A Cranbourne fraudster jailed over a $1.2 million scam targeting Telstra and several big banks has had his appeal dismissed.
Samir Mustum, 52, was appealing a six-year and five-month jail term imposed by the Victorian County Court in 2023 over dozens of fraud charges involving false ID and documents.
His term included a non-parole period of four-and-a-half years.
On appeal, Mustum proposed the original judge had erred by rejecting evidence he was diagnosed with an intellectual disability – namely a mid-60s IQ.
County Court judge Liz Gaynor had rejected the diagnosis, noting Mustum’s “sophisticated” offending and recruiting of associates to create false documents.
“Indeed, it was noted by (the neuropsychologist) in his report that the results could not really be relied upon because he felt that you were not giving of your best – in other words, malingering, Mr Mustum, and I do not accept the findings.”
On 4 June, the Victorian Court of Appeal refused Mustum leave to appeal on this ground.
Justices Kristen Walker and Terry Forrest stated he was “not only serially dishonest, but is also likely a malingerer”.
“The applicant’s modus operandi is not that of an unsophisticated rudimentary thinker functioning below 99 per cent of the population.”
Mustum also proposed he was denied procedural fairness after the original judge had stated she was thinking of a less severe five-year jail term with a three-year non-parole period.
The Court of Appeal granted leave for appeal on this ground, but ultimately dismissed the appeal due to the judge’s “tentative view” not constraining defence counsel in “any meaningful way”.
Over three years, Mustum had pleaded guilty to targeting Telstra, ANZ, Westpac, Citi Group, NAB, Bank of Melbourne and Latitude Financial Services in 67 transactions and pocketing $1.265 million in goods and credit.
He had used false driver’s licenses, payslips, Medicare cards and bank statements to obtain loans under names of other people who were unaware of the transactions.
Occasionally he used others to visit the bank to verify the false papers.
More than $1.12 million was yet to be recovered at the time of the original sentencing in September 2023.
Mustum was also charged over using his wife to attempt to simultaneously scam a $607,500 home loan from two different lending companies.
In 2023, Judge Gaynor said Mustum – a gambling addict – was an “entrenched and remorseless offender” who had continued to offend from jail and to offend in “ever increasing amounts and at an ever increasing magnitude”.
