WE’RE all a sucker for a bargain but when it comes to online shopping it can be difficult to sort the savings from the scams, as Michelle Brasier well knows.
The Australian comic was left out hundreds of pounds out of pocket after believing she was purchasing a piece of exercise equipment during lockdown.
Speaking exclusively to Fabulous, Michelle says: “I had been desperate to get my hands on a reformer pilates machine during the pandemic.
“So when I spotted one on Facebook Marketplace for a decent price I snapped it up.
“He was a few hours drive from me so I couldn’t check it out but the bloke promised to have it couriered and as he’d had his Facebook profile up for 10 years and I was able to verify all of his information, I envisaged no problems.
“But then he didn’t send it.
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“Weeks went by and it still never showed up, I was promised a refund but that never materialised either.”
While most of us would be quick to phone the police or at least hurl insults at the criminal, Michelle took a rather different approach.
She befriended them.
Michelle, who starred in the Aussie sitcom Aunty Donna, says, “I threatened to call the police and I was shocked to receive a FaceTime call from the crook.
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“When I answered he recognised me from Aunty Donna, it was utterly bizarre.
“We got chatting and he just totally broke down and explained that his life had taken a really difficult turn, he had a chronic gambling addiction and opened up about his mental health struggles.
“I couldn’t help but sympathise, this man had to have been really desperate in order to use Facebook to scam someone and use his real name too.
“So rather than call the police, I decided to get to know him a bit better.”
In the months that followed Michelle got to know her scammer Jacob, more and more with the pair building up a very unusual friendship much to her partner’s horror.
"It got to the stage where every time I spoke to Jacob he told me that he would pay me back the following week."
“I became his friend, and eventually his emergency contact,” Michelle says.
“Throughout this my partner, Tim Lancaster, was urging me to call the police, he wasn’t comfortable with it at all.
“But it's really easy to call the police but what was more valuable to me was finding out who the man behind the scam was and how he got to that point in his life.
“Who knows how much of what he was telling me was true but whatever his reasons he needed someone to talk to.
“It was clear that he had very few people he could rely on so when he asked me to be his emergency contact, I agreed.”
Michelle says that she paid around £250 for the machine and got very little of her money back.
“It got to the stage where every time I spoke to Jacob he told me that he would pay me back the following week,” Michelle says.
“I don’t think he ever really planned to, I think having my money on hold was his way of making our conversation last longer.
“I think in the end I got a grand total of about £30 back.”
Three years on, Michelle is no longer Jacob’s emergency contact although the pair are still in touch.
And while Michelle might have been left out of pocket, the experience has proved to be financially fruitful for the comic.
The comic is retelling her experience in her stage show Reform at Edinburgh Fringe, sharing her experience with her scammer-cum-buddy this summer.
Michelle adds: “Jacob still owes me some money, but I'm selling tickets to a show about him.
“So, am I really that much better than him or am I using him like he used me?”
Michelle says that while she may have lost hundreds, she wouldn’t do anything differently… on the whole.
“I am really proud of the way I responded, I would rather be made a fool of than think the worst of someone,” she admits.
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“Although I don’t think I would give that much time to a stranger again and I certainly would never buy anything from Facebook Marketplace without seeing it first.”
Michelle will perform Reform at Edinburgh Fringe from August 3-27, get your tickets here.
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