Whangārei fraudster Gina Potae jailed for rental scam that left one couple homeless

Gina Potae appeared for sentencing in the Whangārei District Court on deception charges after pretending to be a landlord on Facebook. Photo / NZME

A young couple expecting a baby were desperate to find a rental and applied for more than 100 properties before they were told only days before Christmas that they had secured a home.

They broke down in tears at the promise of moving into their dream property but the situation quickly turned into a nightmare. There was no home and they had fallen prey to a recidivist fraudster who left them broke and homeless.

Today, Gina Odelle Potae, 51, appeared for sentencing in the Whangārei District Court on one representative charge of obtaining by deception. The charge related to two victims she had scammed by pretending to be the landlord of a property in Parihaka, Whangārei.

On December 5, 2022, Potae was at the Whangārei library when she befriended a woman searching for a rental property.

Potae, who gave them a fake name, offered the victim a property she claimed to own. She emailed them a tenancy agreement the following day and requested the victim to transfer $3600 into her bank account to cover the bond and two weeks’ rent in advance.

The victim made three separate payments to Potae, who then ceased contact with the victim once she received all the money.

Potae found her next victims on a Facebook group for people searching for rental properties that allowed pets.

She contacted Danielle Gaudin and Devlin Maras through the social media site and offered them the Parihaka house, which she did not own, and a tenancy agreement.

Whangārei couple Danielle Gaudin and Devlin Maras ended up in emergency housing after being scammed by Potae. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Then Potae feigned a screening process during which she held a 45-minute Zoom call with the family and offered Maras work.

Potae asked him for his criminal history which Maras noted in a victim impact statement was “ironic”.

“When you told the victims they had secured the tenancy, they both broke down in tears, they were relieved they thought they were going to be able to be a family together and were so excited,” Judge Taryn Bayley said at the sentencing hearing.

The victims sent $3600 to Potae’s bank account for the property but once Potae received the money, she ghosted them.

Becoming suspicious, they went to the address.

When they knocked on the door, the real owners answered and informed the couple that they were the fifth family to turn up under similar circumstances.

“[They] then realised the tenancy agreement had been false,” Judge Bayley said.

It was Christmas and the couple had applied for more than 100 rentals, were not in a good financial position and expecting their first baby, the court heard.

As a result, the family were split up and put into homes with two separate emergency housing providers, which meant Maras could not stay with his newborn son and help his partner.

Only Maras’ victim impact statement was heard in court, and the judge said it detailed how the scam had destroyed him financially.

“He feels like he has aged, it has taken a toll on his body and mind,” Judge Bayley said.

Crown prosecutor Pablo Hambler said Potae had been to prison at least four times and had around 180 convictions for dishonest offending.

“Whatever Ms Potae says about rehabilitation plans or paying back the victims of offending, no one believes her. The Crown does not believe her.

“I don’t want to be mean or cruel but it’s difficult to accept now is the time for rehabilitation. She’s had sentence after sentence with plenty of opportunity to look at rehabilitation and she hasn’t done it.”

The Crown and the judge were not convinced Gina Potae was serious about rehabilitation. Photo / NZME

Potae’s lawyer, Connor Taylor, tried to convince the court that his client was serious about rehabilitation and said her offending was a result of trauma linked to her grandfather, who had taught her how to deceive people.

“She said to me this is the last day she will ever be in court,” Taylor said.

But Judge Bayley did not buy it.

“I respectfully disagree with the report writer. There is no established link between your trauma and your propensity to take property that does not belong to you.”

The judge told Potae the community’s housing situation had made people desperate and she had taken advantage of some of the most vulnerable.

“That you would steal from the second victim when his partner was expecting a child right before Christmas is appalling and selfish behaviour.

“You have an established and extensive history of fraud from 1992. You now have victims in Hamilton, Rotorua, Hastings, Palmerston North, Napier, Tauranga and now Whangārei.

“You remain a recidivist fraudster who remains undeterred.”

Potae had hoped for home detention but Judge Bayley said the latest offending was similar to one of her previous offences in Tauranga and therefore home detention was not sufficient.

She was sent to jail for 23 months.

Shannon Pitman is a Whangārei-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ngāpuhi/Ngāti Pūkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.