Alice Bessie Barbour of SeaBreeze realty convicted for dishonestly using funds

An elderly Queensland real estate agent who fell victim to a ‘Telstra’ scam in which a program was installed her computer then used money in a company account to pay her bills, a court has heard.

Alice Bessie Barbour was convicted for dishonestly converting more than $200k of her real estate business' trust account. Photo: Fergus Gregg

An 80-year-old woman and former real estate agent made transfers from a trust fund totalling more than $200,000 after a court heard she fell victim to a scam.

But Alice Bessie Barbour paid back almost every cent before the offending even came to light, the court heard.

Barbour, 80, was the victim of a scam in October, 2016 in which the scammer, claiming to work for Telstra, installed a program called TeamViewer on her computer.

He told her that amounts of money would be deposited into her general account and she was to send it to persons in Vietnam.

The court heard she believed this was done to catch another scammer and only later realised the money deposited into her account had come from a Bank of Queensland trust account her business, Seabreeze Realty, held for the management of its client’s properties.

The court heard when Barbour visited a money exchanger they refused to make the transaction, unable to verify the validity of the transfer.

She contacted an associate of hers and handed him an envelope of cash containing $10,000 and asked him to make the transaction.

In total 4 transactions occurred between October 24 and October 28 2016, totalling in $53,000.

Then over a period between November 26, 2016 and June 25, 2019 Barbour made 151 further transfers from the trust totalling more than $200,000.

Alice Bessie Barbour was supported in court by her husband. Photo: Fergus Gregg

The court heard these further transactions were for personal use, living expenses and paying bills, and she repaid money into the account.

Crown Prosecutor Cameron Wilkins said the defendant dishonestly converted $222,479.

District Judge KC Allen said taking money from the account was “a significant breach of trust”.

“The 151 transactions that followed involved you paying debts and regular expenses but dipping into the trust account to do so,” Mr Allen said.

In January 2020 the Office of Fair Trading discovered the offending when Barbour failed to lodge a 2018/2019 audit.

The subsequent investigation found there was a loss of $19,488 owed to Barbour’s clients which was paid out of a statutory claims fund.

There was a shortfall of $5,446 which Barbour’s lawyer, Andrew Owens, said she intended to pay.

The court heard Barbour had no criminal history and did not spend anytime in presentence custody.

Barbour’s real estate licence was suspended and she was retired.

Defence lawyer Andrew Owens said Barbour was, as an elderly person, “vulnerable to scams”.

Mr Allen said he accepted that she was a victim and said the offending began when she convinced another person to transfer $10,000 on her behalf.

“The offending was motivated by an attempt to fill the hole left in the trust account by your transfers of money as a result of being scammed yourself,” Mr Allen said.

“That provides no excuse.”

Barbour, who appeared in court with her husband, pleaded guilty to the charge of licensee or real estate salesperson dishonestly converts amount to licensee or sales persons own or someone else’s use.

She was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for two years with the sentence suspended and ordered to make restitution of $5,446 to the Office of Fair Trade.