January 2nd 2024.
Amanda Brochu was stunned to get an alert on her Ring doorbell app showing a bulldozer taking away the concrete of her driveway on the outskirts of Orlando, Florida. She had just put her house on the market and had an offer accepted on another property, which was to be her ‘forever’ home.
When she returned home, all that was left was a muddy track. She told local news station WSVN: ‘I come home and my driveway is gone.’ It’s thought she was a victim of a scam, but no one’s exactly sure what the scam is.
However, it’s known that unsolicited contractors had come to measure her driveway a week before the incident. Ms Brochu said she confronted one of them who claimed a man named Andre had hired them to find out how much it would cost to replace the driveway. The contractor showed her text messages from Andre with the request, which included her home address.
He said he asked to meet up with Andre, but Andre told him he was out of town, before cutting off contact when the contractor asked for proof he owned the house. Ms Brochu reported all this to police and officers spoke to the contractors. After the cops spoke to them, they called Ms Brochu back and said that Andre had made a mistake and that ‘nothing else will happen again.’
Unfortunately, a week later her driveway was removed. She was told it would cost $10,000 to replace, money she didn’t have. Fearing she wouldn’t be able to sell her house and buy her new ‘forever’ home, she launched a GoFundMe. Fortunately, when the story was reported in the local news, a business owner kindly stepped in and offered to cover the costs. Any money raised via GoFundMe will now go to charity.
Ms Brochu’s estate agent Rocki Sanchez was in ‘utter shock’ when told about the driveway theft. She said: ‘I’ve never seen this before. I’ve never had this happen to myself or anyone in our office.’ However, when she shared the incident on an estate agent Facebook group, several people said they had heard of similar stories. She added: ‘I had multiple people come forward saying that they’ve seen things like this happen — whether it be driveways, roofs, painting, even outside the exterior. So it happens more often than we actually see it.’
Ms Brochu has been told such scams and thefts are more common than people think. She added: ‘The target isn’t just homeowners, but contractors as well, who take on the business not fully doing their due diligence and being taken advantage of in the end by the scammer.’
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