GoFundMe organised for West Gippsland woman Carolyn Coster after losing to phishing scam

An “evil” scammer has stolen the life savings of a terminally ill woman who was saving up to move into a country cottage to spend the rest of her life peacefully.

Carolyn Coster, 58, who is terminally ill from stage four breast cancer, had all her savings wiped off by a telephone scammer one day after getting out of the hospital.

An “evil” scammer has wiped off all the savings from a terminally ill woman who saved up to spend the remainder of her life peacefully in a country cottage.

West Gippsland woman Carolyn Coster was coming to terms with her breast cancer metastasising to stage four at the hospital when she got a phone call from an unknown man claiming to be from a financial institution.

The man, who said his name was Robert Brown but sounded like he was from South Asia, told Ms Coster there was an issue with her PayPal account and that she needed to give him all the details to secure her account.

After more than six hours of back and forth, Ms Coster, 58, still weak from transfusions and lifesaving medical help, was “worn out” and gave her information only to find later that $3000 from her savings account had been stolen from her savings.

The next day, the scammer called up Ms Coster asking for access to her account, saying he was “tracing back the funds to reverse the transaction,” and wiped the rest of her $2000 savings, leaving the 58-year-old with nothing.

A fundraiser has been organised after Carolyn Coster fell victim to phishing scam.

Friend Marg, who didn’t want her last name published, said Ms Coster was devastated that her life savings were stolen.

“My friend was going to use this money to move to a small cottage in peaceful surroundings where she could live the rest of her life in tranquillity. Now, even this is being threatened as she needs the money to pay for rent and bond in advance,” she said.

“She’s terrified her identity has been stolen. She’s so sick with stress and worry that she’s stopped eating, which is making her condition even worse.

“She can’t even have chemotherapy at the moment because she’s lost over 25kg. She’s become very thin, and she’s physically unstable.”

Ms Coster, who has two sons and five grandchildren, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020, which progressed to stage four and was declared terminal in December.

Friend Marg has started an online fundraiser through GoFundMe to assist Ms Coster with her bond and rent and help with day-to-day expenses while her account is blocked while the bank investigates, which could take four to six weeks.

“The stop in her bank account means her Centrelink payments can’t be paid into them. I’m hoping to raise enough money to get her through,” she said.

“If she loses her cottage, she has to stay where she is and can barely afford that.”

Marg said the GoFundMe would allow Ms Coster to spend the rest of her life peacefully in the “most tranquil” setting surrounded by mountains, cows and green grassy pastures.

“I am hoping for the kindness of strangers and the generosity of spirit I know lives in every one of us. Even if you can share the campaign through social media, through word of mouth, that would be equally wonderful,” Marg said.

“Because it’s not just about the money. It’s about showing her how much people genuinely care, to show her there is another side of humanity, that people can lift her up too instead of knocking her down.”

In 2023, Victorians lost more than $102m to scams, from which more than $8m was lost to phishing.

Phishing scams impersonate known and trusted brands or government organisations and trick the recipient into providing personal information such as banking details or driver’s licence, or to transfer money.