A serial scammer has been branded ‘cruel’ and ‘sick’ after grooming and dating the 16-year-old granddaughter of one of his victims.
Hamish McLaren, 54, took $70 million from dozens of victims worldwide by posing as an investment fund manager and promising huge returns.
He preyed on elderly couple Lorraine and Peter, who ultimately lost $1.65 million in his scam.
But McLaren wasn’t content with stealing their money and started dating their 16-year-old granddaughter ‘Jane’, who had originally dated his stepson.
“I actually think he groomed her from about the age of 15 or 16 when I look back on it,” Lorraine said in the Channel Seven documentary King Con: The Life and Crimes of Hamish McLaren.
She added: “What he did to Jane was just despicable. He’s a very cruel man, a very sick man.’
Hamish McLaren, 54, took $70 million from dozens of victims worldwide by posing as an investment fund manager and promising huge returns
Peter said the relationship with McLaren, who was 51 at the time, irrevocably damaged their granddaughter’s life.
“Good at sports, good at everything really and she’s just a mess now,” Peter told the programme.
McLaren has been courting her by making trips and promising that he could get her to Princeton for college.
McLaren was given a 16-year prison sentence for his crimes in 2019, later reduced to 12 years.
Forensic psychologist Dr. Shohom Das said McLaren’s pursuit of a 16-year-old showed he had “no moral compass whatsoever.”
“He appears to be sexually attracted to this 16-year-old girl, while lying to his own wife Bec and ripping off this young girl’s grandparents,” he said.
“This really shows that there is almost no line he won’t cross, there is no level of depravity he won’t stoop to.”
McLaren’s crimes were featured in The Australian’s award-winning podcast Who The Hell Is Hamish?, which explored how he defrauded people since the 1990s.
McLaren (pictured) was given a 16-year prison sentence for his crimes in 2019, which was reduced to 12 years on appeal
His other victims included Australian fashion designer Lisa Ho and single mother Tracy Hall.
Ms Hall, from Sydney, met McLaren in 2016 under a pseudonym he used called Max Tavita.
He eventually convinced her to pocket $317,000 – her entire life savings.
“He won my trust through the image he portrayed,” Ms Hall previously said.
“The Max Tavita I knew was a Chief Investment Officer of a family office hedge fund, so there was a story that he had built over time.”
McLaren’s crimes were featured in The Australian’s award-winning podcast Who The Hell Is Hamish?, which explored how he had defrauded people since the 1990s