Queenslanders warned as Caboolture pensioner loses everything to online relationship scam

A disability pensioner north of Brisbane is facing homelessness after his life was destroyed following a 15-month online relationship that scammed him out of nearly everything he owns.

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A Queensland pensioner says he is just weeks from homelessness after being caught up in an international romance scam that’s cost him nearly everything he owns.

More than 27,000 people nationally have been conned in romance scams losing close to $20 million this year alone, according to figures from ScamWatch.

In Queensland, 656 people have been caught up in romance scams this year, losing $3 million, with ScamWatch warning that the holiday season can be prime time for fraudsters targeting the vulnerable and lonely.

Tracey Skeates, 63, from Caboolture, has pawned his guitars and car to keep up with the financial demands of “Charlotte”, a woman who he met through Instagram.

“Just on Charlotte alone I would say I’ve lost $40,000. That money was my inheritance,” he said.

Mr Skeates’ nightmare began in October 2023.

“A woman called Charlotte contacted me via Instagram. She said she lived in America and asked if I lived alone. She had recently broken up with her boyfriend, she was looking for someone to talk to,” he said.

Caboolture man Tracey Skeates has been caught up in an online dating scam costing him thousands of dollars. Picture David Clark

Their conversation quickly became romantic and within a week Mr Skeates sent her his first payment of $500 to fix her broken phone.

Within a month of talking Charlotte told Mr Skeates that she wanted to move to Brisbane, to live with him and be his wife.

“She wanted to get there so we could have Christmas together, I vividly remember it but she didn’t have any money to move to Australia,” Mr Skeates said.

“That’s when I started transferring $3000 or $4000 dollars at a time,” he said.

Since December Charlotte has tried to fly into Australia “five separate times” to be with Mr Skeates, but something always mysteriously prevents her from arriving at Brisbane airport.

“The first time she tried to fly over she said she got assaulted on the way to the airport and was in a coma,” he said.

“Another time she called me saying someone planted two grams of heroin in her suitcase.”

Throughout their entire relationship Charlotte claimed her phone camera was broken, so all of their communication was through Instagram messages and WhatsApp calls.

With every disaster Charlotte experienced Mr Skeates was forced to send more money to get his future wife to Brisbane.

“I was sending her 80 per cent of my disability pension every two weeks. I was hardly eating, all in the name of love.”

The profile used to scam Caboolture man Tracey Skeates out of thousands of dollars.

“To get her over here I did a quick sale on my car so I could get the money fast.

“My dream was to travel Australia with (Charlotte).

“But because of my stupidity I’ve gone from having a dream and enjoying the last few years to having no f**king hope.

Charlotte would insist on payments being transferred through Apple gift cards or cryptocurrency Bitcoin, making the transfers near impossible to trace.

Mr Skeates says he is “embarrassed” at falling victim to the scam, but Australian Competition and Consumer Commission deputy chair and ScamWach spokesperson Catriona Lowe says every Australian could find themselves in the same situation.

“People are using apps to find romance, so everyone really is at risk,” she said.

“Scammers are skilled and professional criminals and one of the things that they are very skilled at is using human psychology against us. They are exploiting very natural, very normal human desires.

“If you’ve been scammed in this way, that is definitely not something to be ashamed about. You are a victim of a crime.”

Tracey Skeates from Caboolture has been caught up in an online dating scam costing him thousands of dollars, screen grabs of text message conversations he had

After months of payments Mr Skeates reversed-searched the images that Charlotte had been sending.

The search revealed that the profile had been ripping images of Yisela Avendano - a Colombian bikini model with close to a million followers on Instagram.

“I knew then that I had been scammed,” Mr Skeates said.

“But even then I still kept sending the money, I don’t know why. They get so in your head that you’re at boiling point all the time and you lose the ability to think straight.

The scam has strained every part of Mr Skeates’ life including his relationship with his daughter, Tamika.

“Initially I was trying to help, I told him straight away that this person didn’t seem real,” Ms Skeates said.

“But once we found out he was selling the car, I became less tolerant. I didn’t feel like he was listening to me. It’s definitely damaged our relationship.”

Tracey Skeates from Caboolture has been caught up in an online dating scam costing him thousands of dollars Picture David Clark

Tamika Skeates’ two sons Orlando and Tiago set up a GoFundMe for their grandfather in the hopes of surprising him with a new car.

“We were annoyed and frustrated, because we told him that it seemed fishy,” said Tiago Skeates.

“But we still love him, he’s still our Poppy,” Orlando Skeates said.

“That’s why we set up the GoFundMe, we want to surprise him with a car so he can go fishing with us again.

Ms Lowe urged anyone caught up in a romance scam to reach out for help.

“Because scammers will often try and keep their victim isolated from their friends and family,” she said.

Tracey Skeates said that while he is embarrassed at falling victim to the scam, he hopes sharing his story will encourage other victims to reach out.

“In a few weeks I’m going to be living in a tent, I’ve lost everything to this.

“Now I just want to raise awareness. Fake profiles and scammers target vulnerable people everyday,” he said.

“I hope by talking about it I can encourage just one person to reach out for help, even if they’re ashamed.”

Originally published as Queenslanders warned as Caboolture pensioner loses everything to online relationship scam