Prolific Auckland fraudster Thomas Davies, 38, has been jailed for 26 months after admitting a number of offences. Photo / Getty Images
Prolific Auckland fraudster Thomas Davies, 38, has been jailed for 26 months after admitting a number of offences. Photo / Getty Images
A prolific Auckland fraudster has been jailed after a months-long offending spree that netted more than $100,000.
Thomas Davies, 38, racked up over $110,000 in trade debt under a false identity, including nearly $20,000 in equipment commonly used to operate a clandestine laboratory, from December 2024 to April last year.
In the Auckland District Court on Wednesday, Judge Claire Ryan described the offending as repeated and substantial.
Davies was sentenced to 26 months’ imprisonment after he had earlier pleaded guilty.
The 29 charges he faced included obtaining by deception, causing loss by deception, unlawfully converting a motor vehicle and theft.
“He knows how to walk the walk and talk the talk ... and then he reoffends,” Ryan said.
She described the offending as a spree that kept going until he was caught and it was likely he committed his crimes to feed his drug habits.
‘Even in the darkest of times, he’s shown light’
In a statement by Davies’ partner, read out by Ryan, she encouraged the judge to take into account the work he had put into his rehabilitation.
“Even in the darkest of times, he’s shown light,” his partner said.
In a statement by the offender’s mother, the court heard about his plans to move to Britain for a fresh start after he completed his rehabilitation.
She described her son as “hardworking” and committed to bettering himself.
How did he commit a $110,000 spree?
The victims of Davies’ spree included several business owners and the University of Auckland.
Davies was enrolled as a student at the university in 2024 and was assigned a student email address.
Using that address, he was able to purchase thousands of dollars’ worth of gift vouchers and then used those to buy goods that were charged to the university.
To commit his crimes, he also created a fake driver’s licence using the personal details of an electrical business owner.
Davies was then able to open a Bunnings PowerPass account using the stolen identity of the business owner. He later placed several online orders and bought hardware items in-store under the fraudulent pass.
He continued to make fraudulent purchases under the false identity at several other stores, including PB Tech, Warehouse Stationery and Noel Leeming.
Some of the most expensive items purchased under the fake business account included a drone and a laptop valued at more than $3000.
Stash acquired during his crime spree included electrical goods, lab equipment, gift vouchers and stationery.
Davies also stole petrol and, using a fake driver’s licence, took a vehicle for a test drive and never returned it.
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