Reservoir: Belinda Fenati allegedly cons Gumtree users out of cash
A Reservoir mum has allegedly been scamming people all over the country by pretending to be selling event tickets and cavoodle puppies. A Magistrate dubbed her alleged actions “morally bereft”.
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A Reservoir mum has allegedly conned people out of more than $16,000 by pretending to sell event tickets and cavoodle puppies.
Belinda Fenati has been accused of repeatedly scamming people across the country over a period of more than a year, targeting people searching for the goods on Gumtree.
The 37-year-old fronted Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, July 23, having been arrested for scamming victims for the third time since June last year.
Fenati was taken into custody the night earlier, accused of conning 10 different people out of money since her home was raided on November 20, when she was charged with other deceptions.
The mum of three young children allegedly used aliases to respond to Gumtree advertisements where people were searching for tickets to events including the Australian Open tennis final, Mardi Gras, and concerts in Queensland and Western Australia.
She would allegedly tell them she had the tickets, getting them to transfer her the agreed price, and would either block all contact with them once receiving the money, or send through false tickets.
The buyers only allegedly found out the tickets were fraudulent when they arrived at the events.
In June, Fenati allegedly responded to two people looking for cavoodle puppies and pretended to be a breeder, texting the people photos of puppies.
She allegedly had them send her deposits for the dogs then cut all contact with them.
Police told the court they believed they would discover many more deceptions that had not been reported when their warrants to go through her multiple bank accounts with four different banks were granted.
When she was interviewed about 12 reported deceptions in November, search warrants on her bank accounts allegedly revealed about 85 transactions over four months which police believed were unreported deceptions totalling $14,188.62.
Police told the court Fenati, who had no criminal history, was allegedly committing the crimes to support her drug habit.
When Fenati applied for bail, her lawyer told the court she was going to plead guilty to the alleged crimes at her next court date.
The lawyer said Fenati’s husband said the family didn’t have any financial concerns, with the offending believed to be the result of poor mental health.
Magistrate Jennifer Tregent said it wasn’t uncommon for methamphetamine use to lead to poor mental health.
Ms Tregent said it was “really quite reprehensible” and “morally so wrong” for Fenati to target families who wanted to buy dogs during this time of desperation, referring to the COVID-19 pandemic, and young people who saved up to go to concerts.
“They’re cruel offences,” Ms Tregent said.
“I think her behaviour is very morally bereft.”
She agreed to grant Fenati bail.
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