Thomas Perillo scammed would-be pet owners: Heidelberg Magistrates Court

A year 12 student who scammed would-be pet owners of more than $270,000 has been told he was greedy and naive.

Thomas Perillo, 20, posed as a pet seller during the Covid-19 lockdowns, when lonely people were turning to pets for companionship.

A year 12 student who scammed $270,000 off people on social media by promising them a pet has been told he was greedy and naive.

Thomas Perillo, 20, posed as a pet seller during the Covid-19 lockdowns, when lonely people were turning to pets for companionship.

Perillo, then 18-years-old, was completing his final year of school from home due to lockdowns.

There the “first-time offender” became a “mule and facilitator” for the larger scam, his defence lawyers told the Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court during his guilty plea.

Perillo received about $27,000 — or about 10 per cent of the total earnings — from the online scam.

He was also charged with possessing small amounts of cannabis and meth.

In his sentencing, Magistrate John O’Callaghan admonished Perillo, saying the community was “sick to death” of online scams and Perillo had broken their trust.

“They are like the new armed robbery … it’s easier for a crook and fraudster to hop onto the computer and prey on people for their hard-earned money,” he said.

“Ordinary people who think they are dealing with an honest organisation and suddenly the money’s gone, the pet is gone, if it existed, and trust is gone. I don’t know what’s worse —losing the money, the animal or trust.”

Mr O’Callaghan said the young man had “hurt (people) in the most serious way you can hurt someone, and that’s by ruining their trust”.

“They thought they would have a pet and companion and were looking forward, and instead, they were out of money and felt like idiots,” he said.

“That feeling, in your young age, you probably can’t fully appreciate just how significant the feeling of stupidity and the lack of trust can have on people.”

Mr O’Callaghan said letters of support from Perillo’s friends and family — who took up two rows supporting him in the courtroom — were the “best array” he had seen.

“The non-conviction is a massive concession by the police, and they didn’t have to do it,” Mr O’Callaghan said in his sentencing remarks.

“Police see something in you that is a good future, but only if this doesn’t happen again.

“I would have sentenced you to three months in jail if you did not plead guilty. You’d hate jail. It would be life-changing.”

Perillo was placed on a two-year community corrections order without conviction and put on a good behaviour bond.