Three families scammed in Xenia St, Pimpama Facebook Marketplace sham listing
Complete with trucks and moving boxes, three families who fell victim to a vile property scam tried to move into their new home on the weekend, as police work to find the heartless swindler.
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Three families and removalist trucks rocked up to their “new home” at the weekend, only to find out they were the victims of a real estate rort sweeping the Coast.
The families had been scammed by a fraudster on Facebook Marketplace, who had falsely advertised a Pimpama property for rent for $500 per week.
The Bulletin last week reported three other would-be renters – including Patricia Pomare – were ripped off $8000 in the same sting.
Emma Snowdon of Wings Real Estate Helensvale, who had properly marketed the Xenia St property through realestate.com.au, said the scam had become “out of control and horrific”.
Several complaints have been made to federal cybercrime watchdog Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC), who have passed on details to both Queensland and New South Wales Police.
Ms Snowdon said she heard from a source an interstate investigation was currently underway in Wollongong, and the scammer’s bank account had been frozen.
Marie-Claire Lord, of Newcastle, said she booked a flight to the Gold Coast to make a formal complaint to Queensland Police, after handing over $2000 to the fraudster last Thursday.
“The scariest part is I nearly handed over six month’s rent in advance – close to $14,000,” Ms Lord said.
“Since it has happened I’ve had the worst anxiety and stress and trouble sleeping.”
Ms Lord told the Bulletin she was a single parent on Centrelink and the $2000 was a “huge financial blow”.
“It might not be a lot of money to lose for some but it felt to me like my dreams were crushed,” she said.
Ms Lord said she was “desperate” to move back to the Gold Coast from Newcastle to be closer to her ex-partner, so he could see their two-year-old son.
She said she started to feel “uneasy” about the fraudster through email exchanges.
“Once she told me she was going to send the keys to the property via overnight courier, I started to become really suspicious. But by that point it was too late,” Ms Lord said.
“I tried to Google her name and that’s when I found out the property was listed on realestate.com.au for a different price. I then found out through Ms Snowdon at Wings Real Estate that I had been scammed, along with others.”
Ms Lord said she “dropped to the floor and started shaking”.
Patricia Pomare last week told The Bulletin she had been left “shattered” by the scam, and had spent her entire savings in a desperate attempt to find a home in the worst Gold Coast rental crisis in living memory.
The fallout was so bad it cost her a relationship with daughter.
It is understood police in both Queensland and New South Wales are investigating the matter.
Real estate scam rorts desperate renters out of $8000. April 28, 2022.
Patricia Pomare bursts into tears.
She is surrounded by boxes, her family is on the brink of homelessness and she has just been scammed $3000 by a fraudster preying on vulnerable families drowning in the worst rental crisis in Gold Coast memory.
The mother of four has days left to find a new home after falling behind on rental repayments during the pandemic and being given a 30-day eviction notice.
“I was knocked back again and again, with a black mark against my name, and just could not secure a rental,” Ms Pomare says.
“There were hundreds of people at every inspection. It all felt too impossible.”
One unsuccessful rental application after another drew her to a Pimpama property for rent on Facebook Marketplace.
When a “landlord” contacted her and told her she was the “ideal tenant”, it seemed “too good to be true”.
But when Ms Pomare discovered the same property listed on realestate.com.au a few days earlier on April 14 – with different details – it sparked concern.
She phoned Emma Snowdon of Wings Real Estate Helensvale, the agency listing the property on Xenia St.
It dawned on her then that she had been scammed. Ms Pomare later learned another person was also caught in the scam.
What ensued was a “painful and stressful” tit-for-tat with the fraudster, who under the alias of Regina Bray, kept ensuring Ms Pomare it was all “legitimate”.
In an email exchange, Ms Pomare pleaded for her money back:
“Wow you just scammed me big time. I knew it was to good to be true. Just got off the phone with the real estate agent for the property and they said you’re a fraud,” she wrote.
“You have taken my savings and thanks to you we are officially HOMELESS. My son has asthma and we are now sleeping in my car ... you have been reported and I’ve handed your bank details to the police station how dare you ... Please send my money back I’m begging.”
The fraudster replied: “Send your bank account. Don’t involve the police. I don’t want to get arrested. I’ll send it back. Please don’t let the police now (sic). I’ll go make the deposit on Monday cuz (sic) I’ve withdrawn the money. I promise to send it back if you don’t involve police. Please!!!”
Ms Pomare, who says she is still shaken over the scam, is still in the process of reporting the fraud to police.
“I just have no words,” she says.
“I can’t even bring myself to finishing the online police report. I’m that scared and shaken over it all.”
To make matters worse, she went in halves with her 24-year-old daughter, and as a result of the scam – she will no longer speak to Ms Pomare and has “vanished”.
“I’ve lost my relationship with my daughter. She won’t speak to me, she’s vanished and I have no idea where she is. I hope she’s okay.
“What this fraudster doesn’t realise is how personal an attack this is.”
Ms Pomare says she wants “the worst to happen” to the fraudster and “they should be put behind bars”.
The real estate agent and senior property manager who marketed the real property has lashed out at the fraudster, calling it a “brazen move to prey on the vulnerable”.
“The lengths this scammer went to brazenly prey on vulnerable renters is unbelievable. It’s no different to targeting the elderly,” Ms Snowdon says.
She says after she made a complaint to Facebook, the post was taken down – and put back up just a day later.
“In my eight years working in the industry, I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Ms Snowdon says while she is “completely aware” how “tough” the Coast’s rental sector is, she wants prospective renters to take caution.
“People are desperate to rent at the moment and will often try to do whatever they can to secure a property.
“But please be careful about what you’re doing and on what platform you are viewing these properties.”
The property manager says a more stringent verification process needs to be implemented on Facebook Marketplace.
The Bulletin has reached out to the second scam victim for comment, who is understood to have lost $3000 as well, but they did not respond.
Another victim was scammed on Thursday for $2000.
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