Mohammed Allouche: ‘Greedy’ Coburg thief cons Facebook, Gumtree users
A “greedy” Coburg thief stole tens of thousands of dollars worth of jewellery and designer clothes from Melburnians in a year long crime spree using Facebook and Gumtree. Here’s how he did it.
West
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A prolific thief with a taste for designer goods conned Melburnians into handing over tens of thousands of dollars worth of luxury items during a year-long crime spree.
Mohammed Allouche, 21, of Coburg, was nabbed by police after scores of cheated vendors on Gumtree, Carousell and Facebook Marketplace told police he ripped them off.
Leading Senior Constable Jasmine Hill told Broadmeadows Magistrates’ Court on Monday Allouche was on bail when he targeted people online between June last year and this year.
His modus operandi often involved showing his victims screenshots of bank transactions purporting to display money being deposited into their account.
But the deposit date was often set for the following day, meaning Allouche could cancel the transaction after he’d made off with the goods including Rolex watches, a Luis Vuitton bag, a Gucci scarf and belt, Balenciaga shoes, Christian Louboutin and Yeezy shoes, a Cartier ring, designer clothes and iPhones.
Allouche’s lawyer told the court her client was trying to provide for his family, which was struggling financially following his father’s long jail stint.
But Magistrate Martin Grinberg said he had a difficult time accepting Allouche’s motivation to offend was in any way noble.
“I see it as greed,” Mr Grinberg said.
“The offending, and the nature of the offending, and the frequency of the offending, the deception of the offending, it appears Mr Allouche doesn’t care about a thing.
“If a person has an expensive handbag or piece of jewellery, it doesn’t mean they’re rich … they may need to convert it into money for their own services.”
Allouche pleaded guilt to a raft of charges including obtain property by deception and bail breaches.
Mr Grinberg adjourned the matter for sentencing on Friday.
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