether in physical or digital form); (B) the number and card verification code on such a card; (C) any data stored or encrypted on such a card; (vii) any means commonly used by the person to identify himself or herself (including a digital signature); (viii) a series of numbers or letters (or a combination of both) intended for use as a means of personal identification (including, to avoid doubt, a personal identification number (PIN) or other password or passcode); (b) in the case of a body corporate— (i) its name; (ii) its ABN; (iii) the number of any bank account established in the body corporate's name or of any credit card issued to the body corporate; prohibited material means anything (including personal identification information) that enables a person to assume a false identity or to exercise a right of ownership that belongs to someone else to funds, credit, information or any other financial or non‑financial benefit; public identification information means a person's name, address or other contact details, date or place of birth, marital status and relatives; voice print means computer data recording the unique characteristics of a person's voice. 144B—False identity etc (a) assumes a false identity; or (b) falsely pretends— (i) to have particular qualifications; or (ii) to have, or to be entitled to act in, a particular capacity, makes a false pretence to which this section applies. (2) A person who assumes a false identity makes a false pretence to which this section applies even though the person acts with the consent of the person whose identity is falsely assumed. (3) A person who makes a false pretence to which this section applies intending, by doing so, to commit, or facilitate the commission of, a criminal offence is guilty of an offence and liable to the penalty appropriate to an attempt to commit the criminal offence. 144C—Misuse of personal identification information (1) A person who makes use of another person's personal identification information intending, by doing so, to commit, or facilitate the commission of, a criminal offence, is guilty of an offence and liable to the penalty appropriate to an attempt to commit the criminal offence. (2) This section applies irrespective of whether the person whose personal identification information is used— (a) is living or dead; or (b) consents to the use of the personal identification information. 144D—Prohibited material (a) produces prohibited material; or (b) has possession of prohibited material, intending to use the material, or to enable another person to use the material, for a criminal purpose is guilty of an offence. (2) A person who sells (or offers for sale) or gives (or offers to give) prohibited material to another person, knowing that the other person is likely to use the material for a criminal purpose is guilty of an offence. (3) A person who is in possession of equipment for making prohibited material intending to use it to commit an offence against this section is guilty of an offence. 144DA—Possession of personal identification information (1) A person who, without reasonable excuse, has possession of personal identification information of another person (the victim) is guilty of an offence. Maximum penalty: Imprisonment for 2 years. (2) Subsection (1) does not apply if— (a) the victim is a body corporate; or (b) the personal identification information consists only of public identification information. (3) If, in proceedings for an offence against subsection (1), the defendant establishes that— (a) in the ordinary course of a lawful occupation or activity undertaken by the defendant, the defendant has possession of personal information of other people generally or of a class of people to which the victim belongs; or (b) the defendant and the victim are close relatives; or (c) the defendant holds a power of attorney for the victim or is appointed under the Guardianship and Administration Act 1993 as a guardian or administrator in relation to the victim; or (d) the personal identification information only related to 1 person and was readily publicly available, then, despite section 5B, the prosecution will be required to prove that the defendant had possession of the relevant material without reasonable excuse. 144E—Attempt offence excluded A person cannot be convicted of an attempt to commit an offence against this Part. 144F—Application of Part This Part does not apply— (a) to misrepresentation by a person under the age of 18 years for the purpose of— (i) obtaining alcohol, tobacco or any other product or service not lawfully available to persons under the age of 18; or (ii) gaining entry to premises to which access is not ordinarily allowed to persons under the age of 18; or (b) to any thing done by a person under that age to facilitate such a misrepresentation.