Tracy Hall - 'I'll be the LAST VICTIM'

AFTER BEING CONNED OUT OF HER LIFE SAVINGS BY HAMISH MCLAREN, TRACY IS DETERMINED TO WARN OTHERS

- Kylie Walters

When Tracy Hall started dating Max Tavita after meeting him on a dating app in 2016, the divorced mum thought she’d found the love of her life. Almost instantly she felt a click with the handsome financial investor.

“We had similar interests in exercising and being in the outdoors,” Tracy tells WHO. “He told me he had a really big, stressful job so in his downtime, he just wanted to run and surf and those are the things I really like doing. We just spent more time together and things progressed really quickly.”

So when Max offered to help her set up a self-managed super fund, Tracy had no reason to think anything other than he was using his expertise to look after her best interests and their future. The only problem was that Max Tavita didn’t exist. 

The man that Tracy knew was Hamish McLaren. Over six years, the serial con man fleeced 15 victims out of over $7 million by directing their money into fake investment schemes that promised a high return. Instead, the cash lined his own pockets.

The jig was only up after police arrested him in 2017. But this was too late for Tracy, who had handed over $317,000 in savings and superannuation during their 18-month relationship.