Aidan Joseph Gray in Gympie Magistrates Court for fraud

A serial fraudster who laid traps on Facebook Marketplace started sending threats when his victims got angry over promised goods that never arrived.

Aidan Joseph Gray was sentenced in Gympie Magistrates Court on October 25, 2022.

An online fraudster scammed people on Facebook Marketplace, going so far as to threaten some of his buyers when their goods weren’t delivered.

Aidan Joseph Gray, 34, pleaded guilty to 10 counts of fraud and two counts of using a carriage service in the form of online messaging to threaten or harass in Gympie Magistrates Court on Tuesday via video link.

Gray scraped together $5020 by advertising non-existent items, particularly jewellery, and giving an empty promise to his buyers he would ship the goods after the money landed in his bank account.

“It erodes the trust in the community,” magistrate Chris Callaghan said.

Gray did not take kindly to some of his victims getting angry at his deceitful online selling.

A foster carer working in the Department of Child Safety made several attempts to call Gray when $410 worth of goods never arrived at his doorstep.

The victim located Gray’s Facebook account and was blocked when he tried to make contact, the court was told.

When Gray unblocked the man, he blew up the victim’s phone with abusive messages, even threatening to post his name on an “online child rapist page” to falsely frame him.

He told the victim “this will go to 20,000 people,” Mr Callaghan told the court.

“That’s worse than disgraceful behaviour,” Mr Callaghan said.

Most of his victims were aged between 60 and 70 and he also harassed a bank worker when she tried to confront him.

He was arrested and taken into custody on August 18, 2022.

Gray’s lawyer Chris Anderson told the court he was driven by meth and not medicated for his mental conditions.

He has little recollection of his own crimes, Mr Anderson said.

Gray held his head in his hands while his sentence was handed down.

Gray will pay the full sum of compensation to his victims thanks to his mother’s support in lending him money, the court heard.

He has previous convictions of minor fraud offences from 2014 and 2016.

Gray was sentenced to 12 months prison to be released on parole on December 17, 2022 with his 69 days in custody declared as time served.