Queensland Woman Charged Over 1,150 Demerit Points as Black Market Thrives

• ABC’s 7.30 investigation links a Queensland trade in demerit points to a woman arrested in Woodridge who police allege had 1,266 infringements, 1,150 points and more than $600,000 in fines moved into her name.
• Queensland Government says a false nomination is a criminal offence that can bring a police investigation, fines and imprisonment.
• A Queensland registered owner can move a camera fine to the person who was driving at no cost, but only within 28 days of the issue date.

What Paying Someone to Take Your Points Really Costs

Police have charged a 27-year-old Woodridge woman with one count of fraud over a social media trade in demerit points. Detectives allege she ran it for “at least four years”, and she is accused of having 1,266 infringements moved onto her record, carrying 1,150 points and more than $600,000 in fines. Twelve points in three years puts a Queensland open licence holder on notice to choose between a suspension and a good driving behaviour period, so the alleged tally is nearly 96 times that limit. She is on remand and expected in Brisbane Magistrates’ Court later in November.

Queensland’s Transfer a fine page tells a driver who was behind the wheel: “You must not submit a false nomination. It’s a criminal offence. It can result in a police investigation, fines and imprisonment.” That driver’s lawful option is to pay the fine.

“Once someone knowingly provides false information to transfer an infringement, they risk committing a criminal offence,” lawyer Kristy Bell said. “It doesn’t matter whether they’re the person paying someone to take the points or the person selling that service.” She added: “Both can face serious criminal charges, including an actual term of imprisonment.”

The offers sit in plain view. Facebook groups advertise point-clearing for a fee, and most sellers shift the chat to WhatsApp. Every caller a reporter spoke to promised no risk, and that promise was wrong. One claimed to be a middleman and gave a testimonial, saying “he’s pretty good at what he does” and “he got me out of a fine”. Another pitch ran: “Send us your fine and we nominate it and happy days, mate. You don’t have to worry about losing your licence or whatever.”

The prices in that investigation came from a New South Wales style process, not a Queensland one. One seller quoted “$50 a point plus the fine amount after the nomination is completed.” and described a confirmation email and an app from Service NSW. A website copying Service NSW’s colours offered to clear a $434 fine and 3 points for $550 in total, or $500 the same day. Another seller, told the buyer was in Queensland, said only that he could help and named no price.

Take the $434 fine with 3 points. At $50 a point the total is $584, which is $150 over the fine. The $550 offer is $116 over, just under $39 a point, and the $500 offer is $66 over, or $22 a point. A woman approached by a reporter posing as someone with points to shift quoted: “If it’s under five points, it’s $80 a point, over five points, $50 each,” she said. At $80, three points come to $240. Asked how she could obtain the points, she said “I’ll transfer the fines to myself” and described needing to “take responsibility for the fine and clear it from the services app”. Her state is not given. Whatever the price, the buyer is exposed to prosecution.

Three Queensland Cases Show Where It Ends

Officers from Queensland Police’s Financial and Cyber Crime Group allege the woman profited “from drivers seeking to avoid licence suspensions”. “Many of those allegedly using these services should have had their licences suspended but were instead able to continue driving on our roads,” Detective Superintendent Craig McGrath said after the arrest.

Bin Zhang is a customer who was caught. A camera in Brisbane’s Clem7 tunnel caught him speeding in February 2016, for a $235 fine and three points. He paid a man to put false driver details on the notice and signed the declaration, then repeated the process 19 times over six years. By the end of 2022 he had dodged $5,798 in fines and 55 points. A Queensland District Court judgement named a “principal offender” behind the operation and said hundreds of drivers used it. From 2012 to 2022 it lodged 1,400 false nominations that saved customers more than $420,000. Zhang was sentenced in February 2024 to four months’ jail, suspended in full for a year, plus a six month driving ban. His appeals failed.

Nicholas John Anforth ran the other side of the trade. At 23 he took an alias, advertised on Facebook and charged the fine plus $100 for each point. He did not pay the fines. Some points went onto his own licence, but on around 144 occasions he put them on three men who knew nothing about it. Those men were nominated for $93,000 in fines between them, and the scheme came apart in 2024 when one found he owed $20,000. Anforth had pocketed more than $100,000, and police counted 695 falsely nominated points. He pleaded guilty to fraud and four other charges, and Beenleigh District Court jailed him for three years in June.

Why the System Allegedly Missed 1,266 Transfers

Two agencies run the demerit system: the Queensland Revenue Office (QRO) and Transport and Main Roads (TMR). Neither answered how one driver could allegedly pile up so many points over so long unnoticed. A government spokesperson replied for both: “When fraud offences are detected, they are dealt with by the full force of the law.” Asked whether the system is fit to catch schemes like these, the agencies again used the spokesperson. “The Department of Transport and Main Roads and the Queensland Revenue Office work closely with the Queensland Police Service to identify, assess and respond to suspected fraud,” the spokesperson said.

Griffith University cybersecurity expert David Tuffley said a government system that “can’t see a pattern that obvious” has no detection controls in place. “It’s five transfers a week, every week for four years, and allegedly all onto one licence,” he said. “Banks put more scrutiny on a $200 card purchase than Queensland apparently applies to 1,200 demerit transfers.” He added: “Most loopholes are tricky to find and exploit. Not this one.”

Fraud “lives in the gaps” between the agencies, he said. “Transport, Revenue and Police can each truthfully say they did their job, and that’s the problem,” he said. “Someone needs to take responsibility for the whole thing.” He wants an urgent audit: “Run the query, take a deep breath, and find out just how big this is,” he said. “Any such future scams should be caught at the fifth transfer, not the 1,200th.”

“We no longer have the guarantee that the drivers around you are allowed to be there,” Mr Tuffley said. “Once points can be bought, a safety measure becomes a paid transaction and only people who can afford it can keep driving.” He closed with: “The fix has to be in the government system.”

“I’m just astounded that this can go on for as long as it went on without there being some sort of mechanism of figuring out that … the one person is getting so many fines,” Judge Dzenita Balic said at Anforth’s sentencing. Crown prosecutor Paul Kay told the court “you would’ve thought there’d be flags come up” and said the scheme itself “seems to be a fairly easy thing to do”. He went on: “It strikes at the heart of the administration of justice and of the licensing scheme within Queensland — that you then have a number of people driving around on licences that potentially should have been suspended for traffic offending.”

Queensland Police would not say whether Anforth’s customers were investigated or whether any safeguard followed his case. QRO and TMR gave no reply on efforts to find motorists tied to big false nomination schemes. Officers have reportedly raised the issue with government agencies several times and are frustrated by a lack of change. That was the position on 8 November.

How to Move a Fine Lawfully and Check Your Record

The transfer service is free, but it applies only when someone else was driving. It handles camera-detected offences only: red light, speeding, mobile phone, seatbelt, driving unregistered, driving uninsured and dangerous goods in tunnels. It covers situations such as a friend driving your car, you driving someone else’s car, a car sold before the offence, a car stolen before the offence (which needs a police crime report number and a theft report to Transport and Main Roads), a company representative acting for the business, and a fine you move onto yourself. A paid fine cannot move.

The clock is 28 days from the issue date on the notice. Miss it and the State Penalties Enforcement Registry (SPER) can chase the person named on the fine, with extra referral fees, and the points land on that person’s record. Moving a fine onto yourself has a longer window of 12 months. Processing takes 14 days, and the person nominated then has 28 days to pay a fresh fine. If you cannot tell who was driving, lodge an infringement enquiry. If you were the driver, pay.

A driver heading for a suspension has a lawful path too. On a Queensland open licence, 12 or more points in three years brings a notice to choose between a suspension and a one year good driving behaviour period. Suspensions run three months for 12 to 15 points, four months for 16 to 19 and five months for 20 or more. Two or more points in the good behaviour year double the suspension. A court can grant a special hardship order allowing restricted driving where a suspension would cause extreme hardship. Queensland Government’s open licence page was last updated on 19 December 2023.

Check your own record. Queensland Government runs an online service showing your points balance and the offences behind it. Anforth’s three victims knew nothing until one found $20,000 in fines, so compare your balance with the offences you remember. The Queensland pages checked here set out no process for a fine placed on you by someone else’s false nomination. Queensland Government’s general line is 13 QGOV (13 74 68). In Britain, cloned number plates send fines for cars you did not drive to innocent keepers, and that guide sets out the steps a victim takes.

What Happens Next

The Woodridge allegations are untested until the Brisbane court hears them. Mr Tuffley wants an audit of how many transfers slipped through, and as of 8 November the agencies had not said whether any change is planned.

New South Wales offers a comparison. “Buying or selling demerit points is a criminal offence under both the NSW Road Transport Act 2013 and the Crimes Act 1900,” said Avinash Singh, principal lawyer at Astor Legal. He said fraud under section 192E of the Crimes Act can carry up to 10 years in prison and a false statutory declaration up to five, and warned that messages and payments can be traced and used as evidence. Those are New South Wales penalties, and the Queensland Government pages checked here give none for Queensland.

Mobile phone and seatbelt offences sit on Queensland’s transferable list, and Victoria sets its own amounts for the same camera offences, as Victoria’s phone and seatbelt camera penalties show. If a camera fine lands on you, check who was driving, move it within 28 days if it was someone else, and pay it if it was you.

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Reviewed by Preetam Gadekar