Mark Oliver pleads guilty to invoice scam at the County Court

A property manager with a major gambling addiction swindled more than $320,000 from tenants, tradies and landlords in a 15-month-long scam.

How property manager’s $320k invoice scam was discovered.

A property manager with a major gambling addiction swindled more than $320,000 in a 15-month-long scam by using friends’ bank accounts to issue false and inflated invoices to tenants and landlords.

Mark Oliver, 49, pleaded guilty to obtaining financial advantage by deception, obtaining property by deception and theft at the County Court on Thursday.

In a part-heard hearing, Oliver — a former property manager at Morley Real Estate — admitted to recruiting two friends into a scam to fleece tenants between August 2018 and October 2019.

After suffering mental health issues and being involved in a car collision in November 2019, the Port Melbourne man failed to show up to work and sent his boss a text saying he’d had “enough”.

The text prompted his boss of 22 years to go into his office where he discovered a litany of paperwork spread across the desk revealing the massive con.

After months of internal investigations, the boss reported the scam to the police.

Despite not being involved in the con, the agency footed the bill to repay the scammed money to the victims – tenants, tradies and landlords.

The defence lawyer told the court Oliver’s poor mental health and severe gambling problem — which had seen him put almost $1m into online betting accounts — had left him with a huge debt and led to his orchestrated deception.

The court was told the friends had taken responsibility for their involvement in the con.

Both were given adjourned undertakings in a magistrates’ court, in which they agreed to provide evidence against Oliver if required.

The plea hearing will continue next month.