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An Australian man lost $800,000 to someone he thought he was in a relationship with, sending money and even taking out a mortgage to buy them a house.
A 60-year-old man has lost nearly $800,000 to a scammer he believed he was in a relationship with for over two years.
During the relationship, the man repeatedly sent money to his alleged partner and even secured an additional mortgage to purchase a house for them.
As reported by Yahoo Finance, every attempt the man made to recover his money was met with threats and intimidation, persuading him to send even more funds, ultimately totalling around $800,000.
Alerted police have since notified authorities in the Philippines after identifying a suspected money mule account.
According to Scamwatch, romance scams were the third-most-reported type of scam in Australia in 2025, with 3,432 incidents, resulting in $28 million in losses for victims, and a significant share of those scams were reported after online contact.
AFP detective superintendent Marie Andersson said the scammers usually act quickly, hooking their victims in the first 48 hours before pushing them to digital platforms where their scams cannot be moderated or reported.
“Scammers, who mostly work in call centres or boiler rooms overseas, have scripts and playbooks to follow, receive coaching, and operate 24/7 to deploy the best tactics to deceive innocent victims,” Andersson said.
“A request or pressure to move a conversation off a dating or social media platform not long after initial contact can be a first red flag,” Andersson said.
She said that when scammers shift conversations to another platform, it isolates the victim, making it easier to exploit their trust, emotions, and optimism while discouraging them from ending the interaction.
“Other warning signs include lots of attention or affection (love-bombing), oversharing of personal or emotional stories, having reasons why they can’t meet in person or video chat, and encouraging victims to keep their interactions private from family and friends, often under the guise that these other parties wouldn’t understand,” she concluded.
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