Florida woman returns home from work to find driveway 'stolen,' and a contracting scheme may be to blame

The plight of a Florida woman named Amanda Brochu has captured the attention of central Florida after she went to work one day and returned home to find her driveway apparently stolen. However, further investigation revealed that defrauded contractors may be to blame for the bizarre incident.

According to WFTV-TV, the bizarre situation began to unfold when Brochu put her home on the market in early December. Brochu hired some contractors to do some minor touch up work on her house in anticipation of the sale, but shortly thereafter, contractors began showing up and taking measurements for a project she did not want done: a new driveway.

Brochu confronted one of the contractors, who told her that a man named "Andre" had ordered the new driveway, claiming to be Brochu's landlord. The contractor showed Brochu text messages indicating that "Andre" had agreed to a price of $7,200 but stated that he could not meet in person to make the payment. When the contractor became suspicious and demanded proof of ownership of the property, "Andre" cut off communication.

Brochu then reportedly called the police, who confronted "Andre," who claimed that the whole situation was a misunderstanding due to an incorrect address, and that nothing else would happen to her property. However, a week later, Brochu returned home from work to find her driveway bizarrely missing, with a bare dirt track in its place.

Video: Single mother’s future in jeopardy after thief steals drivewaywww.youtube.com

After going to the media with her story, which garnered significant local attention, a general contractor who wished to remain anonymous told WFTV that the driveway "theft" was likely the result of an "overpayment" scam that scammers use to target contractors. According to the anonymous contractor, unscrupulous individuals work the scam by checking new home listings on public sites like Zillow. When they notice that a home goes up for sale, they will contact usually unlicensed contractors and ask for a bid on some unsolicited work, always to the exterior of the house.

In this scam, after the scammer and contractor agree to a price, the scammer will send the contractor a check for more than the agreed upon amount, then call the contractor and ask for a refund of the difference between the agreed upon price and the check amount. The contractor will usually agree, then some time later the check from the scammer will bounce, leaving the contractor in the lurch. The anonymous contractor surmised that the contractor learned about the bounced check in the middle of replacing Brochu's driveway and decided to retaliate by leaving the driveway work halfway done.

Florida deputies are investigating the situation but have few leads. The contractor has not come forward and authorities believe the scammer used a burner phone and fake name.

This story, thankfully, has a happy ending. A Cox Media Group offered to replace Brochu's driveway for free after her story made the local news. However, many homeowners are not so lucky. Brochu had set up a GoFundMe to help defray her costs, but now promises to donate the money she collected to a local charity.