A serial fraudster who lured would-be pet owners with a literal catfishing scheme will spend at least three years behind bars.
Tran Trung Hieu Nguyen, 38, left a trail of devastation after trawling through Facebook groups and online marketplaces advertising car parts, computer components and rare exotic fish worth thousands of dollars.
He pleaded guilty to masterminding the schemes, which also involved stealing multiple people's identities, in April.
In one incident, Nguyen baited an unsuspecting customer with an offer of 10 catfish, advertised on online pet shop Petlink in November 2022, court documents seen by AAP show.
The user swallowed it hook, line and sinker, transferring Nguyen $1200 for the prized fish, which didn't exist.
A little more than a month later, on Christmas Eve 2022, another budding fish owner was duped out of $8500 after buying two batches of leopard frog plecos along with a set of super long red fish, both dazzlingly colourful tropical species.
That victim sensed something fishy after noticing the colourful specimens were still being advertised on Petlink a week after he had purchased them, and reported Nguyen to police.
Earlier that year, the 38-year-old netted a Facebook user after they expressed interest in buying live rare fish on a page called Pleco Planet.
The user transferred Nguyen $3900 before the swindler went deep and began fending off calls and messages.
On Tuesday in Sydney's Bankstown Local Court, Nguyen was sentenced to five years' imprisonment.
"The planning was significant, the objective criminality was significant," Judge Glenn Walsh said as he pored over the weighty rap sheet.
Nguyen will be eligible for parole on Christmas Day 2029.
Dialling into court from custody, his eyes were downcast as he listened to his sentence.
Sitting in a small, bare box in his prison greens, he gave the impression of being trapped in a fishbowl himself.
Nguyen was ordered to reimburse his victims with more than $33,000, including sums for the fictitious fish.
