[AUS] Getting cash to hand over your phone and account to scammers

So a friend of my son was convinced to sign up to a three year plan with Optus to get a new iPhone, sell the phone for $800 cash and then - magic would happen - and he wouldn’t be responsible for paying the three year phone plan.

Crazy thing is he did this twice before he realised he was getting scammed. He actually did get the cash, both times, apparently. I guess that’s how we was convinced to do it a second time.

He gave them access to his Optus account, not sure if he was silly enough to also hand over the SIMs.

I’m sure identity theft is already underway. It’s pretty clear he doesn’t yet realise how rooted he is.

Has anybody heard of something like this? It seems unusual for scammers to hand over actual currency.