Popular mummy blogger Constance Hall claims she lost all her savings after falling victim to a vicious real estate scam.
The 38-year-old from Western Australiasaid she unknowingly sent thousands of dollars to “hackers” after getting approved for a rental home.
Constance posted a long ‘online cry’ about the cruel scam to facebook on Wednesday, saying it was officially “the worst school holiday ever.”
The mother of seven explained that she wanted to leave her mother’s house and had applied for a lease with a six-month lease.
Popular mummy blogger Constance Hall (pictured) has claimed to have been the victim of an elaborate real estate scam that caused her to lose all of her hard-earned savings
Constance posted a lengthy “online cry” about the vicious scam on Facebook on Wednesday, saying it was officially “the worst school holiday ever” (pictured, four of her seven children
After applying for numerous homes and not getting any bites, the entrepreneur decided to look at the properties that had been on the list the longest.
“And there it was, a beautiful house with a pool and garden and four furnished bedrooms available for only four months, perfect,” wrote Constance.
“Normally I would never spend that much on rent, but I felt like we all needed a break, and I could afford it. It just meant I couldn’t save while I was there.”
She contacted an estate agent in Nedlands, Perth, and was taken on a tour of the house last Tuesday, after which she submitted an online application.
On Wednesday afternoon, the single mother received an email stating that she had been approved and that she had to transfer the money for the security deposit and four weeks’ rent.
‘It was a lot of money. I was clearing my savings account and some of last week’s pay, which is a big hit for the school holidays, but I was thinking about how excited the kids will be when I tell them, it will be like a holiday in itself, ‘ she wrote .
“So I paid it, sent the transfer right away and told them asap it was going to be awesome and announced it to the kids who were so excited.”
Constance (pictured) posted a lengthy “online cry” about the vicious scam on Facebook on Wednesday, saying it was officially “the worst school holiday ever”
The mother-of-seven (pictured) explained that she wanted to move out of her mother’s house and had applied for housing benefit with a six-month lease
However, on Friday morning, Constance received a call from the agent saying that the agency had been hacked.
“The last two emails I received in the same email thread weren’t really theirs, they were hackers,” she told her followers.
“The bank account details weren’t really theirs and the house was never approved.”
Perth’s mother said she felt “stupid” and kicked herself for letting it happen.
“But I’m a businesswoman, I often pay large amounts internationally, I’m handy with scams and don’t pay anything that doesn’t come from a known contact with a credible email history, so no, I’m not stupid,” she said.
She said this could have happened to “literally anyone desperate for a rental home.”
Constance said both her bank and the brokerage firm had told her there was little they could do to get her savings back.
Her bank said that due to the nature of the scam and because it was an authorized transaction, the chances of getting her money back were slim.
However, on Friday morning, Constance’s dreams were shattered when she received a call from the cop saying the agency had been hacked.
“The police told me to make an online cyber-report but warned that they probably wouldn’t get the money back,” the mother wrote.
“The broker claimed they couldn’t do anything but assured me their emails were safe again.”
From her savings, her bank’s fraud department was only able to recover $7.57 — forcing the mother of seven to return to square one.
Constance said the scam had ruined her kids’ free time because “mother is bankrupt,” but said she was luckier than most and tried to be thankful.
“But saving has never been easy for me, and I was so proud of that money and felt like I was finally doing something that showed how well I’ve done despite all the setbacks,” she wrote.
The single mother urged others looking to rent a home or deposit a down payment on the house to call the real estate agency before transferring funds.
“Even if you’ve already communicated in the exact same email thread, it wouldn’t hurt to call them and make sure they still are,” she concluded the post.
From her savings, her bank’s fraud department was only able to recover $7.57 — forcing the mother of seven to return to square one.
The mummy blogger received a lot of support in the reactions to the post, which was liked by more than 17,000 people.
She thanked her followers for starting a GoFundMe, but said the gestures of kindness would “go further for yourself or those in need.”
Some said the agency was partially responsible for a woman who suggested that her personal information was not sufficiently secured.
“That’s shocking, given that you had already been in contact with the agent and the timeline of the hack was perfectly tailored to your circumstances,” wrote another.
‘Looks like the property should be insured for something like that?!’
Scamwatch revealed that Australians have lost $295 million to scams as early as 2022, with 105,153 reports filed.