A grandfather has been forced to watch his home be repossessed after a romance scam wiped out his entire $300,000 in life savings.

Perth man Lyle Lambie, 80, was looking for love online when he thought he had met a woman from overseas on Facebook.

'I thought it was a genuine woman,' Mr Lambie told Seven News. 

'She was saying she's madly in love with me and everything.'

The red flags he missed began early in the online relationship when the scammer requested money through prepaid gift cards.

'A few times she said she was in hospital and needed help,' Mr Lambie said 

'I paid [for an] airfare from America to Australia and paid for passports and everything else and it was just never-ending.'

Over three years, Mr Lambie lost $300,000 and he has now been forced to leave his home after living there for more than two decades. 

He could only watch as removalists packed up his belongings, his furnished rooms now empty except for a handful of boxes. 

'Devastated. Absolutely devastated,' Mr Lambie said.

'I lost everything.'

He wants to publicly share his story to warn other Aussies.

'Just be wary and stay away from scammers,' Mr Lambie said. 

'It's online because they're out to get everything out of you as much as they can.'

Australians made a combined total of 481,523 scam reports in 2025, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

Of these, 274,577 reports involved financial losses totalling $2.18billion.

Romance scams cost Australians an estimated $139.9million last year, the third most costly category behind investment and phishing scams.

Australians aged over-65 accounted for 26.5 per cent of total losses reported to Scamwatch.  

'Scammers will rely upon secrecy so the most important thing is to talk to people you trust about what you're experiencing and also to never send money,' Consumer Protection WA's John McMaster warned. 

Victims who suspect they have been scammed are urged to alert authorities.

'Without people speaking up, we simply wouldn't have the insights needed to track and disrupt scam activity,' ACCC deputy chair Catriona Lowe said.

'We encourage people to report suspicious activity so we can continue improving our understanding and response to scams.'