Hello Lifestyle Australia charity investigated by police over seized Nissan Patrol car raffle

A woman who won a $100,000 car in a raffle before it was taken from her may finally see some justice after an investigation was launched into the company behind the giveaway.

Hairdresser Amelia Conway, from the Victorian town of Colac, took delivery of Hello Lifestyle Australia’s Widebody Y62 Nissan Patrol in July 2022.

But his time to enjoy his dream car didn’t last long, as authorities repossessed the vehicle on February 21 because it was still under financing, despite the company claiming its road expenses had been paid in full.

Victoria Police have since launched an investigation, while the Office for Liquor and Gaming Regulation is conducting one of its own.

Hairdresser Amelia Conway, from the Victorian town of Colac, took delivery of Hello Lifestyle Australia’s Widebody Y62 Nissan Patrol in July 2022

The regulator is investigating the company, which is registered with a bookkeeping business in Bowen Hills in Brisbane, the mail informed.

The development is welcome news for Ms Conway, who was devastated after her car was taken from her.

“Randomly, unknown to me, at 8pm last night, a guy showed up to retrieve the car,” he said.

Ms. Conway had been browsing Facebook when she came across a raffle for a modified Nissan Patrol Y62 widebody worth $100,000.

The gift company, Hello Lifestyle Australia, promised the winner the fully equipped four-wheel drive with all road expenses paid.

Ms Conway said she bought $120 worth of tickets to enter the raffle, with the company promising to give all proceeds to the Red Frogs youth charity.

Then several months later, Amelia was delighted to be announced as the winner in a live stream online.

‘It was really unbelievable, it was crazy. Everybody was freaking out,” she told ABC.

Amelia (pictured with her partner) tried to contact Hello Lifestyle Australia about the Patrol, netting her $1,000 out of pocket, but had trouble finding help.

Hello Lifestyle Australia even flew Amelia and her sister to Queensland from Victoria so they could pick up their new car.

But when she got back home, Amelia had to shell out around $1,000 to get the car road-ready, despite Hello Lifestyle Australia promising it would cover all costs along the way.

One of Amelia’s friends suggested that she do a Personal Property Securities Registry check, as the gain seemed too good to be true.

A $2 search of the Registry of Personal Property Values ​​allows consumers to verify if money is still owed on their possessions.

When Amelia finished the check, she found that the vehicle still had money on it.

“I thought maybe they had paid it off, and it took a little bit of time to settle, but that wasn’t the case,” he said.

Amelia tried to text Hello Lifestyles Australia to check if the Patrol had been transferred to her name and if all costs along the way had been paid, but received no response from the company.

Then the worst happened, when a man showed up at his property around 8:00 pm last Wednesday to retrieve the vehicle.

He said: “I’m here to collect the funding for Patrol for Nissan as it hasn’t been paid.” I was pretty upset, I just froze,’ she said.

Hello Lifestyle Australia (above) has since shut down with the Red Frogs charity claiming they received too little from the company, despite their promise that all raffle proceeds would go to it.

Red Frog Australia said Hello Lifestyle Australia promised to raise around $150,000 for the charity, but did not “deliver anywhere near that”.

“They paid us a small amount in that (first) raffle, but that was all we got from them. They did subsequent draws and we never got anything,” Red Frogs COO Steve Davies told ABC.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said anyone buying a lottery ticket must verify the lottery permit number before entering.

Several other lottery ticket buyers left comments online stating that the company would not allow them to cancel their membership, while others simply described Hello Lifestyle Australia as “unreliable”.

Perth’s father, Aaron Edmundson, claims he spent $7,500 on a Nissan Patrol he won from Hello Lifestyle Australia, with an estimated value of $120,000.

Perth’s father, Aaron Edmundson, won another Nissan Patrol (advertised above), but said he had to shell out $7,500 in road costs, road prep, licenses and stamp

Initially, the company said it would cover the $7,500 road costs, road preparation, license and stamp duty, but after months of emails, Edmundson gave up and sold the car.

The company is understood to have since shut down, with all of its social channels, email addresses, and website now unavailable.

Daily Mail Australia has attempted to contact Hello Lifestyle Australia for comment.