Elderly Drysdale man loses almost $40K to wheelchair scam

An elderly Drysdale man who tried to pay $38,000 for an electric wheelchair lost his money to hackers through an elaborate scam.

Scam victim John Gibson, right, with his son David. Picture: Alan Barber

An elderly Drysdale man who tried to pay $38,000 for an electric wheelchair lost his money to hackers through an elaborate scam.

John Gibson, aged in his 70s, received an invoice through email for the wheelchair and paid the money owed via a bank transfer.

He was soon “devastated” to find out the money had not been transferred into the correct account.

“My normal practice is to always do a test deposit to the bank account to make sure what's on the invoice is correct,” he said.

“I got a message back saying the test deposit had been received, then I began paying the rest of it in instalments and at the end of my final payments I found I had two people with the same name on my phone.

John, right, was “devastated” to learn he’d been scammed. Picture: Alan Barber

“I then rang the real one, and she said ‘you must’ve been scammed’.”

According to Mr Gibson, the scammers used a similar email address to pose as the occupational therapist who he was purchasing the wheelchair from.

They provided him with a new invoice that was identical, apart from the payment details.

“It was far more (to lose) than we could possibly afford,” he said.

“I could never afford to do it again, and I knew that.”

According to stats provided by Scamwatch, phishing attacks cost Australians more than $25.2m in 2023.

Mr Gibson suffers from a medical condition that impacts his spine, meaning he is unable to lift his head on his own.

The electric wheelchair was set to help him regain his independence.

“When I go with my walker, I look at my feet, and can only see about 30cm around the world,” he said.

“In the chair, I can lean right back, I can get in a safe position where I can look at the TV.

“I can go into the community centre and I’d be able to look at people, when I walk in now people bend down to identify themselves to me, and you’ve got no idea how humiliating that is.”

Aidacare and Pride Mobility, who make the chairs, joined forces to split the costs of the life changing chair.

David and John Gibson with Lexi Martin of OT Geelong Neuro Centre, Aidacar Profits Centre Manager Jade Stewart and Sam Collins, head of marketing at Aidacare. Picture: Alan Barber

Mr Gibson said that he and his wife Lyn were speechless when they heard the news he would be given one after the ordeal.

“You’ve got no idea how relieved I was,” he said.

“The scammers are the lowest of the low, but there are still some very great people in the world.

“Until you have a physical disability like I’ve got you don’t know how difficult it is to keep going.

“A lot of people think I’m very courageous, but there’s been a lot of tears in between.”

An Aidacare spokesman said it was “nice to be in a position to help him.”

“Obviously, John’s been pretty stressed and anxious after what's gone on the past couple of weeks,” he said.

“So it’ll be nice to give him something pretty crazy.”

Originally published as Elderly Drysdale man loses almost $40K to wheelchair scam