Tas Police lay more charges over Aurora net bill

By Ry Crozier on May 4, 2011 2:16 PM
Filed under Telco/ISP

Why the SIM card wasn't cancelled.

Tasmania Police have laid charges against two other people over a Telstra SIM card that was stolen from an Aurora Energy smart meter and used to run up a huge internet bill.

A Tasmania Police spokesman told iTnews that a man had been charged in relation to the theft of the SIM card.

The card was used by 33-year-old Kylie Maree Monks to run up a $193,000 internet bill. She was jailed yesterday and ordered to repay the money to Aurora.

The man's case was currently in the hands of the state's director of public prosecution.

Tasmania Police have also charged a third person following its investigation, although court proceedings against that person were yet to commence.

The revelation came as new technical details emerged from the Tasmanian Supreme Court sentencing judge on how the SIM card was removed.

It appeared a breakdown in communication allowed the SIM card to remain active after the meter was taken out of service.

"In Tasmania, businesses may chose to use an electricity provider other than Aurora. If a business wishes to change from Aurora, they need to have a technician replace the Aurora meter with one issued by their new provider. The meter removed however remains the property of Aurora," Justice Shan Tennent said in sentencing remarks.

"On 3 November 2009, a business at Eastlands decided to change their provider from Aurora to a provider known as Metering Dynamics. A technician from that firm came in and changed the meter over and the Aurora meter was returned as required to an entity engaged by Aurora.

"The meter contained a SIM card issued by Telstra to Aurora. When the meter was returned, Aurora should have been notified and the SIM card cancelled. That did not happen."

Aurora said yesterday it had locked off affected SIM cards that were fitted in trial smart meters.

Tas Police lay more charges over Aurora net bill

3 comments in this discussion

"How would that repayment agreement look: @$100 per month it would take more than 160 years to repay. I doubt anyone "borrowing" a sim card for accessing the internet would have $300 per month ..."

By BigAussie

Tags

tasmania, police, charges, aurora, energy, internet, bill, smart, meter, trial

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Comments: 3

GregA May 5, 2011 2:30 PM	I presume these SIMs are on a VERY low usage plan - they probably send a short burst of information once a day (perhaps they even use an SMS?). As such - the data charges on these sims would be huge. Telstra PAYG is $2/MB - meaning the $200k fine was for about 100GB. Telstra's data rates on high usage 12GB plans are closer to 0.5c/MB, but once 12GB is reached it's 5c/MB. My point - I'm just wondering what exactly did they steal? Would the crime be looked at differently if she'd used $500 worth of data (ie: .5c/MB), instead of $200,000? A customer accidentally over spending usually is recognised by Telstra and given a huge reduction in charges, has the Energy company even tried for that? Not justifying their theft in any way, just wondering what scale it should be considered at. Telstra is a BIG winner in this of course.
Ezy2Confuze May 5, 2011 3:27 PM	What I don't understand about these types of cases, is how the money is repaid by the guilty party. Is it up to Aurora to come to an repayment agreement with the woman involved?
BigAussie May 5, 2011 4:00 PM	How would that repayment agreement look: @$100 per month it would take more than 160 years to repay. I doubt anyone "borrowing" a sim card for accessing the internet would have $300 per month to spare; to bring the repayment period down to 53 years. Telstra (like all Telcos) needs to be hauled over the coals for not having in place some flagging process for unusual account behaviour. Just like the banks do; in case of fraud. Obviously a lot of YouTube or movie downloading going on :p