Toll link to fraud By MARK BUTTLER 25jan02 TWO men had the credit card and personal details of an estimated 12,000 CityLink customers when they were arrested, a court heard yesterday. Geelong Magistrates' Court was told the Colac men used the credit card information from the tollway operator to fund a major spending spree. Interstate flights from the liquidated Ansett airline and electronic and computer equipment from other companies were allegedly bought with the stolen details. Det-Sgt John Gibson, of Footscray CIU, told the court police expected to lay at least 50 charges over $60,000 in frauds against Michael Wilcox, 21, and Benjamin Oberhauser, 24. The men were arrested on Wednesday at Colac, in the state's southwest. Police allegedly seized a CD-ROM containing 243 pages of credit card and personal details downloaded from CityLink's mainframe computer. Mr Wilcox and Mr Oberhauser were remanded in custody over existing warrants issued for failing to appear in court to answer other charges related to alleged frauds committed over the Internet. They will appear again in Geelong Magistrates' Court next Tuesday. A Transurban spokeswoman said last night the tollway operator had not been told of the alleged breach of its computer system. "At no stage have the police contacted Transurban and raised this matter with us," the spokeswoman said. "We will be seeking urgent discussions with the police to establish what is alleged to have happened." The spokeswoman said Transurban's computer system had "state-of-the-art security measures to prevent anybody gaining access to private information".
