Edilberto Jr Dequina Billoso: Castle Hill tradie ripped off Beaches’ customers for $11,900
A western Sydney tradie, without a building licence, pocketed more than $11,000 from customers on the northern beaches then didn’t turn up to do the jobs.
Manly
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A dodgy western Sydney tradie who ripped off customers on the northern beaches by taking thousands of dollars in deposits and then not turning up to do the jobs, has been hit with a string of charges.
Edilberto Jr Dequina Billoso didn’t have a licence to do residential building work even though he advertised through social media.
Manly Local Court was told on Wednesday that Billoso, 26, of Castle Hill, used Facebook Marketplace to offer his services to install pool safety fences and windows.
But after taking deposits from six separate victims, he failed to follow through with the work.
Billoso pleaded guilty to six counts of dishonestly obtain financial advantage by deception.
He also pleaded guilty to one count each of contract to do residential building work without a licence and carry on business under unregistered building name.
Billoso did not have a contractors licence as required under the NSW Home Building Act.
The court was also told that a business name registered with ASIC — ED Home Building Services — was cancelled in April 2020.
Another business name used by Billoso, ED Glassworx, had never been registered.
Magistrate Robyn Denes told Billoso that the offences were serious and were “some of the “lowest of the low” matters she has had to deal with.
In a facts sheet tendered to court Northern Beaches Police stated that he had fraudulently obtained a total of $11,920, from six separate customers who had seen his ads on Facebook Marketplace.
The offences took place between December 2021 and November 2022.
In October 2022, he received a $4500 deposit from a victim to install glass at their home.
But when the customer chased him up for not actually doing the job, Billoso told them that he had “experienced a failure in his business and was suffering depression and needed the money to play for other expenses”. He eventually paid back just $1500 of that amount.
In November 2022, Billoso received a deposit of $2300 to install pool fencing, but failed to turn up because he had a “family emergency”, the court heard. He later paid that money back.
Billoso had $1960 transferred to him in April 2022 as a deposit for pool fencing from another victim, without doing the work. He paid the amount back six months later.
The court heard that out of the total of $11,920 obtained by Billoso, $4960 had not been returned to his victims.
His lawyer told the court that Billoso had been suffering financial difficulties during the period of offending.
Magistrate Denes adjourned the matter for sentencing in Manly Local Court on March 27.
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