# Brisbane author loses $40,000 in romance scam exposed by chicken soup message

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/im-an-aussie-who-gave-my-handsome-young-online-lover-40000-and-borrowed-from-loan-sharks-to-help-him-then-a-message-about-chicken-soup-exposed-his-cruel-scam/
- Published: 2026-11-02T01:29:49+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-02T01:47:28+00:00
- Original publisher: Daily Mail (publisher lean: Right)
- Original article: https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16257233/Jane-Musgrave-brisbane.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490
- Topics: World

## Key points

- A wrong-recipient chicken soup message exposed the romance scam.
- Musgrave lost $40,000 and took on serious debt.
- Australians reported nearly $140 million in romance-scam losses last year.

## Summary

Jane Musgrave, a Brisbane author in early recovery from alcoholism, lost $40,000 to a man she met online who claimed to love her and repeatedly asked for financial help. A message telling her to eat chicken soup when she was not ill revealed it had been intended for another woman, confirming her friends’ warnings and leaving her facing severe debt.

Musgrave said the requests began with money for the man’s mother’s medication, then continued with claims of work problems. She used credit cards and cash advances and borrowed from loan sharks, but says she did not relapse and rebuilt her life. In Australia, Scamwatch recorded nearly $140 million in romance-scam losses last year from 1,330 people, a 22 per cent rise; more than 80 per cent of losses followed online contact, and people over 65 accounted for more than a quarter.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.