Victims of a serial fraudster who was sent back to jail this week for repeating her crimes have spoken out about being left homeless and destitute by her recent actions.

Alexia Cross Micallef was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in jail on Wednesday after admitting to swindling 36 people in a fake rental property scam. She was also ordered to reimburse her victims within six months of being released.

A court heard how Cross Micallef had posed as a landlady to offer properties for rent that were already occupied by others, stealing more than €30,000 from prospective tenants before disappearing.

Speaking to Times of Malta, her victims said they had each paid up to €1,550 to the fraudster, leaving them financially insecure and without a roof over their heads.

Alexia Cross Micallef was jailed for four-and-a-half years after she admitted posing as a landlady and offering properties for rent that were already occupied. Photo: Facebook

Codyl Buhagiar said she was “shocked” when she realised she had been scammed, calling the case “a disaster for me and others”.

Buhagiar paid €750 for a property she never got to move into, forcing her and her one-year-old daughter to sleep at her nail salon for a week, visiting her grandmother for meals and to wash.

Commenting on the recent court judgment, she asked: “How is she going to pay us? I want my money back.”

'I couldn’t believe it had happened to me'

Chinese digital nomad Eleni Fu decided to move to Malta after hearing good things from a friend already in the country and signed a contract with Cross Micallef in advance after seeing photos and videos of an apartment in Attard.

But, just as she was boarding the plane to Malta, her “landlady” told her the room was no longer available.

After arriving in Malta after a 20-hour flight, Fu said she felt “so tired, I just had to find a place to rest”.

“I was scared and I couldn’t believe it had happened to me... I didn’t know what to do next.”

Fu spent a week living in youth hostels in Sliema before finally finding a permanent place to live but said she felt better now that Cross Micallef had been stopped.

“Upon hearing the news of the scammer’s arrest, my heavy heart was suddenly lifted. I felt relief. I had been deeply worried that the scammer wouldn’t face proper consequences but, thanks to the efforts of so many victims, she has finally been imprisoned,” she said.

Commenting on the sentence, however, she called it “ridiculous”, stressing it was “too long” to wait to be reimbursed.

One nurse said she handed over €1,550 in savings to Cross Micallef, money she thought was securing a property in Attard for her husband and child back in India who plan to join her in Malta when their family reunification visas have been approved.

“On the day I left my old apartment she told me she couldn’t give me the key... imagine, a girl on the street at 6pm not knowing where to go,” she said.

Describing the fraud as having a “very bad impact” on her life, the nurse said she had worked hard to provide a home for her family. “I suffered a lot... I don’t know how much I cried,” she said, stressing she felt she had let her family down.

'I was left homeless'

Skilled construction worker Luis López Zamora arrived in Malta in May and was contacted by Cross Micallef after posting in a property rental group on Facebook that he was looking for a place to live.

He described being pressured by her to see a flat she was offering for €600 per month but, despite paying a month’s rent as a deposit, on the day he was supposed to collect the keys he was told the house “had problems” and he would have to wait.

López Zamora was forced to sleep on a friend’s sofa while he got back on his feet – where he is still staying.

Charmaine Calleja had been forced to move out of her family home when her mother moved into a care home and paid Cross Micallef €450 for the Attard apartment also shown to others.

Times of Malta understands Cross Micallef worked as a cleaner for the owners of the Attard property she claimed to own.

Calleja relies on government support after being diagnosed with bipolar disorder and depression and is not able to rent shared properties without losing access to government funds, meaning many rental properties are unaffordable, she explained.

She said Cross Micallef’s actions had “left me homeless”  and that she was currently staying with her brother.

“I’m an honest person and she took advantage of my illness,” Calleja said, adding the pair had agreed on a monthly rent of €450 after she explained her situation and budget.

A 'receipt' Calleja received for the swindled money.

Meanwhile, one former victim of Cross Micallef who Times of Malta spoke to recalled losing “25 kilos in two months with the stress and trouble in my head because of her” back in 2017.

“When I saw her picture again, I thought oh my God, she is still out defrauding good people,” said Marika Mangion.

“Time heals but I will never forget.”