Phone shop worker who tried to download woman's nudes wants to be security guard

By Jeremy Wilkinson, Open Justice multimedia journalist

A mobile repair shop employee outed on social media after attempting to download a customer’s nude photographs wants to be a security guard.

The man, who has interim suppression, was confronted earlier this year in a viral TikTok video by a woman who had taken her phone to Mobile Planet in Auckland’s Sylvia Park shopping centre for repairs.

However, after getting the iPhone back she had a notification saying an AirDrop transfer had failed on a nude photograph she had taken of herself stored in the device’s camera roll.

AirDrop is a service where Apple devices can wirelessly transfer photos, videos or documents to each other.

The woman then confronted the store manager, while her friend filmed the interaction, and the worker stood by.

In the video, the woman’s friend described what occurred as “an invasion of privacy and absolutely unethical behaviour”.

“She got her phone back and realised someone had tried to airdrop her nudes to one of their phones,” the woman claimed.

“[This] is such an invasion of privacy.”

The person filming the incident claims the manager went through the employee’s phone to make sure the photos were not there but refused to show proof.

The staff member then appears to faint, falling to the ground.

Since that incident, NZME can reveal the man has been charged with accessing a computer system for dishonest purposes and pleaded guilty in court earlier this year. He is set to be sentenced in February.

The employee was immediately suspended by Mobile Planet following the incident while the company investigated.

“We take such matters very seriously and are dedicated to upholding the highest standards of conduct within our organisation,” a spokesperson for Mobile Planet said at the time.

“Our management team is currently cooperating with the relevant authorities to thoroughly investigate the alleged misconduct.”

Mobile Planet did not respond to further questions.

A recent ruling from the Private Security Personnel Licensing Authority notes the employee was also in the process of applying for his Certificate of Approval, which is a licence granted to security workers and requires a police check.

Police opposed the man being granted a certificate because of the criminal charges he’s still facing before the courts.

“[The man]’s alleged offending occurred while he was working as a repairer at an electronic repair store,” authority head Trish McConnell said in her decision.

“While repairing a phone he wrongfully accessed intimate and private photographs from the phone and attempted to airdrop them to his own phone.

“While [the man] was not working in private security at the time, his actions were not only illegal but breached his obligations as an employee.”

McConnell said that because the man had breached his responsibilities and obligations in one employment context it was likely he could also fail in his obligations while working in private security.

Because of this, McConnell declined his application. It’s unclear from the ruling whether the man applied for his certificate before or after being charged.

The man declined to comment for this article.