In news that’s dramatic even for reality TV, it turns out this year’s winning house on The Block was bid on by an alleged “international conwoman” who still hasn’t paid up.
Hungarian-born Emese Fajk, 28, won the bid on Jimmy and Tam‘s house on November 22 with a massive $4.256 million offer. A Current Affair reports she has sent bank statements to Nine since the auction, but that no actual money has been transferred.
“Our bidder that won the action on the day has been found out to be producing fraudulent documents for money transfers for the payment of the house,” Jimmy told the program.
“Here we are now with everyone not knowing what’s going to happen.”
“We’ve pretty much been conned…”
The Block Scandal – Tonight 7.00. #9ACA pic.twitter.com/McrG3C4dI9— A Current Affair (@ACurrentAffair9) December 22, 2020
When her face appeared on national TV, that’s when alarm bells went off for Fajk’s alleged past victims.
In the days following the block finale, a former partner of Fajk’s in the UK told ACA: “She’s stolen money from people like myself (£15,000) and many others. When I met her she was pretending to be a cyber security expert and working for the United Nations.”
“When I started to chase her with our National Crime Agency in the UK she intimidated and lied about me online,” he added.
“She set about threatening me with others’ help and moved on to New York to do the same to another unsuspecting and trusting man.”
The whole time, she kept sending him what appeared to be doctored bank statements showing the money had been returned.
Another former partner told ACA a very similar story, while a hotel in Costa Rica also tried to chase her up over unpaid bills.
Meanwhile there’s no actual record of the behavioral science degree she claims to have from the University of West London, as well as the PhD she claims to be undertaking at Columbia University.
While Jimmy and Tam have won The Block regardless, and would’ve even won with the second-highest bid, they’re pretty upset by the whole ordeal.
After all, they cried with and hugged Fajk on auction day, and even invited her around to watch the episode together when it aired.
“It was like we knew her as a friend, and we welcomed her into our family as a friend,” Tam told ACA.
In a brief phone call with the show, Fajk insisted she sent the money, however the house is now expected to go back on the market after nothing was received at Nine’s end.
“I just have no idea why, if you were that type of person in that type of lifestyle, you would put your face on national TV and really elevate your presence,” Jimmy said.
You can catch the full A Current Affair episode here.
