Cruise passenger a 'mule' for crime group

Queensland woman Wendy Baulch had already enjoyed a luxury cruise from Florida and planned to spend the next month travelling in style to southeast Asia.

Now the 52-year-old's round-the-world holiday is over after she was ordered to remain on the Gold Coast to face allegations she was a mule for an online crime syndicate.

Police investigations reveal Baulch, of Maryborough, allegedly received more than $93,000 in her bank account in January.

Detectives from the state's high-tech crime unit suspect the money was fraudulently obtained from a NSW pharmacy company by computer hackers based in South Africa, using an email phishing scam.

The company thought it was repaying a debt to a third party, but the money was banked straight into Baulch's account.

Police believe she was a money mule who was supposed to forward the cash to others in the syndicate and retain a percentage.

However, within days of receiving the payment, Baulch had flown to Florida in the United States, where she boarded a ship to Sydney, departing from Miami on January 10.

By the time the vessel docked in Sydney Harbour on Tuesday, Baulch had already allegedly booked a second cruise, to Myanmar (Burma).

However, by then, authorities had cottoned on to the alleged scam and officers were waiting when the ship docked.

Baulch was charged with fraud and computer hacking and extradited to Queensland on Wednesday.

She appeared in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Friday, where duty lawyer Howard Posner said it was alleged his client was a minor player in a larger organisation.

"The proposition is that she was a small cog in a large machine and a mule, but that she dipped her fingers into that till more than she should have done," Mr Posner said.

"It's not that she spent her ill-gotten gains; it's that she stole from the thieves."

Magistrate Wendy Cull said while the allegations were serious, Baulch's offending seemed "somewhat naive" given how easily it was detected.

She was granted bail on condition Baulch surrender her passport, remain at a nominated address on the Gold Coast and report weekly to police.

The case was adjourned to March 16.