
Inside the crime wave targeting innocent Aussie grandmothers
The bombshell revelations are uncovered on 7NEWS Spotlight as journalists Michael Usher, Mylee Hogan and Denham Hitchcock go undercover in Brazil, Japan and Hong Kong to expose the cruel deception of online romance scammers.
It comes just days after a Brazilian judge cleared Veronica Watson, 59, of drug smuggling after she was found with 1.5kg of cocaine leaving Sao Paulo Airport last December.
The Queensland grandmother has always maintained her innocence and says she was scammed by a man posing as a love interest.
'I trusted him. He said he loved me,' she told Spotlight.
'I thought we were going to get married.'
In December, Perth grandmother Donna Nelson was sentenced to six years behind bars after smuggling 2kg of meth in a suitcase into Japan's Narita Airport in 2023.
The 59-year-old said she received the suitcase from a man she met on social media in 2020, and brought it from Laos to Tokyo as instructed. A sketch of Donna Nelson at her drug smuggling trial. Credit: 7NEWS / 7NEWS
The judges acknowledged Nelson was a victim of an online romance scam, but said she should been suspicious enough to not carry his suitcase.
Nelson's lawyer, Rie Nishida, said the verdict was a 'very unreasonable decision'.
'We need to talk with Donna but we will fight until the end, until she gets freedom,' she told reporters outside court last year.
'She's devastated but she's a strong woman so we will discuss and prepare for the next fight.'
Nelson's family have since confirmed they will be appealing the verdict.
'These online relationships were real, in both cases they went on for two and a half years (with) messages and video calls,' Hitchcock said.
'This is a new type of scam, insidious, evil and cruel.
'We're not just telling these women's stories; we're attempting to track down the people who destroyed their lives and show how it can happen to anyone.'
Love Mules airs on 7NEWS Spotlight on Sunday at 8pm on Seven and 7Plus.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

AU Financial Review
12 hours ago
- AU Financial Review
AFP charge Chinese woman with foreign interference
Australian Federal Police have charged a Chinese woman with foreign interference relating to the covert collection of information, in a case that raises the risk of sparking renewed tensions with Beijing. The woman, who is an Australian permanent resident, was arrested and charged on Saturday after police searched homes across Canberra, AFP Assistant Commissioner Stephen Nutt said on Monday. More arrests were expected, he said. Bloomberg


7NEWS
12 hours ago
- 7NEWS
Never-before-seen footage shows Erin Patterson questioned by police at the dining table where relatives were poisoned
Never-before-seen footage shows Erin Patterson calmly questioned by police at the table where three of her relatives were poisoned. The first released footage shows Erin Patterson inside her Leongatha home in Victoria on August 5, 2023, a week after the 50-year-old served a beef Wellington laced with death cap mushrooms. WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Vision of Erin Patterson grilled by police released. Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today The footage was tendered as exhibits during Patterson's trial, but was only released to the media on Monday. Seated at the same dining table where she hosted the deadly lunch, Patterson appears composed as she speaks with a detective, even handing over what police later suspected was a dummy mobile phone. 'Thanks for your patience today, Erin,' Detective Sergeant Luke Farrell says. 'We're completing our search. The only outstanding item is that mobile phone that you've got there, so I'll seize that from you.' Farrell then asks Patterson for the PIN to her phone, and she offers two possible combinations, saying she can't remember which one is correct. The phone later unlocked without a PIN code. 'Makes your job easy,' Patterson says. 'We were later to find out that the police believe there was a second mobile phone, so perhaps that helps to explain why she is so calm,' criminologist Dr Xanthe Mallett said. The phone, a Samsung Galaxy A23 nicknamed Phone B, was one of four devices owned by Patterson. Investigators believe it was factory reset once before and then remotely wiped again after it was seized. Prosecutors told the court the Samsung device contained no significant data. Meanwhile, the main phone Patterson used before the deadly lunch, known as Phone A, was never found. Another piece of footage released on Monday shows Patterson dumping a food dehydrator she used to dry the death cap mushrooms. She attempted to dispose of it four days after the lunch, but police later recovered it, with samples of the deadly fungi still found on the trays. On July 7, Patterson was found guilty of murdering her husband Simon Patterson's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, as well as attempting to murder Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson. The mother-of-two maintained her innocence throughout the trial, claiming the poisonings were accidental. She is yet to be sentenced, and remains in custody at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, a maximum security prison for women in Melbourne's western suburbs.

Sydney Morning Herald
13 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Woman faces 15 years in jail for reckless foreign interference in Canberra
A Chinese woman has been charged with reckless foreign interference after she was allegedly tasked by China's Public Security Bureau with spying on an Australian-based Buddhist group. AFP Assistant Commissioner Stephen Nutt said on Monday that the woman, who is also an Australian permanent resident, was charged after search warrants were carried out at Canberra residences on Saturday. The reckless foreign interference charge carries a maximum sentence of 15 years' jail. 'The AFP has alleged the woman … was tasked by China's Public Security Bureau to covertly gather information about the Canberra branch of the Guan Yin Citta, a Buddhist association,' Nutt said. The woman's appearance in the ACT Magistrates Court on Monday comes just days after ASIO boss Mike Burgess sounded the alarm that Australia was increasingly becoming a target of espionage, costing the government more than $12 billion per year. Nutt said the woman's alleged 'covert and deceptive conduct' aimed to collect information on the Buddhist group to support intelligence objectives of the Chinese government agency. Loading He said Operation Autumn-Shield, launched in March after receiving intelligence from ASIO, was ongoing and that more people could be charged. The investigation did not include dealings with the Chinese embassy, but Nutt declined to give further details, including information that could lead to the identification of the woman, because the ACT Magistrates' Court had issued a suppression order. Items, including electronic devices, were seized during the Canberra raids and will undergo forensic examination, the AFP said in a statement.