MasterChef star Dani Venn broke down in tears tonight as she told unknown hackers who stole her $250,000 house sale money: ‘You can’t do this to people.’
The 32-year-old and her husband Chris Burgess sold their home in Smiths Gully, Melbourne on June 15.
But the $250,000 proceeds were stolen by a ‘sophisticated hacker,’ leaving them unable to buy their new dream home.
Dani has now moved in with her mother and two small children while Chris is living in a caravan.
Former MasterChef contestant Dani Venn is facing every family’s worst nightmare after hackers stole the settlement that she planned to buy a new home with
Speaking to A Current Affair, a tearful Dani said with a quivering voice: ‘This is our life savings here, we’ve got two small children, a four-and-a-half month old, and a three-and-a half-year old – you just can’t do this to people.’
The couple were using a new electronic property transfer system run by Property Exchange Australia (PEXA) when they were defrauded.
They’d hoped to purchase a new home in the Mornington Peninsula but that dream is now in jeopardy.
‘We haven’t been able to settle on the property. We stand to lose our deposit of $80,000 and the new house,’ Dani told the Sydney Morning Herald.
‘We are also getting charged interest of $500 a day on a default notice until we can come up with the money,’ she said.
Dani’s bank, Commonwealth, was able to freeze $138,000 but the hackers stole the other $112,000.
The CBA provided a statement to the Daily Mail Australia, reading: ‘We are aware of the issues relating to PEXA and have begun an immediate investigation. We are currently assisting the appropriate authorities with their inquiries on this matter.’
Dani, 32, and her husband, Chris Burgess, have told the Sydney Morning Herald that ‘hackers stole $250,000 from the proceeds of their home sale’ while it was being settled via an online property transfer system
The chef and her husband say they had sold their Smiths Gully, Melbourne home (pictured) and unknowingly transferred the $250,000 proceeds into the account of a ‘sophisticated hacker’
‘We haven’t been able to settle on the property. We stand to lose our deposit of $80,000 and the new house,’ Dani said (The family’s former Smiths Gully is home pictured)
‘We are also getting charged interest of $500 a day on a default notice until we can come up with the money,’ Dani explained
PEXA acting chief executive James Ruddock refused to answer questions or be interviewed by A Current Affair.
In a statement, he said: ‘PEXA has robust fraud protections and strict authentication procedures built into its platform. These are isolated incidents and do not represent a wider or systemic risk to the PEXA platform.’
A statement currently on the PEXA website states: ‘On Monday 18 June, at approximately 5pm, PEXA was made aware of a fraudulent situation where a practitioner’s email account was compromised.
‘In this instance, an unknown party intercepted a change-in-password email sent from the PEXA platform which in turn allowed this person to access the Subscriber’s PEXA account.
‘As a result, the destination account details in the settlement schedule were fraudulently changed.’
Dani now faces a nervous wait while she tries to get her money back through her insurance.
Stuck: The pair, along with their two young children, had moved out of the home and say they are now living in a relative’s spare room while the situation is investigated
Cooking up a storm: Dani runs The Wholehearted Cook website and Instagram account, which has 27K followers
Dani appeared on the 2011 season of MasterChef and was a controversial contestant with a big personality.
She told PopSugar at the time: ‘I honestly just wanted to be myself, to give everything of my personality, which has divided people. Some people can’t handle that I’m quite a big personality. I’m totally myself on camera.’
She now runs The Wholehearted Cook website and Instagram account, which has 27K followers.
Remember her? Dani appeared on the 2011 season of MasterChef and as a controversial contestant with a big personality
Happy family: The chef and her husband Chris were married in 2017 after ten years together, and have two children, a a daughter, Harlow, three, and a son, Oscar, four months
The chef and her husband Chris were married in 2017 after ten years together, and have two children, a daughter, Harlow, three, and a son, Oscar, four months.
Dani had dreamed of having her own home with Chris back in 2011, telling Now To Love that she and her New-Zealander partner were already planning it.
She said at the time: ‘We live together now and will hopefully buy a house soon.’
Big plans: Dani had dreamed of having her own home with Chris back in 2011, telling Now To Love that she and her New-Zealander partner were already planning it