Police have uncovered a sophisticated identity theft operation north of Brisbane on Saturday, finding a high-quality printer detectives believe was used to forge identity cards.
Members of the Fraud and Cyber Crime Group executed a search warrant at a May Street property in Godwin Beach near Caboolture, where they seized a commercial-grade ID card printer and about 500 blank magnetic ID cards.
Police said they also found a computer, driver's licences, bank cards, Medicare cards, staff ID cards, mobile phones and sim cards for both Queensland and New South Wales. Some of the cards were fakes.
"They were quite high-quality driver's licences, which to the normal person would appear to be legitimate," Detective Sergeant Sarah Boniface said.
Fifteen ID cards were seized, but detectives believed it to be part of a larger operation and expected to find more forged cards.
Sergeant Boniface said police received information from the Department of Transport and Main Roads and Telstra, which led them to the Godwin Beach residence.
Detective Superintendent Terry Lawrence said the forged ID cards, purchased legitimately from a Brisbane company in December 2016, could be used to get money and travel undetected.
He said the cards could be used to commit acts of terrorism and it was "the first time in a long time" police had recovered a printing machine.
Superintendent Lawrence added the discoveries showed individuals needed to be careful who they gave their personal information to and businesses needed to be on the lookout to ensure they were not taken advantage of.
A 30-year-old Godwin Beach man was due to appear in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on February 21, charged with fraud, forging documents and stealing identity information.