Neophytos Chrisos admitted to defrauded 21 people out of $5000 on Gumtree, Facebook Marketplace

A St George man has admitted to falsely posting ads on Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace but never delivering the whitegoods. Find out the bizarre excuses he gave to buyers.

A man has admitted to ripping off 21 people more than $5000 during a seven-month period, a court has heard.

Neophytos Chrisos, who was living in the St George Area at the time, used the same MO to defraud people of purchases they made from him online.

Chrisos case was heard in Sutherland Local Court last week but he did not appear via audiovisual from jail, rather his lawyer entered pleas of guilty to 21 charges of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception.

Agreed facts tendered to court said Chrisos defrauded 21 buyers on buying and selling websites Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace between October 2020 and May 2021.

Chrisos placed advertisements on the sites which showed photos of fridges, washing machines, dryers and more.

A St George man Neophytos Chrisos has admitted to falsely posting ads on Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace but never delivering the whitegoods.

Once an interested buyer contacted Chrisos, they exchanged phone numbers and would negotiate a price. He would occasionally accept a 50 per cent deposit.

Chrisos would ask for payment upfront prior to delivery, which he would offer and include in the price rather than have the buyer pick it up.

Once payment was received, and the buyer sent confirmation, Chrisos would not deliver the items as arranged.

He would make up excuses, usually that he was in hospital, as to why he did not arrive, then stop communicating with the buyer.

Chrisos would then repost the same advertisement again and again, never delivering the item and refusing to give a refund to buyers despite their repeated attempts.

In total police say he scammed people out of $5270, but police allege not every person reported the fraud.

Chrisos communicated with customers using three mobile phones and had established several bank accounts in his name with multiple banking institutions over the past few years.

He also used different aliases and profiles including Nifty Chris, Tiffany Chris and Neo Chris.

The first offence reported to police was on October 10, 2020 when a man was searching on Gumtree through ads for a fridge when he came across one listed by Chrisos, who was using the seller profile Neo, for $240.

Chrisos spoke to the man on the phone, negotiated the price, which included delivery. The man transferred the money via PayID, sent Chrisos the receipt but he didn’t delivery the fridge.

The man contacted Chrisos 15 times but the calls went unanswered, and he was unable to get his bank to reverse the payment.

In January Chrisos didn’t deliver a fridge to a man after he paid $250, with Chrisos claiming he had a “seizure” and asked him to be “patient with me”.

The buyer searched the profile and found bad reviews about him. He requested a refund, contacting him multiple times but Chrisos didn’t answer.

Court documents said Chrisos had an extensive criminal history with the first charge dating back to 1998. The early charges related to traffic offences before he escalated to fraud offences.

The court documents said Chrisos left Australia, departing from Sydney International Airport on June 1, 2021 to avoid arrest.

Police believed he was in Athens and had outstanding warrants for these and other similar offences.

Detectives spoke to his solicitor who said her client was at the time making his way back to Australia, the documents said.

Chrisos was eventually charged at St George Police Station.

The court heard Chrisos was facing other allegations and the case was adjourned to Sydney Downing Centre on June 10 for sentence.