An elderly man in Queensland lost $500,000 of his retirement savings after falling for an investment scam. This particular scam was through Facebook. He saw a 'legitimate' investment firm and contacted them. The man was told that it would generate a passive income for him and his family once he retired. Investment scams can also go as far as making it visible that the money they put in has grown. However in this case he was continuously told the money was there, however was not allowed to have access to it.

The unnamed man described it a hypnotism or like he wash being brainwashed and he didn't fully realise it was a scam until his bank stopped everything. The man is unable to get any of his money back as he continued to deposit the money after being warned it was looking like a scam.

In Australia we have a national anti scam centre which works to prevent scammer from connecting with Australians and taking money and personal information. They are also continuing to make it easier to report scams and improve the information shared about possible scams. However in 2022, $568 million was lost to scams, $379 million from investment scams. In 2023 $241 million has so far been lost. In saying this, a scam prevention agency believes that people are not reporting their losses to scams because of embarrassment etc.