Defence lawyers for Paul Baker, 36, and Nathan Joseph, 31, submitted the pair should receive a community corrections order at the County Court of Victoria on Thursday.

Baker's defence lawyer Andrew Madden said the couple's 'planned' and 'repetitive' offending was committed to support their drug and gambling addictions.

He said a significant amount of the $60,000 the couple gained was churned through poker machines and the majority was used to fuel their drug addiction.

The court heard almost $95,000 of the money Baker and Joseph attempted to steal was recovered by financial institutions.

During an initial plea hearing in August, crown prosecutor Peter Pickering said Baker and Joseph used bitcoin to purchase the personal data of people on the dark web.

They fraudulently used the data to access the victim's bank accounts and set up new fraudulent accounts and transfer money.

The couple pleaded guilty to 17 charges relating to the offending between October 2018 and July 2019.

Baker is charged with blackmail for sending one victim an email threatening to reveal personal secrets and ruin his career if he didn't stop cancelling the new cards he had fraudulently applied for.

Judge Damian Murphy said Baker's record of interview revealed he had purchased around 400 identities on the dark web but only had success in using about 10.

"It is like a phantom burglary in that each of those people have suddenly found their identity had been stolen," he said.

"It makes it serious, leaving aside the monetary matters."

The court heard Baker and Joseph were using drugs throughout the period of their offending while living together at Baker's mother's house in Ballarat.

Mr Madden said Baker had anxiety, problem gambling and substance addiction disorders.

He told the court Baker expressed remorse and now felt 'terrible' about his offending, however he said at the time it was 'so impersonal online'.

"He had a willful blindness to the effect on the victims," Mr Madden said.

Joseph's defence barrister Zoran Petric said his client's disadvantaged background was a relevant consideration in sentencing.

Joseph's father was murdered when he was a child and he was primarily raised by his grandparents and aunt and experienced difficulties as a young gay Aboriginal man.

He said Joseph had been using drugs since he was 17, but his ice dependency peaked while in a relationship with Baker since 2018.

The court heard the offending began eight-months into their relationship.

Mr Petric said Baker had the technical knowledge to commit the offending but Joseph sat by the whole time and learnt how to complete the transactions.

Both lawyers submitted Baker and Joseph were unlikely to reoffend, had pleaded guilty early, made full admissions to the police and could undergo appropriate punishment and rehabilitation on a community corrections order.

Judge Murphy said he viewed the offending as 'calculated' and not related to 'impulse control' as it took place over the period of almost a year.

He said their use of ice did not cloud their mental function to purchase personal data, establish accounts, shuffle money around and when the banks stopped them they would try again.

"The addiction might explain it but it doesn't modify their culpability as I see it," Judge Murphy said.

In prosecution submissions, Mr Pickering said Joseph and Baker should be treated individually as Baker faced an additional blackmail charge and had a prior criminal history, while Joseph has no prior criminal convictions and a disadvantaged background.

He said general deterrence should be a significant factor in sentencing as the offending was an 'attack on the electronic banking system and people's confidence in it'.

Mr Pickering said there was a lack of evidence provided to the court about the links between drug addiction, gambling, Joseph's disadvantaged background and the offending.

He submitted Baker and Joseph should both be sentenced to a term of imprisonment with a non-parole period.

Baker and Joseph remain on bail and have not served any time in prison.

They will both be assessed for a community corrections order before returning for sentencing in October.

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