Adam Meurs: Thief’s $50k online scam to feed gambling habit
Gold rings. Laptops. Drones. Cameras. Skateboards and scooters. Nothing was safe from this pokies-punting prolific Somerville pilferer.
South East
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A stealing scammer fleeced online sellers out of more than $50k worth of jewellery, computers and drones to feed his “pathological” pokies addiction, a court has heard.
Adam Meurs also stole camera gear, electric scooters and skateboards and even shower equipment in a creative con involving fake bank transfer screenshots.
The Somerville 36-year-old ripped off more than 20 Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace sellers in the rort racket spanning over a year.
He was also was nabbed with ice, cannabis, swords, a Taser and a baton, caught with nicked copper piping and stole a purse from a pokies punter.
Meurs pleaded guilty to a tranche of deception, drug and weapons charges at Frankston Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
The court heard he began his thieving in July 2018, ‘buying’ $440 worth of shower gear from a Gumtree seller, showing the man a bank transfer screenshot but not actually transferring the cash.
He stepped up his scamming in December that year, stealing rings and necklaces from seven different online sellers worth more than $23,000.
In 2019 he moved onto laptops, cameras, drones, electrical scooters and skateboards, using the same modus operandi to rob another 15 sellers out of approximately $30,000 worth of goods.
Exact details of the way in which his scam worked were not read out in court.
Meurs was arrested several times and bailed, but repeatedly refused to show up for court until he was picked up on January 29 this year and remanded in custody.
His defence lawyer said he was working up until two years ago, but lost his driving licence and his job.
He said Meurs then became homeless, was couch-surfing around Melbourne and the Latrobe Valley and his gambling spiralled out of control “to a pathological level”.
He said his client was prepared to pay back all the money he had fleeced from his victims.
He said he had already served “a circuit breaker” of 35 days on remand, but accepted he will be given a longer jail term and submitted a community corrections order would also be beneficial.
Magistrate Vicky Prapas said Meurs did indeed face more time behind bars.
“I do intend to impose a period of imprisonment,” Ms Prapas said.
“People can’t trust Gumtree or eBay or the like because of people like him.”
Meurs will be sentenced on March 30.
