Michael Troy Melville (36) appeared before the Dunedin District Court this week where he was jailed for 15 months on five charges of obtaining by deception, possessing methamphetamine and possessing a pipe.
His two co-defendants cannot be named for legal reasons.
Melville was joined by the couple, who flew down from Auckland in March, and they stayed together at a Dunedin motel.
When the room was later searched, dozens of documents were found, containing people’s credit card details and copies of their driver’s licences.
The group’s modus operandi was to use the details to purchase high-value goods, which they would then sell online for cash.
The unwitting victims only realised they had been swindled when they checked their accounts and saw the Dunedin purchases they had never made.
Over a week, Melville and his associates bought power tools, three electric scooters, gift vouchers and paid for their stay at the motel using their victims’ accounts.
On March 16, the ruse was up.
Two of the defendants turned up to Hunting and Fishing on the ill-gotten electric scooters where they tried to redeem a gift card they had earlier bought online.
When staff called police, the men fled.
The next day officers traced the trio to the motel at which they were staying.
Melville opened the door holding a glass meth pipe and 1.5g of the class-A drug was found in his room.
One nail gun and two scooters were recovered.
Police said the other items had been sold after being advertised on Facebook.
Judge Kevin Phillips said the string of rip-offs was premeditated and had "elements of sophistication".
Melville had previous convictions for dishonesty, violence, drugs and sentence breaches, for which he had regularly appeared before the court since the age of 17.
The judge accepted he had "major methamphetamine issues", which were linked to his unstable childhood.
Counsel Steve Turner said Melville was expelled from school at an early age and was living on the streets as a teen.
By 18 he was using meth.
Because Melville had no savings or assets, Judge Phillips opted against making a reparation order against him.
