Melbourne estate agent's fraud conviction

A Melbourne real estate agent has lost her licence but avoided jail after being convicted of fraud.

Stephanie Joyce Brown, 43, forged the signatures of tenants on bond claim forms and then directed payments of more than $33,000 to her own bank accounts.

Brown’s offending took place between February and June 2016, when she was working as a property manager at Wilson Agents in Melbourne.

The alarm was first raised by the Residential Tenancies Bond Authority, who alerted police.

Ms Brown pleaded guilty to 23 charges of obtaining property by deception and was placed on a two-year good behaviour bond.

Her estate agent’s licence was cancelled following the conviction.

“Under Victorian estate agent laws, certain offences that carry possible jail terms of three months or more disqualify a person from working as an estate agent,” Consumer Affairs Victoria said in a statement.

“Fraud is a disqualifying offence.”

Ms Brown, formerly Stephanie Naylor, had previously worked for several established real estate agencies in Melbourne.