Possibly the fastest and most devastating way to lose wealth is not through divorce or sharemarket falls, but to have it stolen from you through a romance scam. With women needing to overcome multiple structural obstacles in order to reach wealth parity with men, to then have that wealth snatched from them by a romance scam feels twice as unfair.

The total money lost to scams in 2024 in Australia was $2 billion, with romance scams accounting for a staggering $157m of lost money. In this episode, I’m joined by Tracy Hall, a victim of a romance scam perpetrated by Australia’s most notorious conman, Hamish McLaren. She was scammed $317,000 out of her super by him, in a harrowing story which has now led to her becoming an advocate for victims of scams and fraud. Tracy shares her story with us, the red flags to look out for and how she’s rebuilt her super - and her life - subsequently.