Epping woman Mirjana Klaromenos avoids jail for Bunnings scam, ATO fraud attempt
An Epping woman who scammed six northern suburbs hardware stores out of thousands of dollars was found out after a company investigator clued on to her crimes. And it wasn’t the first time she’d tried to rip off a big-name organisation.
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An Epping woman who scammed six Bunnings stores out of thousands of dollars and tried to rip off taxpayers almost $3000 in fraudulent GST claims has avoided jail.
From October 2017 to December 2017, Mirjana Klaromenos, 36, who also goes by Mirjana Babic, exchanged $2077 worth of stolen goods into credit vouchers at Bunnings stores in northern Melbourne using forged identification.
Three years earlier Klaromenos, a registered BAS agent, tried to scam the Australian Taxation Office by overstating a GST refund claim for her business Executive Financial Solutions with supporting invoices she knew were fake.
Court documents show the made-up invoices were an attempt to claim a GST refund of $2769 for the September 2013 quarter that she was not entitled to.
Commonwealth prosecutor Iain MacDonald told Broadmeadows Magistrates’ Court on September 25 Klaromenos initially tried to claim a GST refund of $27,690 but when quizzed by a tax office compliance officer she said an employee had “inadvertently included an extra zero”.
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The compliance officer then asked Klaromenos to provide supporting tax invoices to verify the GST claim.
On April 8, 2014, she sent the tax office a $1298 invoice for laptop repairs, a $1500 invoice for online recruitment services, a $1020 invoice for cleaning and a $1238.62 rent receipt which were never issued by the businesses listed.
Klaromenos pleaded guilty to dishonestly attempting to obtain a financial advantage from a Commonwealth entity by deception, five charges of dishonestly obtaining property by deception, four charges of dealing in stolen goods and two charges of fraudulently altering a licence.
The mother-of-two also pleaded guilty to stealing an $8000 motorbike, five drug possession charges, 11 driving offences and two counts of breaching bail.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Jim Currell told the court her scamming spree began on October 2, 2017 when she returned a stolen Kinetic tiled floor grate and various stolen plumbing items at Broadmeadows Bunnings for a credit voucher of $438.33.
Bunnings has a policy that allows customers to return items without a receipt as long as they provide identification.
Sgt Currell said the following day Klaromenos returned two stolen Kinetic tiled floor grates at Epping Bunnings for a $112.30 voucher and on November 24 she exchanged 11 stolen floor grates at Mill Park for a $561.50 voucher, which she used to buy a dishwasher, bamboo screening and an umbrella.
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On December 7 she tried to exchange 10 stolen grates valued at $561.40 at Mill Park but by this stage a company investigator was aware Klaromenos was returning suspected stolen items and advised staff not to accept them.
Klaromenos tried again the following day at Broadmeadows and Coburg but was again unsuccessful.
On December 10 she exchanged eight stolen floor grates at Epping for a $404.24 voucher that she used at Bunnings in Craigieburn and Thomastown before she was arrested on December 22.
Magistrate Rosemary Falla handed Klaromenos a one-month suspended prison sentence on the condition she didn’t reoffend for nine months.
She was convicted and given an 18-month community corrections order with 150 hours community work and regular random drug test.
Ms Falla said without a guilty plea she would have imposed a jail term.
“The extent you’ve gone to deceive this company is significant and may impact on their ability to employ staff and run a business,” she told Klaromenos.
Klaromenos also had her licence disqualified for 12 months.
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