The Last Victim with Tracy Hall

Order Kerni Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country, acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and the storytelling of you to make a difference for today and lasting impact for tomorrow.

her husband. This is where she met Max ta Vita. Max was a great listener, adventurous, and came into her life at exactly the right time. That was until one day in twenty seventeen, she missed a call from Max. When she called back, no answer. The pair usually spoke several times a day, and when she didn't hear from him, she grew really worried and called the police to do

a welfare check on him. After she placed the call, she received a message from a friend telling her to check out a link to a video and call her straight away. That moment is when Tracy's life turned upside down. Tracy, Hello, Hi Rick, Tracy's joined us in the studio to share her story. Welcome to She's on the Money. Thank you for having me. I'm low key very excited about this story because it's a little bit of a different twist on She's on the Money. But let's start at the

very start. How'd you meet Max? Like you said, I had separated from my husband about a year before, and I decided that I was ready to meet someone. I wanted some companionship in my life, someone to do the things that I like doing, with similar interests and values and morals, and so I decided to go on the dating apps. I met my husband on a dating app, so, like, there are some good stories on that when you're a bit nervy, like coming out of a marriage and going

on a dating app. Because when I met my husband, dating apps didn't exist. No, it would have been in your world. Yeah, it was a whole new world. And obviously I was in my early forties, so it was just a bit. It doesn't look like you're in your early forties, so you want a dating app, you would have been hot property. I reckon. Did you go on a few dates before meeting Max or yeah? A few? It was fun. I mean it was slim Pickings and it's a bit of a jungle, so it's wild out there.

It is pretty crazy, and my friends and I had you know, we got some great content. We had a few laughs, and you know, they were following along my journey. But I guess I knew that, yeah, I did. You know. I knew that I wasn't going to meet some great guy, you know, if I was sitting in front of my TV on a Monday night, So it was the only

way I was going to meet someone. And I swiped right on Max and he looked pretty normal compared to some of the other looking guys, and for a little dream He had a beautiful smile and blue eyes, and his photos were just things he liked doing, like surfing and running and paddle boarding and things like that. So I just thought he looked pretty normal, sounds like a dream boat. So that's what drew you to him, Like,

you went on a date, How did it go after that? Well, it took us a while to go on a date because I sort of was on a limited schedule because I was a single mom. And we went on a date. We went for dinner and it was pretty low key. It was not a very long dinner. He didn't really drink. I was working really long hours at the time, and I was quite tired. I think I yawned at one point, Oh my god, which is awful, is what it is. Awful behavior. But he said, oh, you look really tired.

I'll get you home. And he was just really caring and he was a great listener. He was very engaging. He was funny, kind of like an Aussie Larakan in a way. We had a similar upbringing in Australia, so we had a lot in common. It sounds like a dream so far. Like it was pretty I mean, as far as first dates went, it was pretty good. Yeah, no good, he got you home, you were tired, amazing.

Like he came to pick me up in the city and he didn't want to double park or park in the no parking zone and come in and meet the friend I was having a drink with after work because of the parking situation. But when we got to the restaurant, he parked in a no parking zone and he was like, it doesn't matter, I'll just pay the fine. I was like, yeah, but ten minutes ago, like this in my head, I'm like, ten minutes ago, you didn't even want to come in

and meet my friend. Oh, that's really weird. So it was just weird, But at the time, you know, things move on really quickly, and you just kind of like people do weird things anyway, Like I would do things on a first date that people might think of strange, and sometimes I'm just weird. Like you've got to balance it out. Everyone's got their own cooks, So you go all right, moving on. And I was like, it's your cart, it's your license, is your money. That's really it's okay,

so nice. So all of it was going really well. You were dating for a while. Obviously you know there are some red flags, but nothing to kind of like draw so much attention that you need to like get a private investigator on your new boyfriend, right and suspect anything. No, no, of course not. And then you got a miss call. You'd flown back from a trip to Byron Bay and he was driving back down. But after you received the missed call from him, you didn't hear from him again.

What happened that day, Well, this was nearly eighteen months after we first started going out, and I spent the whole day trying to get in touch with him, and there was no answer, and I started to get really worried and spent the night looking for people he knew, his family, trying to get in touch with him, and I woke up super early the next morning and I called Bondi Police because I hadn't heard from him, and I would honest, yeah, it's eighteen months, like I know

that if you're like twenty eighteen months feels like forever, like when you're a single mum as well. That's a serious relationship. Was a serious relationship. We were very close, we were very intimate, and we'd just been away for a weekend and it was just very very unusual. We spoke multiple times a day, like either text or what's up or whatever, and I didn't hear from him. So I asked Bondi Police to do a wellness check on him.

Gave them all the details of him, and in the meantime, I received a call from a girlfriend of mine and she said, how are you? And I said, haven't slept a wink. Something's happened to Max. I'm really worried. I don't know what's happened. I haven't heard from him. And she said, I'm going to send you a link and I said, oh my god, he's dead. There's been an accident. He's accident link or something or like a shark attack or he's been like, something's happened while he's been so good.

I would have felt so sick. I felt ill, and she said, he's not dead. Just opened the link and called me straight back. And I opened the link and it was the video of him being arrested outside of his apartment and his face was all blurred out, but of course I knew it was his body. Yeah, and you know his apartment. I knew it was him. And that's when the world turned upside down for me. That's insane.

So when you saw that video and you finally saw a crime stoppers video and realized that was your boyfriend, were you like, what the hell? Obviously you had no idea what's he being arrested for? Like what conclusions did you jump to it that? Well, the headlines were, you know, Bondai businessman forty seven, superannuation fraud with these types of broad headlines, and I was like that, it's this must be something wrong because Max is forty two. You know.

These were the weird things that were going on my head because I was like, he's wrong like that at some point. How dramatic, Yeah, just so bizarre. And I called back Bondi police and I said, you don't need to do a wellness check. The man that lives at that address has been arrested. And they said, yes, we know, but the person who lives there, his age, he's everything about that man is not the man who lives at

that address. And I said, but it is, because who you're looking forward to, Racy, And he said the policeman said, it's not that person, it's a different person. I said, well, who is it? What's it? You know, what's his name? And they said, you need to deal with investigators that are on the case. And they couldn't tell you any information.

So you've just found out that your boyfriend isn't who you thought he was, and you're on the phone to someone who's like, yeah, also, Tracy, I'm not telling you. You can go find out from someone else. Yeah, And I mean it's kind of a legal case at that point, so you know they understand. But at the same time, your shell shot. Yeah, my brain was just going crazy.

And then not long after, I received a text from his brother in law, who I'd been trying to get in touch with, and it's said in the text, Tracy called me on this number urgently. Chris and brackets he wrote Hamish's brother in law and I called him immediately and I said, Chris, who the fuck is Hamish? And he said Hamish McLaren And I said, well, who is Max Tavita? What is going on?

Tracy Hall. Now Tracy. After a call to the police asking for a welfare check on your boyfriend, finding out that he wasn't who he said he was, You've got this video of your boyfriend being arrested. You got a text message from a brother in law stating that your boyfriend's name was actually Hamish and not Max. Where's your

head at? I don't know? It was doing circles. And I then had a conversation with the investigators who were working on the case, who could confirm that Max Stevita was in fact Hamish McLaren, and he had defrauded multiple people out of a lot of money, and that I needed to get to the police station immediately. Now, if somebody called me and said, Victoria, your husband has defrauded multiple people, I would deny till I die. Like I'd immediately be like absolutely not, Like that is not the person.

I know, that is not what happened, Like I would die on that hill, Like I just unequivocally know that. I would immediately go. I don't know, faced with some proof, I think I'd just be in a whirlwind of confusion. What did you do next? I was in a cafe

with a girlfriend. My head was spinning, and I was looking up who Hamish McLaren was on the internet, And prior to even this case and this arrest, there was a lot of misconduct over a long period of time, and there had been a lot written about him, and so armed with his name, I could look at these articles on the Internet and start to realize pretty quickly that I was dealing with something way worse than when

I originally thought. And so that's when I just went straight to the detectives and I sat down with them, and they explained things to me very broadly, like I didn't know how many victims there were, I didn't know how much money. But they asked me to gather all of my information, and I literally had to put together nearly eighteen months of my life that had happened, every statement, every email, every room wants up message, yeah, every memory,

every document he had ever provided me, every everything. And I had to work with them over the next ensuing weeks to kind of put together that puzzle and explain to them how Hamish had sort of deceived me. And that's when I started to realize that he had stolen my life savings. He'd stolen three hundred and seventy thousand dollars of your money?

I was never going to get the truth from him. So I decided never to do that. Yeah, and I think you sound so level headed, like you sound so well rounded talking about this, because I think I would have gone into a spin, like if you've got three hundred and seventeen thousand dollars of my money, I'll go see you, I'll work it out, like how did you work out what to do? And it sounds like you've done absolutely everything right. I'd be the person that did it wrong, Like I would be going to jail and

being like what did you do? Please tell me, and like probably believing parts of it. I was so tempted, because of course I was thinking that maybe there's just a way that I can get a piece of information or he can tell me how to get my money back. It was so tempting, of course, but I mean, I just had to look at the facts and look at the past sixteen months of my life and my relationship with him, and know very quickly that everything was just a lie, that why would he suddenly start telling me

the truth? And I just had to work with what I had. I had to face the facts. I was

kind of dealing with this sort of duel thing. So there was like all of the very practical things that I had to do, working with the police, untangling a non compliance superannuation fund, looking at a tax refund that may or may not have been fraudulent, you know, pulling together all of this information, and then of course I had all of the very emotional things to deal with, which was essentially this man that I've been in love with.

I had to fall out of love with him in like a hot minute, like less than twenty four hours, and it was like a death. So I was grieving a relationship. But then I felt bad for grieving a relationship because he was a con man and it wasn't a real relationship. And then of course I had my daughter to like life just had to carry on, and I had a job, and I thank my lucky stars that I had that job because it is what pulled

me out. And I think my lucky stars I had my daughter because she's what pulled me out as well. My god, so you're three hundred and seventeen thousand dollars down. I'm an ex financial advisor and this just sends me into a spin. I know that Hamish McLaren is responsible for stealing millions of dollars from people, but even to get your hands on three hundred and seventeen thousand dollars,

how did that eventuate? Because you are a smart woman, You've clearly got your head screwed on, and to be honest, you're dealing with this at this point way better than I ever would have. So how does he get his dirty little mits on your money? It was the way I explain it. It's like he created a movie. So he created this life over a period of eighteen months or nearly eighteen months, where there were sets, there were scenes, there were characters that he created to present himself as

a chief financial investment officer for a family office. I overheard conversations, there were the Bloomberg monitors. There were the fake reports, there were the investment accounts. He set this whole world up for me to believe that he was who he actually was. And this is what course of

control and grooming looks like in this situation. And by the time it got to sort of a year down the track and he was asking me about my superannuation and what I was doing and how much I was paying in fees, everything that he had said to me previously was lining up, and I thought he was the perfect person to help me invest Why wouldn't my money exactly?

And it's kind of like if someone says to me, I've worked in marketing for twenty five years, someone says to me they've got a small business, and they go, you know, I need to help with this, or what would you do here? People would listen to me, because you know, the difference is I don't have ill intent. But he presented himself as someone who wanted to help me be more financially independent. This was his line of work.

I'd overheard countless conversations, so by the time we got to that point, there was not a shadow of a doubt in my mind that he was the right person to do that. So he convinced me to set up a self managed super fund, and he groomed me through that whole process, and I took my twenty two year career superannuation savings and funds into out of my fund

and into a self managed super fund. And then there were some other things like shares, and I'd work for tech for a long time, US tech companies, and he had every commentary about you know, Trump's antics and how that was going to impact the US economy and that's why I should take my shares out right now and do this. So he just groomed me through the whole process, really, and I trusted him. I loved him. I thought were building a future together. Wouldn't you? Why wouldn't I didn't

suspect anything. And that's how, in the end, how he got my life savings. And it's one of those things where so many people will think that could never happen to me, Like they get on their high horses and say, nah, like that's so dumb, like how could she believe that? But I'm not saying it's easy, But those things make sense, Like if you've got a couple of hundred thousand dollars. Even if you google it, you go what should I do with this self managed super fund? Like basically everything

he would have been telling you. You could have looked up and been like, Okay, well that seems like a logical step. Like a self managed throuper fund. Yep, they get a little bit more control. I get to do ABCND all right, no worries, what are you doing with my shares? Okay?

fallout has been like for you? Because your life savings are gone? Yeah, so of course I lost all of my life savings. I ended up in a position in my early forties where I just had my monthly income. I'm on my own, I'm a single mum, I had no backstop at home, so I just had to double down. And it's not lost on me that I had an incredible job and I'm so grateful for that. And I always say to women, especially in all the seasons of

our lives, just try and have your own income. Try and hold on to work, Try and work, you know, and that gives you choices, It gives you options, it gives you some freedoms. And thank god I had that. So, you know, obviously, the financial piece was one thing. So I had to work out really quickly how I was going to rebuild financially. And my future is going to

look very different to what it otherwise would have. But I worked with a financial advisor, a registered financial advisor when you could look up on as sick and actually and I did. I did all my due diligence around the person I chose, and she's wonderful and we essentially visioned my life and she said, what do you want your life to look like in two, five and ten years time? And we wrote it up on a whiteboard and she, you know, figuratively held my hand and she said,

you're going to be okay. What an angel? She also what a step for you to make I feel like so many people to just buried their heads in the sand and like not trusted a thing that this woman was saying. Yeah, but I had to because my brain was not working because I was in grief, I was in shock, I was in shame and embarrassment and guilt and all of those things. And I was working really hard because I couldn't lose my job. So all of these things coupled together. I knew I had to get

some support. And she was one of the people that helped me through that. And she's still my financial advisor today. I love that. A lifetime relations moving for I love her and she's just, you know, my right hand person when it comes to rebuilding my finances and asking any questions and dotting all the eyes and crossing all the teas. And I'm pretty disciplined and I'm pretty vigorous, and I just do what we say we're going to do. And then flying was a financial advisor. Yeah, so that was

the fallout financially. But I do believe that if you have the right mindset, the right work ethic, you know, just the right energy about you, you can always make money. I love this. I do believe that not only rebuilt, but you're like, hey, I started from scratch a getting my forties. I was on the starting lilt an inspiring story in isolation. It's also to have been completely screwed over, Like there was the emotional side that was there's a lot of therapy that I think that you're going to

need to be in for a little while. Yet there's a lot the emotional side is hardest because money you can make, but learning to trust yourself and building your own self confidence back and thinking about the world in a different way to what you always have, having that within you again and that that's been the hardest. Can

we talk a little bit more about red flags? So the start, you didn't really have any, And I mean we trust people implicitly, like I know, I've got girlfriends who write people off when they're dating them because you know, they walk funny, or they said something funny, or they held their fork the wrong way. Like as women, we do some pretty rogue things while dating, and red flags can often be really red, like full crimson or we might categorize them as red flags when they're really just

us getting the beige. Yeah, they're they're beige flags. But were there red flags along the way that in hindsight you look at and go I wish that I had delved a bit deeper into that. Yeah. I think it's funny the conversation around red flags, because it makes you feel like you should have seen them. No, you should. They're actually invisible flags. Right at the time, they're invisible, and it's not until you're in retrospect that you can

look at them. But the red flags, I mean, definitely he was quirky, like the stories when you put them all together, even though they came in drips and jobs throughout the whole relationship. When I recount those stories in full, their crazy, like, oh my god, like I can't believe I believe them. But that's the way grooming and coursive control works. Things come. It's like death by a thousand cuts, right.

But the big things were around, you know, when he presented me with these ideas about you know, investments and things like that. I'm not ashamed to admit that I didn't think critically enough. I trusted him. I believed he had my best interests at heart. But what I've realized is that you know, your money and your heart are the most important things you can protect. And I probably didn't have as much agency as I do now around

my money. And what I like to encourage in telling this story is like, especially for women, just leaning harder because it's not always easy, it's not always accessible. Sometimes it is hard, but it's harder losing your life savings and having to start again at forty. So learn it. Like and this way I love what you do V is like educating people around financial wellnessed financial advocacy and you know, resilience, all of those things that you're encouraging

the female community that you have to lean into. I probably didn't think critically enough about them, you know, And I don't think I could have critically thought my way out of the fact the man that was spooning me at night was also plotting to destroy me. And I think that's the wildest thing. I think. We assume that

we'd be able to see these things coming. And like when I asked you about red flags, I actually assumed you'd be like, no, not really, because, like you know, it was so choreographed that when it came up, well, why would that be an issue? Well, he had an answer for everything too, because of course he'd been doing this his a job. He'd be doing it for thirty years. And you do anything for thirty years, and you get

get really good at it, you know. And throughout the book, I do use the red flag as a you know, just as a pullout in real time to go. You know what, if I had really thought about this, it probably would have done a side eye on it or something like that, you know, But that, of course, that's so easy to do in retrospect. But hopefully my lessons can be someone else's lessons in advance. And that's why we're bringing you on the pot and sharing this story.

And I think there is this juxtaposition at play when people are in these circumstances, right because unfortunately, you're not the first person I've spoken to who has had a partner still their life savings. Honestly, not to the level of Hamish McLaren. Pretty extreme, that's very extreme, and it

is a wild story, sadly true. But people go through these things, and this juxtaposition is at play because you've got the logical and then you've got the emotional and I, you know, am grasping at straws or claiming here that I'm assuming your emotional relationship with him was great, Like you're spooning this man at night, Like, how great is this. I've come out of a divorce, I've got a child. I'm just I'm so happy. Yeah, And when you're in that bubble, like why would things look red? No, And

we were planning on our future together. We're looking at property and Byron bay like he and I were very very close and intimate talking about our future. So it didn't feel I didn't suspec anything and it didn't feel like that. But of course you know he's kicking eye

in the background. Yeah. So I know from our community, sadly that most women going through situations of coercive control and grooming they don't realize, and then when they come out the other side, or someone brings it up or they've realized themselves, there's a lot of guilt and shame that they carry around this and it actually has nothing to do with you in a way, like these are the actions of somebody else that's got nothing to do

with your intelligence or your emotional intelligence or being able to read a situation like it makes you second guess yourself when you're in these circumstances, you're like, am I actually the worst judge of character in the entire world? Like am I cooked?

most disgusting, degrading way. And that is I think a natural reaction. But another part of telling this story is to release people from their shame, because if I can tell this story, and what I've realized is a lot of people have come forward to me and said that happened to me, or that happened to my parents, or I haven't told anyone about this situation. An older woman came to me, she's seventy five. She had told anybody that she'd lost her divorce settlement when she was forty,

Not even her children barely knew. And she sat across the table crying, and you know, she said, I haven't told anybody, and I'm like, this, poor woman, thirty five years she's held on to that's a lot. And I know that feeling I held onto mind for just over a year before I started talking about this situation the podcast who They Were Say, Miss And you know, it wasn't until that moment that I released the shame because you know, did I want the story to own me

or did I want to own the story? And for me, it was important to own this story. And I do know that there were things that I could have done differently, but to be ashamed and embarrassed about that when this is somebody who has clearly taken advantage of your kindness and your empathy and your compassion and your love, then there is nothing to be ashamed about. And I hope that just in telling my story, if anyone else has felt anything similar to this, that they can realize that

as well. It's to me while that people could abuse that level of trust, like it makes me feel sick. But the best thing that's come out of this is you are now an advocate for women in situations like this, like this is now your life's work. Yeah, and I mean it's cost you three hundred and seventeen thousand dollars, so it was actually a lot more expensive than just going to UNI and getting a degree and like going

down the career route. Dramatic from you, but you're in this position where you're kind of releasing these women from these situations if we have been through this and we're still holding a lot of guilt and shame, or we're just not sure if we're in that situation because financially, abusive relationships are really hard to identify, and often when I speak to people, and you know, research tells us, they're very hard to identify ourselves because we don't know

that that's abuse. We don't know that that's somebody grooming us, we don't know that we're in a situation where someone's using coercive control, because often it actually looks like them quote trying to look after you, caring for you. It's so nice of him to have come in and like set you up and put you in the best possible position. What a great guy. Even when friends and family might identify it and say, hey, Tracy, did you realize you are going to deny what is going on? Because at

the end of the day. You know him, you trust him. They're not the ones that go home with him at night. They're not the ones that you know, roll over at three am to this, you know, gorgeous man in your bed, like what is going on? Yeah, but this is your life's work now and honestly, I'm glad to have you on my team. But talk to me about what resources exist out there for people who might suspect that they're a victim to a scammer. There are so many resources,

so they're ScamWatch, dot gov, dot AU. You can go and research. The banks are putting out a lot of information at the moment, not only just on scams and fraud, but on financial abuse and coersive control in this space. ASIK have incredible resources on their website where you can look up the financial advisor that you're working with and checking their AFSL. You can tell oh, you can check whether they are actually qualified to advise you on what

they're advising you on. You can see if they've got any red flags against an AMCs are all very very quick lookups. You can do a reverse image search, so you can put a photo Internet I Love twenty twenty four. In some ways it's been so you can tech. If I had have done that, then Hamish McLaren would have shown up on it wouldn't have been maxed to. At the same time, why would you be looking up your partner.

I know that's that side of romance fraud, but I mean, there are just so many resources that you can, you know, look at. There are domain URL lookups, so if you get what you think might be a dodgy email about a BSBN account number or something, you can look at the extension of the domain. Put it in and see when that domain has been set up. You can see what country that domain is registered in. If it's a Caribbean country, you know, somewhere where there's no tax, you

could probably assume that it's a bit dodgy. And these are some really easy things you can do. I've got them all listed on my website, so people we can be putting your website in our show notes and people can go straight there because it's also a fantastic website learning more about your story about what's going on. I mean, Tracy, at the end of the day, I am grateful to have you on the podcast, but the reason you've come on the podcast is because you're doing the media rounds. Yes,

because you have written a book. Yeah, tell us about that. Well, the book is Got the Last Victim. And I think, as we've sort of had in this conversation, it's such a nuanced story. It's so detailed, and I felt that I needed eighty thousand words to describe the insidious nature of this type of fraud so that people could really understand and try and learn from it. So I wrote a book, It's Got the Last Victim. It's about my

time before, during, and after my relationship with Hamish. You know, it is not just a sad Sally story where it's it's juicy. It's juicy, it's got humor, and the final part of the book is really about how do you rebuild your life after something really traumatic happens and you don't have to lose your life savings to a comment in the way that I did. But we're all going

to go through things. We're all going to have our challenges and that's where the human spirit really has to lift and we have to kind of find a way through. So I talk about how I did that as well. I am obsessed with this book. Everyone on my podcast already knows I'm a true crime girl. Like I don't want to tell people this, but like they know that I go to bed at night listening to crime podcasts. Right, I feel like that is a reflection of my instability.

But we can have that conversation another day. My favorite thing is true crime. So when this Who the Hell Is Hamish podcast started coming out, I was obsessed and I remember hearing you and being like, she's so well spoken, Like obviously i'd never met you. I didn't know your story at that time. That was the first piece of content that you existed in and I just remember going wow, Like as of finance at the time, I was an advisor. I was like, this guy took her for a ride.

Like how did it feel having content like that come out and you being a part of it, but it not being your story? Like I just love that you've taken it and made it positive? Yeah, because how did it feel having stuff like that come out? Because it's obviously not the positive story about you that your book is. No, And that's why I wanted to write the book as well.

Because the podcast was about Hamish and uncovering the life of Hamish and all of the things he'd done that were both included in the case that was investigated in Australa, but as well as his global Shenanigan. Should we say yeah, because I didn't just like defraud a couple of people here in Australia, this guy went global. There's a lot that is being said about that. So in essence, the podcast was about Hamish and what he had done and uncovering all of that and being a part of that.

I was really probably scared to do in the beginning because I was so ashamed and embarrassed about what had happened, but then realized that if in telling my story I could help someone else or uncover more of what had happened, then that was going to be positive. And then of course it took off like no Tomorrow, and then you know, the book off the back of that is really my story, And yes, Hamish is a part of my story. He's

not the only thing that's ever happened to me. It won't be the last tricky thing that I go through my life, so it's just a part of it. But I really wanted to use the opportunity to educate women, especially about this type of fraud and scams and fraud more generally, because it's everywhere right now. And I think we work so hard for our money and we've got a hold onto already behind, Like as women, we're already behind.

I think my favorite thing about your book is like it's awesome, it's inspiring, but obviously this was so significant and to be allowed to delve into your life, like to know what life was back before, what life was like during, and now how you've rebuilt yourself. I think that we can all take a leaf out of that book and just go Wow, if she can do it,

anyone can. And I think you were saying at the start of this episode, like we can all make money, Like we can all put ourselves in the best possible position, Like we just have to pull our fingers out. And we talk a lot on this podcast about people having their heads in the sand about finance because it is overwhelming. It is really scary. Yeah, this stuff is going to stay scary until you become educated. Tracy, what's life's like today you've started to rebuild. How's your daughter? Oh, she's

great because she's fourteen, so that's good time. But she's fantastic. And yeah, life's busy, there's a lot of sport, there's a lot of activities. I am doing this full time, So I'm working with corporates and writing workshops for retirees to help protect them against scams and fraud when it comes to technology. So I am just delving deep into this world and you know, working with banks and government

on advocacy. Yeah, it's I'm loving it. So life is someone just come along and helped you sweep it under a rug and rebuild again. And you're like, I see that. It doesn't define me, but I found a purpose and I'm going to put so many people in a better position because of my life. I'm obsessed. Yeah, and it is. It's very purposeful. And I think sometimes we strive our whole lives to find our purpose, and when you've worked in corporate a long time, that doesn't always kind of correlate.

And now I'm in a place where I can use all the skills I've built over my twenty five year career and put it to good use and hopefully help people and help make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else. I'm obsessed. I have so much gratitude for you and the work that you're doing in this space because it is so essential. I know that I'm really quickly running out of time with you. I have one last question. It's a little bit pervy. Oh okay, well you ever

get back on the dating apps? Never back on the dating apps? Never, You're like, absolutely not. That didn't work out for me to start. God for life, Scar the Live. I think there are you know, some things I am happy to try again, but definitely not that. But no, I do have a beautiful man in my life. He's amazing. I've known him for twenty four years. So oh, I love the can do a proper ID check, yes check, get it, get the Hundle points of ID. Yeah. No, I've known him for a long time and we were

sort of bestiaes when all of this happened. So yeah, but anyway, so yeah. Isn't it funny how the world works out? It's just the universe is just finally delivering. I love this. Thank you Universe, and thank you Tracy.

This story is honestly so trash, but if you have changed it into something that is aw inspiring, and I'm just so proud to get to say that I know you and we are backing absolutely everything that you do guys, if you haven't read it yet, The Last Victim is out now and I have got my hands on a few copies, so we will be announcing on socials how we're going to give those away. But if you want to go and pick one up, we will link to Tracy's website and where you can purchase it online in

the show notes. Tracy, again, thank you so much for sharing your story. Thanks for having me mee. The advice shared on She's on the Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's on the Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial.