Geez, I thought I'd met some bad eggs in the online dating world... Tracy Hall's experience sure takes the cake though. In 2016 she met Max Tavita online and for the next 18 months they built a seemingly solid relationship with great plans for the future. Until... she woke up one morning to a Crime Stoppers video of him being arrested.

Turns out, Max Tavita wasn’t Max Tavita at all. His real name was Hamish McLaren (or Hamish Watson, or Hamish Maxwell pending which day you spoke to him) and he was one of Australia’s most prolific con men. He’d stolen millions from multiple victims and Tracy Hall was his last. Her savings, her trust, her sense of safety, all gone in a blink.

We talk about the layers of betrayal, the grief of losing someone who didn’t really exist, the shame, the unraveling of trust - not just in others, but in herself. We unpacked shame and how it isolates us not just from the world, but from ourselves. And how, sometimes, telling the story is the only way to stop shame from tightening its grip.

This is one of those conversation that had me feeling like I was watching a movie, rather than speaking to a human about real life... But sometimes that is real life, isn't it?

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TRACY HALL

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Betrayed by Australia’s Greatest Conman | Tracy Hall - 907

Roll With The Punches

Betrayed by Australia’s Greatest Conman | Tracy Hall - 907