Help Local Mum Get Back On Her Feet
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Help Ann-Marie Get Back on Her Feet
My good friend, single-mum of two beautiful girls, and long-term Noosa resident, Ann-Marie Griffin, was plain and simply scammed of every cent she had by a very skilled, very experienced con man who preyed on people who had recently lost a loved one (in this case her mother) with the plan of scamming their inheritances out of them.
This man, Luke Bracken, who is now in prison in South Africa for multiple offences, used what appeared to be very convincing legal documents, endorsements from good friends, and every other means possible to gain the trust of his unsuspecting victims so he could fly around the world staying in nice hotels and live the high life.
Ann-Marie Griffin was approached a year ago by Luke. She had known him for 25 years but didn't know of his illegal dealings. He appeared desperate to finalise an apparent gold deal he had put together in South Africa. The "deal" was done and he told Ann-Marie he just needed some money for living costs whilst it was being finalised. He provided her with plenty of bait, telling her of mutual friends who hold high-end positions, who'd already invested, assuring her all the time that it was extremely safe. The loan was supposedly for two weeks only and he provided her with all the documentation she needed.
His gratitude was to give her double her money as she had got him out of a jam. Contact was regular, always assuring her again and again that everything was fine but just the usual hold-ups given the deal was for over one hundred million US dollars. He then conned her into flying him home as "the deal was done"! As he had taken her already for everything, he had her put his flight home on her credit card. He did that to her twice. He promised her in the end the sum of $100k in return for all her help. He told her on every occasion that he would never ever put her and her little girls in any sort of harms way, especially given he knew the history of her ex and his family. The last payment was made when he conned her to loan money from a third party. The money was to be given back tenfold to her friend in two days. Ann-Marie became so desperate and was in so far the only way to finally end it was to get the last little bit for him but alas nothing ever came back. She wasted a full year becoming a full time investigator, watching his every move, going through every single document with a fine tooth comb, ringing international banks to make sure that people actually existed. The sleepless nights, the worry, the guilt. The amount of stress and anxiety he put her under while knowing there was no deal was criminal in itself.
On Friday the 15th of July she woke to the news that he had been arrested in South Africa for fraud and has a string as long as his arm of others he's robbed from.
To allow her to think she was going to have this amazing windfall to set herself up and start again. To crush her like that was the worst of the worst.
The most horrendous bit that really debilitated her financially was not the money given but the things she would do with the kids that she wouldn't do if she'd have known her fate.
Her guilt and shame over what she did earlier in the year was so debilitating to her. To think she'd given away her inheritance from her recently passed mother. Yet really He is the one that need to be having those emotions not her.
Ann-Marie is a good person with a big heart, who, before this event, would help anyone out and there are many people around Noosa who know her for this.
if we could all put in just a little to try to help her out, the blow may not feel so bad and we would not only be repaying some the generousity and love she has shown over the years, but we may also be helping her restore her lovely, natural faith in people.
My good friend, single-mum of two beautiful girls, and long-term Noosa resident, Ann-Marie Griffin, was plain and simply scammed of every cent she had by a very skilled, very experienced con man who preyed on people who had recently lost a loved one (in this case her mother) with the plan of scamming their inheritances out of them.
This man, Luke Bracken, who is now in prison in South Africa for multiple offences, used what appeared to be very convincing legal documents, endorsements from good friends, and every other means possible to gain the trust of his unsuspecting victims so he could fly around the world staying in nice hotels and live the high life.
Ann-Marie Griffin was approached a year ago by Luke. She had known him for 25 years but didn't know of his illegal dealings. He appeared desperate to finalise an apparent gold deal he had put together in South Africa. The "deal" was done and he told Ann-Marie he just needed some money for living costs whilst it was being finalised. He provided her with plenty of bait, telling her of mutual friends who hold high-end positions, who'd already invested, assuring her all the time that it was extremely safe. The loan was supposedly for two weeks only and he provided her with all the documentation she needed.
His gratitude was to give her double her money as she had got him out of a jam. Contact was regular, always assuring her again and again that everything was fine but just the usual hold-ups given the deal was for over one hundred million US dollars. He then conned her into flying him home as "the deal was done"! As he had taken her already for everything, he had her put his flight home on her credit card. He did that to her twice. He promised her in the end the sum of $100k in return for all her help. He told her on every occasion that he would never ever put her and her little girls in any sort of harms way, especially given he knew the history of her ex and his family. The last payment was made when he conned her to loan money from a third party. The money was to be given back tenfold to her friend in two days. Ann-Marie became so desperate and was in so far the only way to finally end it was to get the last little bit for him but alas nothing ever came back. She wasted a full year becoming a full time investigator, watching his every move, going through every single document with a fine tooth comb, ringing international banks to make sure that people actually existed. The sleepless nights, the worry, the guilt. The amount of stress and anxiety he put her under while knowing there was no deal was criminal in itself.
On Friday the 15th of July she woke to the news that he had been arrested in South Africa for fraud and has a string as long as his arm of others he's robbed from.
To allow her to think she was going to have this amazing windfall to set herself up and start again. To crush her like that was the worst of the worst.
The most horrendous bit that really debilitated her financially was not the money given but the things she would do with the kids that she wouldn't do if she'd have known her fate.
Her guilt and shame over what she did earlier in the year was so debilitating to her. To think she'd given away her inheritance from her recently passed mother. Yet really He is the one that need to be having those emotions not her.
Ann-Marie is a good person with a big heart, who, before this event, would help anyone out and there are many people around Noosa who know her for this.
if we could all put in just a little to try to help her out, the blow may not feel so bad and we would not only be repaying some the generousity and love she has shown over the years, but we may also be helping her restore her lovely, natural faith in people.
Organizer
Pepita Ridgeway Nicholls
Organizer
Castaways Beach QLD
