Teen told to get into white van in apparent Lovely Banks abduction attempt

A teen was told to “get in the van” as he waited for his Uber in front of a Lovely Banks home. SEE THE VIDEO.

The scene of an apparent abduction attempt in Lovely Banks on Thursday night.

A Lovely Banks home’s CCTV cameras have captured the moment when someone in a white van tried to make a teenager get inside the vehicle in an apparent abduction attempt.

Scott Pugliese was getting ready for bed when his daughter’s boyfriend ran back inside after leaving the house to catch an Uber home.

“A vehicle pulled up just down the road, which he thought was his Uber, so he took a step or two out when this white van zoomed up, slammed on the brakes and one of the people inside said to ‘get in the van’ twice,” Mr Pugliese said.

“He has turned around and took off back inside and as soon as I heard him say what happened alarm bells went off because of what has been happening in Melbourne recently.

“I flew out the front door and by the time I was outside they had already done a U-bolt because we live in a court and floored it out of there.

“They would have ran me over if I got in front of the van.”

The incident happened about 9.30pm on Thursday.

Mr Pugliese said the Uber arrived 30 seconds after the van.

“It all happened in under a minute,” he said.

The scare comes after a recent spate of reported attempted abductions by people driving white vans in Melbourne.

The latest of four incidents took place in Boronia on Tuesday morning, where a 10-year-old boy on his way to school was reportedly approached by a man in a van.

It followed reports of similar incidents in Doncaster, Blackburn and Tullamarine.

Mr Pugliese said the incident had the family dumbfounded and on high alert.

“When you hear it on the news its hard to believe but then when it comes to within 10m of your front door it’s a scary thing,” he said.

“People need to know it is happening here in Geelong, not just in Melbourne.”

Mr Pugliese said he reported the incident to police and had provided them with footage from cameras around his home.
The police were contacted for comment.

Originally published as Teen told to get into white van in apparent Lovely Banks abduction attempt