Possessing Equipment to Generate Identification Information

Possessing Equipment to Generate Identification Information is an offence under section 192L of the Crimes Act 1900, which carries a maximum penalty of 3 years in prison.

To establish the offence, the prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubt that:

2. You possessed any equipment, material or other thing capable of making a document or other thing which contains identification information, and
3. You intended to use that information to commit or facilitate an indictable offence.

‘Identification information’ is that which relates to another person, whether dead or alive, real or fictitious, that is capable of being used to identify a person, whether by itself or in conjunction with other information.

It includes:

1. A name, address, date or place of birth, marital status, relative’s identity
2. A driver licence or driver licence number
3. A passport or passport number
4. A voice print or biometric data
5. A credit or debit card, its number or data stored or encrypted on it
6. A financial account number, user name or password
7. A digital signature
8. Any series of numbers and/or letters intended for use as personal information, or
9. An ABN.

An ‘indictable offence’ is one that can be referred to a higher court such as the district court. This generally applies to offences that carry a maximum penalty of more than 2 years in prison and includes fraud, embezzlement, money laundering, larceny and most computer offences.