The South Australian dad fell for a ‘cunning’ scam in 2018 which saw his family fortune of $307,000 wiped out in an instant. Photo / 123RF
An Australian man is feeling the aftermath of a scam more than four years after cyber criminals parted him from his fortune.
For the past few years, Cooper* has been forking out thousands of dollars every month to his bank, including $1200 ($1294) every month on interest alone, to pay off the massive debt he was left with.
The South Australian dad fell for a “cunning” scam in 2018 which saw his family fortune of $307,000 ($331,000) wiped out in an instant.
The 50-year-old thought he was putting his money into a legitimate investment opportunity but later learned it was all fake.
Although he had paid off his mortgage, he decided to redraw the loan and pull out another $280,000 ($301,000) to invest in the scheme, as well as use some of his existing savings.
He then lost a further $3600 ($3881) on a scam recovery service, later discovering they were in league with the original group of scammers.
“The sad thing was, we were in a reasonably good position (before the scam),” Cooper told news.com.au. “We’d paid off the land for a home we’d bought and we’d paid off the house.
“I’m starting to get shaky talking about it,” Cooper added, saying he felt “like a fool”.
Cooper blamed falling for the fraudulent scheme on the fact he is an “innocent country boy” and also the great lengths the cyber criminals went to appear…
