MELBOURNE: A Malaysian woman, recruited by an international crime syndicate to help steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from Melbourne businesses, has been jailed for at least 21 months.

Julie Lim, 29, was one of a number of "shoppers" paid up to 12% commission for goods they bought using the fraudulent cards, The Age newspaper reported Thursday.

Hundreds of counterfeit credit cards from countries including the US, United Arab Emirates, Germany, Korea, Albania and Yugoslavia were used by the gang in what Melbourne's County Court judge David Parsons described as "a highly sophisticated fraud".

Lim used 65 credit cards during 46 shopping trips to buy goods such as laptops, iPads and cigars from December 2010 to January last year.

The goods were later sold for A$117,634 (RM372,114) and the money transferred to Malaysia.

Lim pleaded guilty on Wednesday to one charge of conspiracy to defraud.

She was jailed for two years and nine months with a non-parole period of 21 months.

Two of Lim's co-accused, Kenny Lim and wife, Sok, were jailed in November last year for their part in the credit card fraud.

Kenny was sentenced to three and a half years' jail with a non-parole period of two and a half years. Sok was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment, with a non-parole period of nine months.

The trio had transferred, in total, more than A$285,000 (RM901,545) to Malaysia from the sale of goods bought using the counterfeit credit cards. - Bernama

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