SHOCKING SCAM CAUGHT ON CAMERA!
NINA TRUSTED HER ‘SON’ TO TAKE CARE OF THE BUSINESS BUT WHAT SHE DISCOVERED LEFT HER HEARTBROKEN
Nina Chivers couldn’t have felt prouder as the young man she thought of as a son stood before her in his new suit with dazzling smile.
She ran a successful real estate business and had just given her best friend’s son, Robert, 19, his first real job. She’d even bought him the suit.
The mum of four from Wales says: “I looked at him and I felt so proud. He was like my son.”
Robert Parker had dropped out of university and his mum, Diane, 56, had been worried about what he was going to do.
Nina, 49, says: “Diane and I were best friends – she’d even helped me set up my business.
“I’d know Robert since he was 13 and he almost felt like one of my own children, so when he dropped out of university I was happy to give him a job.
He was doing so well, it wasn’t long before Nina promoted Robert to a manager role. She says: “It was a position of complete trust. The new role meant Robert had access to the company’s bank accounts. His job meant he was responsible for a lot of money and taking cash to the bank.”
The job appeared to really transform Robert’s life, as Nina noticed over time he managed to buy two houses and take expensive trips overseas. “I just thought he was a very good saver,” Nina says.
When Robert announced his engagement, Nina explains she was so thrilled for the couple. Robert had a beautiful big wedding, with the lavish affair costing over $36,000.
Everything seemed to be going well, but then in 2016, Nina was shocked to discover a big problem with her accounts – she owed a whopping $360,000 in taxes!
“I WAITED FOR SOME EMOTION, A FRANTIC SORRY, BUT IT DIDN’T COME”
“It was horrendous and so stressful. I had no idea what had gone wrong,” Nina says, explaining she had no option but to pay or face going to jail.
Robert has access to all of the company accounts, so she turned to her ‘son’ – the person she trusted the most. Strangely, he couldn’t help.
“He just said it must be a mistake,” Nina says.
Knowing something wasn’t right, Nina employed the help of someone external to go through the accounts … but nothing could have prepared her for the truth. There was no mistake, someone was stealing from her.
While Robert was named as one of the suspects, Nina couldn’t believe it so she trawled through hours of CCTV footage. Nina says: “I could hardly catch my breath. There in black and white was Robert with piles of cash on his desk that he had collected from tenants.
“I watched as he picked up a huge wad of notes and kissed them. He then piled the cash into a carrier bag and walked out of the office. To say I was devastated is a complete understatement.” Heartbroken, the next morning Nina confronted Robert, hoping he’d beg for forgiveness.
Nina says: “I waited for some emotion, a frantic sorry maybe. But it didn’t come.” Robert simply said: “Yes I did it,” before confirming he’d used
the stolen money to fund his lavish lifestyle and wedding!
But when Nina called the police, she was apparently told it wasn’t in the public’s interest to investigate the case. So, she had to scrape together money to hire a private investigator, who discovered the real Robert.
Shockingly, he’d been gambling away thousands of the company’s money every day. Robert had been giving the tenants receipts and paying landlords, but he didn’t bank the cash payments.
Nina says: “He’d been moving money from the sales side of the business to the lettings account to mask the thefts. His sophisticated little scheme was staggering.
“He had fooled us all completely. It broke my heart.”
In October 2017, Robert was arrested and later pleaded guilty to stealing $550,000. He was sentenced to three years and two months in jail.
Nina says: “Robert turned out to be a fraudster and he’d preyed on my trust for nine years. I treated that boy like a son and he repaid me by robbing my business. I will never, ever get over what he did to my family.”