Amanda Brochu next to the muddy driveway that was previously covered in concrete (Picture: WFTV)
A woman trying to sell her house returned home to discover her entire driveway had been stolen.
Amanda Brochu got an alert on her Ring doorbell app and was shocked to see a bulldozer ripping up the concrete of her driveway on the outskirts of Orlando, Florida.
She returned home and found all that was left was a muddy track.
Ms Brochu told local news station WSVN: ‘I come home and my driveway is gone.’
The theft happened in December, not long after the single mum put the house on the market and had an offer accepted on another property, which was to be her ‘forever’ home.
It’s thought Ms Brochu was a victim of a scam, but no one’s quite sure exactly what the scam is.
What is known, however, is that unsolicited contractors turned up a week before the incident to measure her driveway.
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Ms Brochu said she confronted one of them who claimed a man named Andre had hired them to find out how much it would cost to replace the driveaway.
The contractor showed her text messages from Andre with the request, which included her home address.
He said he asked to meet up with Andre, but Andre told him he was out of town, before cutting off contact when the contractor asked for proof he owned the house.
Ms Brochu reported all this to police and officers spoke to the contractors.
She said: ‘After the cops spoke to them, they called me back, and they said that he said it was a mistake, he just got the address wrong; nothing else will happen again.’
Ms Brochu’s Ring doorbell camera shows the digger taking up her drive (Picture: WFTV)
But a week later her driveway was removed.
Amanda learnt it would cost $10,000 (£7,900) to replace – money she didn’t have – and feared she wouldn’t be able to sell her house and buy her new ‘forever’ home.
She launched a GoFundMe, but when he story was reported in the local news a business owner kindly stepped in and offered to cover the costs.
Any money raised via GoFundMe will now go to charity she said.
Ms Brochu’s estate agent Rocki Sanchez said she was in ‘utter shock’ when told about the driveway theft.
Ms Brochu was told it would cost $10,000 to replace the driveaway (Picture: WFTV)
‘I’ve never seen this before. I’ve never had this happen to myself or anyone in our office,’ she said.
However, she shared the incident on an estate agent Facebook group, where several people said they had heard of similar stories.
‘I had multiple people come forward saying that they’ve seen things like this happen — whether it be driveways, roofs, painting, even outside the exterior,’ Ms Sanchez said. ‘So it happens more often than we actually see it.’
Ms Brochu has also been told such scams and thefts are more common than people think.
She added: ‘The target isn’t just homeowners, but contractors as well, who take on the business not fully doing their due diligence and being taken advantage of in the end by the scammer.’
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It’s thought Ms Brochu was a victim of a scam, but no one’s quite sure exactly what the scam is.