A single mother who was defrauded of her entire life savings by serial conman Hamish McLaren has warned that it could happen to anyone.
Tracy Hall, from Sydney, was in a relationship with a man who she thought was called Max Tavita in 2016.
‘Max’, who was really serial fraudster and love rat Hamish McLaren, convinced her to set up a self-managed super fund which she thought was in her name during their 16-month relationship.
But, in reality, McLaren had her unwittingly transfer $317,000 in savings and superannuation into his own pocket.
Ms Hall said she was a skeptical person who believed she could spot a con.
Tracy Hall, from Sydney, was in a relationship with a man who she thought was called Max Tavita in 2016. His real identity was Hamish McLaren and he was a serial fraudster and love rat (the pair are pictured together)
‘I watched those stories on the news and look at it and I think “I would never fall for that,” yet here I am, I lost my life savings to a man who pretended to love me and at the same time he was destroying me,’ Ms Hall told Sunrise.
McLaren fleeced $70million worldwide from dozens of victims, including Australian fashion designer Lisa Ho, by pretending to be an investment fund manager.
He was handed a 16-year jail sentence in 2019 for his crimes, later reduced to 12 years.
Ms Hall, who is writing a book about her experience called The Last Victim, said she wanted to share her experience to ‘educate people about the pitfalls of falling for a con and really just helping people empower them around their financial security and financial vulnerability’.
‘I don’t think you should go into every situation just looking for red flags because that’s a pretty crappy place to live but I think we all need to be more vigilant,’ Ms Hall said.
‘There’s not a day that goes by…where you’re not exposed to some type of scam and it is probably not the extent of what I experienced but every day a text message, an email.’
Ms Hall featured in The Australian’s award-winning podcast Who The Hell Is Hamish?, which investigated how McLaren had been conning people since the 1990s.
She previously told Sydney-based financial advisor Canna Campbell how the scam worked, claiming it was a ‘slow process of planting seeds’.
‘He gained my trust through the image he portrayed,’ Ms Hall said.
‘The Max Tavita I knew was a chief investment officer for a family office hedge fund so there was this story that he built over time.’
A single mother who was defrauded of her ‘life’s savings’ by serial conman Hamish McLaren has revealed how it happened (pictured: Tracy Hall)
McLaren (pictured) was handed a 16-year jail sentence in 2019 for his crimes, later reduced to 12 years
She said the pair had ‘countless conversations about financial strategies and superannuation and hedge funds’.
Ms Hall said he was ‘very vocal’ about ‘the banks and their superannuation’, but because they were in a committed relationship, she thought this was all part of his expertise and he was ‘looking out for me’.
‘It was quite a long time before we discussed anything to do with my superannuation or my savings or anything, but it happened slowly and at the end of the day, I trusted him,’ Tracy said.
By the time he went to prison, Tracy had given McLaren ‘$317,000 of her life’s savings’.
‘I’d been working for 21 years. It was a combination of my superannuation – which made up the majority – and some savings I had accumulated. It was my life savings,’ Ms Hall said.
When she realised what she had lost, Tracy said she reached her ‘lowest point’.
Her book, The last Victim, will be published in May.
King Con: The Life and Crimes of Hamish McLaren is airing at 8pm on Sunday on Channel Seven and also on 7plus.
