Kevin Too pleads guilty to obtaining property by deception in elaborate Facebook scam
A man drawn into an elaborate, international Facebook Marketplace scam that left victims thousands of dollars out of pocket has told a court he “suspected it was a scam”.
South East
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A Kenyan man has told a court he “didn’t believe he was part of the deception” after being caught up in an intricate Facebook Marketplace scam, which left victims thousands of dollars out of the pocket.
Kevin Too, 23, pleaded guilty in Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court on July 7 to two charges of obtaining property by deception, after assisting an old school friend to scam two Australians out of more than $2000.
Too told police he had been contacted by a friend from Kenya, asking him for access to an Australian bank account.
In messages read out in court, a man named Alex Roth contacted Too via WhatsApp, after years of no contact.
“He asked to use my account to transfer money into,” Too said.
“He said I could keep 20 per cent of the money he transferred in and out.”
Too said the proposal seemed “dodgy”, but accepted Roth’s offer.
The court heard the first victim had seen an ad for a tandem trailer on the popular social media platform in May last year, and inquired about purchasing it.
An agreement was made and the victim transferred $2000 to the believed owner of the trailer.
As arranged, the victim went to pick up the trailer from an address in Mornington, but found nobody there.
The court heard the victim requested the money to be returned, but it never was.
The victim then reported the theft to the police.
Through their investigations, the police found the ANZ bank account the victim had transferred money into belonged to Too.
The court heard the second victim from WA saw a similar listing on Marketplace, this time a tandem trailer and a couch were listed for sale.
Again, the victim and thief reached an agreement of $2000.
The first $1000 was transferred with an understanding that the second instalment would come later.
The victim transferred the second $1000 later that day before attending the given address.
The court heard the second victim also arrived at an empty property and contacted the police to report the theft.
A similar investigation again linked police to Too’s ANZ bank account.
In court on Friday, Too told the court most of the money had been transferred overseas to his accomplice, but that he wanted to give the money back to the victims.
The court heard in his interview with police, Too had provided all the messages between himself and Roth and had admitted to suspecting the money was from a scam.
Magistrate Stephen Lee said it would “significantly mitigate” the sentence if Too was to pay back the victims.
“I would take the view that if the victims are recompensed this would be a significantly mitigating factor,” he said.
“I’m taking into account your age, the fact that all your family is overseas and that you’re willing to make full restitution.”
Mr Lee put Too onto an adjourned undertaking, giving him 10 months to pay back the victims of the scams.
“I’ve heard your plea and acknowledge you’re a young man before the court for the first time. I want to focus on your rehabilitation,” he said.
“I want you to repay the victims, and if you do, I can assure you that you’ll get a much better outcome from court.”
Too will return to court in May next year.
gemma.scerri@news.com.au
