Accomplice in large scale fraud sentenced

An Auckland man has followed his brother to prison for his part in a sophisticated, large-scale fraud against Inland Revenue.

Andrew Shipton (also known as Adrian Ngwun) pleaded guilty to 4 charges of receiving over $1,000 and 13 charges of using a forged document. He was sentenced to three years imprisonment when he appeared in the Manukau District Court on 3 November. 

On 14 July 2026, his brother Nicholas Ngwun, was sentenced to 5 ½ years’ imprisonment for his role in the same offending.

District Court Judge Yelavich noted Nicholas Ngwun was the “ringleader of this fraud” who brought his brother Andrew Shipton into the fold.  

She acknowledged that Ngwun’s offending was more serious as he had control over at least 33 myIR accounts and tried to get more than $2 million covering an array of tax and COVID fraud.

Ngwun had purchased personal and credit card information on dark web marketplaces and used that information to make fraudulent claims for COVID support applications, GST and income tax returns.

Shipton’s offending

Shipton’s face was on some of the fake licences his brother created. In order to set up and verify the bank accounts in the names of other people, Shipton would visit a bank and pose as those people. 

He presented the bank with fake drivers’ licences, fake community services cards, and various fake utilities and service letters as proof of address – all the documents produced by Ngwun.

Shipton did this 5 times between February and May 2023. He then made various bank and ATM withdrawals to get cash his brother had fraudulently applied for, withdrawing $28,000 in total. 

At the time, Shipton was either on electronically monitored bail or on home detention in relation to separate offending. CCTV footage, cell phone data and Corrections monitoring data helped place him at the banks.

The sentence

Judge Yelavich started with a three-year prison sentence then three months for other offending, and a further five months for offending while on home detention and on bail. 

She also gave discounts for the guilty plea and his efforts at rehabilitation while in custody.

That took her Honour back to an end sentence of three years’ imprisonment.

Rising popularity of AI

Using AI and other digital tools to forge and manipulate documents is becoming more common.

Inland Revenue’s Information Security leader, Jay Harris, says “Ngwun and Shipton’s offending is evidence of that and represents the new frontier of digital offending”.

“As shown in these two cases, Inland Revenue can detect this fraud and will act. 

“People shouldn’t assume they can go on undetected. Inland Revenue has access to a wide range of information and works with other organisations to identify fraud and hold those responsible to account.

“Inland Revenue will not hesitate to take action against fraudsters like Ngwun and Shipton.”

COVID prosecutions

Inland Revenue has already prosecuted another 21 people for fraud involving the Small Business Cashflow Loan Scheme, the Covid Support Payment and Resurgence Support Payment.

13 further cases are progressing through the court system, and investigations are on-going around other COVID-19 support fraud cases.