Groovin The Moo Fans Caught Up In Accommodation Scam

With more than 20,000 punters headed to last weekend's sold-out Groovin The Moo festival in Bunbury, WA, it was perhaps inevitable that a story such as this might rear its head: reports have emerged that people's homes were being falsely advertised as viable accommodation in the lead-up to the event.

According to ABC News, local clan the Gelmi family were "shocked" to find that their four-bedroom house was being advertised online as available to rent for the duration of the festival, an action about which Kerry Gelmi says they "had no idea up until that point".

The ad had already disappeared by the time police were alerted, but not before shirking two groups of Perth-based punters out of hundreds for the illegitimately advertised use of the Gelmi family home. As the ABC reports, the person responsible for posting the ad proved uncontactable by their customers after they had sent the money through to rent the property.

"It's just such an invasion; we had no idea that people could do that, and so successfully," Kerry Gelmi told the ABC, though, despite her anger, it sounds as if the family made the best of a bad situation:

"We got out air mattresses and swags and all that kind of thing; we just didn't know what to do," she said. "They would have been angry and it's not like there was anywhere else for them to stay. Bunbury was booked out."

Police have urged people to step forward if they or anyone they know has had a similar experience to the Gelmi family, and are investigating the matter, though Bunbury sergeant Laurie Seton has addressed the difficulties presented by such a case, saying, "The problem is once it's only via email, it could be coming from the middle of Nigeria".

"The only lead we have in this case is the bank account details."

Groovin The Moo continues this weekend in Bendigo and Canberra. See the Festivals tab for more details.