Australian outsmarts a crafty online con artist – after wanting to buy a fuchsia dress

A true-crime enthusiast has beaten a “cheeky” con artist who tried to cheat her out of $300 with the bogus offer of a sold-out fuchsia dress she was desperately hunting.

Dani Kelly, 46, posted a desperate plea for the dress on a designer buying, swapping and selling social media site last April, which was spotted by the crafty con artist who then tried to scam her with an edited photo.

Ms. Kelly had scoured the internet for her ballgown-style dream outfit for an extravagant wedding she was going to attend in a Scottish castle.

The fraudster tried to lure her in with a series of friendly messages and the reduced $300 price tag for the $850 dress, but Ms. Kelly soon smelled a rat.

She started digging into the seller’s profile after learning tricks to expose online hoaxers from the reality TV show Catfish – and soon learned it was a scam.

But the fake seller kept trying, even forging a handwritten note to try and prove she had the dress, while urging Ms. Kelly to complete the sale.

So Mrs. Kelly asked for another photo of the dress to which Sarah sent one showing the dress next to a handwritten note that she believes was manipulated (photo, the photo amidst the schmoozy text messages)

The scammer sent her two images of the dress and even tried to make Ms. Kelly trust her more by asking her about the Scottish wedding

“When I realized she was lying, I said to myself, ‘Not today, Satan, not today,'” Ms Kelly told the The Sydney Morning Herald.

“I was absolutely furious that she had tried to trick me.”

The scam started when Ms. Kelly took to social media to tell people she was on the hunt for a fitted bodice and puff sleeve demo dress from Australian fashion label Aje.

Her request was then immediately picked up by a user named Sarah Wren who said, “I’m selling a size 14. I’ve PM’d you x.”

Sarah then offered to give the dress to her for $300 – well below the going price of $850 – which set alarm bells ringing for Ms. Kelly.

“She just comes out of nowhere, I thought, ‘This can’t be true,'” Ms. Kelly said.

‘It seemed too good to be true. But then there’s always that part of you that says, “What if I’m about to miss the deal of the century?”

But Ms. Kelly’s penchant for true crime and the Catfish TV series – which explores fake online personas – fueled a desire to get to the bottom of what exactly this Sarah was doing.

The scammer sent her two images of the dress and even tried to get Ms. Kelly to trust her more by asking her about the Scottish wedding.

“Lucky you in Scotland, I’ve never been there, that’s a great dress choice for a wedding,” the scammer wrote in one of the lovely messages.

It all started when Ms. Kelly (pictured) took to social media to tell people she was looking for a demo dress with a fitted bodice and puff sleeves from Australian fashion label Aje

‘How amazing! And how lucky you are to go to Scotland. Haha very jealous x.

‘It’s like coming out of the cinema, you’re going to look great… at least you [will] have your dress now, how exciting!’

But after Ms. Kelly did a reverse image search through Google, she discovered that Sarah’s social media profile pictures were stock photos.

One came from a Western Australian tourism website, the other came from an advertisement for the Aperol drink.

She also found the images of the dresses that the fraudster had sent her on another website posted by a real seller.

Also, the scammer did not want the money to be paid via PayPal – but via a transfer to a bank account under the name of Alana.

So Mrs. Kelly asked for another photo of the dress to which Sarah sent one showing the dress next to a handwritten note.

It read “Sarah, April 10, 2023” and a hand was pressed against the pink dress – there was also a name of a clothing rental company on the note.

Ms. Kelly called the ‘One Wear Evening Hire’ company scrawled on the note and found that the fraudster had asked the company for the photo of the dress.

But it wasn’t long before the amateur detective discovered the image of the dress and the hand with a note was photoshopped.

She said the “brutality” of it all was appalling.

Ms. Kelly accused Sarah of being a scammer before she was blocked, but not before the scammer sent a heart emoji.

She then posted her findings online: “Please DO NOT TRUST Sarah Wren…please do not send this person any money.”

“I just don’t want people to get scammed and I can’t keep track of all the comments she makes on posts. I believe she used several other fake profiles as well.”

She then received a slew of comments from others claiming to have been cheated out of hundreds of dollars by the same person.

Ms Kelly accused Sarah of being a scammer before she was blocked, but not before the scammer sent a heart emoji

But after Ms. Kelly did a reverse image search through Google, she discovered that Sarah’s social media profile photos were stock photos (pictured, one of the images under Sarah Wren’s name)

One of the scammer’s profile photos was from a Western Australian tourism website, while the other was from an ad for the Aperol drink

Stephen Kho, a cybersecurity expert at Avast, said Australia is in the middle of a “scamdemic” – with extensive online deception rapidly increasing on social media platforms.

There was a 47.9 percent growth in reports of classified and online scams last year, according to data from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

Mr Kho said scammers nurture “10, 20, 50 relationships” at a time to steal money from them – to build trust and emotional bonds.

He added profiles where sellers were located abroad and pressured to transfer money to a bank account, which was a sign that a scammer was at work.

He urged online users to always pay with PayPal, where they can get their money back if something goes wrong.

If the article or service is too good to be true, it probably is, Mr Kho said.