Photo:Go Fund Me
Go Fund Me
A Florida homeowner is speaking out after she says her driveway was torn up without her knowledge while she was out of town.
Amanda Brochu, who had recently put her Orange County home on the market, came back from a trip to find “only dirt” in the place of where her driveway once was. Now, she’s telling PEOPLE that others should watch out for the scam, which she says is actually more widespread than most homeowners think.
“It’s called an overpayment scam and is intended for the contractors,” Brochu tells PEOPLE about her experience, in which someone unknown to her gave authorization for a contractor to tear up her driveway. “In this case, the contractors didn’t verify who the owner of the house was and took my driveway out.”
Brochu detailed the unfortunate sequence of events on aGoFundMeshe launched to help raise money to cover the costs of replacing the driveway.
“This, of course is impossible since I am the homeowner and never needed a new driveway," she continued. “While I was preparing to head out of town for my birthday and Christmas with my kids, I received a ring doorbell notification that someone was outside of my house, ripping up my driveway before my eyes.”
After she reported the incident to police, they attempted to call the person named “Andre” who had requested the job, but the man hung up the phone on the cops.
“A deputy made contact with that man, who advised he mistakenly provided the wrong address and would correct it,” the Orange County Sheriff’s Office told PEOPLE in a statement. The sheriff’s office added, “At this time, our Investigations Unit is still trying to determine whether there was a criminal violation.”
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Brochu adds, “They probably realized they got scammed with a fake check and that’s why they just left my driveway as dirt.”
After the incident occurred, Brochu, who was under contract to buy a new home, said on the GoFundMe page she was in need of donations because the cost of replacing the driveway would be “astronomical.”
After calling a company to get an estimate, Brochu learned it would cost $10,000 — money she didn’t have.
But a local company later offered to install a new driveway at no cost to Brochu, who tells PEOPLE she will now donate all of the money she raised to an Orlando-area nonprofit that helps unhoused people who have disabilities.
And now, she is passing along some words of wisdom about her experience. “If anyone is going through this while selling their house make sure you notify police, get any details you can and let your neighbors know to be on the lookout for you,” Brochu says.
source: people.com
