Mum faked bank transactions to buy TV, phone off social media

A Toowoomba mum used a “unsophisticated” method to rip-off victims selling electronics on social media. She also stole a fridge.

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PROOF that the long arm of the law will go to great lengths to catch an offender was on show in the Toowoomba Magistrates Court yesterday when a woman was ordered to pay her victims three years after she ripped them off.

The court heard Lee-Anne Cheryl-Lee Miller, 33, used “unsophisticated” methods to scam four victims as far back as 2018.

Police prosecutor Chris Willson said Miller and her then-partner signed a private lease for a Kearneys Spring rental in November 2018.

He said Miller showed the landlord a screenshot of a bank transfer for her bond and rent, before calling her bank to rescind the payment.

Unsurprisingly, the landlord evicted the couple and in the process of moving they took a fridge, valued at $833.

The court heard the fridge was taken by mistake by a removalist, but little effort was made to right the wrong.

Two fraud charges relate to Miller agreeing to purchase a $450 television from a private seller on Gumtree and a $600 laptop from a private seller on Facebook Marketplace.

One both occasions, screenshots were sent confirming a bank transfer, only for Miller to later cancel the payments after she had received the items.

The final fraud involved Miller taking an $850 payment for a phone from Facebook Marketplace but then refusing to post the phone to the buyer.

For the defence, solicitor Brad Skuse said Millar had been in a toxic relationship at time, that led to the fraud.

As proof he pointed to her lack of offending before the relationship and after it ended.

For pleading guilty to four counts of fraud, one count of stealing and two lesser offences, Magistrate Kay Ryan fined Miller $1500 and ordered she pay $2733 in restitution.

Originally published as Mum faked bank transactions to buy TV, phone off social media