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Criminal Poses As Woman In Violent PlayStation 5 Scam To Rob Homeowner

Mark Foster

Published 
| Last updated 

Criminal Poses As Woman In Violent PlayStation 5 Scam To Rob Homeowner

Featured Image Credit: Kamil S / Luis Villasmil via UnSplash

A man accused of attempting to scam an online seller out of eight PlayStation 5s will spend Christmas behind bars after his crimes escalated to kidnapping and robbery, a court in Australia has heard. 

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As reported by WA Today, magistrates have described it as a “horrific, well-planned” attack. Aside from the charges brought against him, the man conducted the robbery armed with a metal rod which he used to threaten a woman after entering the property. There are seven charges in total, ranging from creating fake Facebook profiles for the purposes of scamming, all the way to assault and unlawful imprisonment.

The 29-year-old man from the Keysborough suburb of Melbourne, Australia first attempted to contact the PlayStation 5 seller online while posing as a woman wanting to buy the consoles. It’s worth pointing out that the seller runs an at-home gaming supplies business, hence the large quantity of PS5s on offer. Rightfully, the person selling the machines grew suspicious and ceased contact with the would-be buyer. 

However, this prompted the scammer to create a new profile, who claimed to be another woman wanting to buy a console for her son and arranged to travel to the owner’s house to pick up the machine and make good on the agreement.

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The seller, who wasn’t at the property at the time, asked his sister to attend and handle the transaction, letting the scammer into the garage of the property. Upon gaining entry, the man pulled out the metal rod, took the woman by the arm and forced her into the house saying “I’m going to rob you, I’m going to rob you.”

Once inside, the terrified woman handed over a bag containing AU$26,700 (about £15,000) before the robber fled on foot to his waiting vehicle. Thankfully, CCTV was installed in the garage, and the suspect left fingerprints on the PlayStation 5 he was supposed to pick up. He was later apprehended by police at his family’s property.

Perhaps the most horrifying part of the story is that the assailant chose the victim because they viewed them as an “easy target”. Detective Senior Constable Lauren O’Connor noted that “it was very lucky that the incident on Thursday morning went the way it did, that it went so smoothly because he would’ve taken things further to get that money.”

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Senior Constable O’Connor told the court that the man should not be approved for bail, and that the attack had been “systematically planned” with him “willing to get that money at any cost.” While the man’s defense lawyer recommended a home curfew would be suitable to prevent him from re-offending, Magistrate Ann McGravie disagreed. 

“I haven’t seen a stronger prosecution case at the bail stage as this one is,” she said. ”Not only has [he] made full and frank admissions, and indicated his only reason for going there was because they were an easy target, there’s CCTV of him doing that. I think this is an extremely violent, horrific, well planned and extremely frightening offence against a totally innocent victim who was standing in for her brother to sell a PlayStation to someone. They are so scared they are going to move house.”

The matter is due to return to court on March 17th.

Topics: PlayStation 5

Mark Foster
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