{"id":277126,"date":"2025-10-04T12:31:24","date_gmt":"2025-10-04T12:31:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/277126\/"},"modified":"2025-10-04T12:31:24","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T12:31:24","slug":"alleged-gold-coast-conman-exposed-elderly-womans-life-savings-vanish-in-shocking-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/277126\/","title":{"rendered":"Alleged Gold Coast conman exposed: elderly woman\u2019s life savings vanish in shocking scam"},"content":{"rendered":"

He promised dream holidays, luxury getaways and raffle wins all sold through glamorous influencers on social media<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But behind it all was a convicted fraudster now accused of bleeding an 82-year-old woman dry.<\/p>\n

The alleged scam unfolded on the Gold Coast<\/a>, Queensland<\/a>, where pensioner Carole Curtis trusted the man at the centre of the investigation.<\/p>\n

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today \"Download<\/a><\/p>\n

7NEWS has exclusively revealed the identity of the man accused of siphoning off Curtis\u2019s life savings and exploiting her through power of attorney: Christopher Bruce Smith, a twice-bankrupt convicted conman.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am penniless,\u201d Curtis told 7NEWS.<\/p>\n

Smith is also accused of using her name to control dozens of companies.<\/p>\n

When they couldn\u2019t pay the bills, Smith allegedly convinced her to take out a high-interest mortgage on her home.<\/p>\n

\"82-year-old82-year-old Carole Curtis says she has been left \u2018penniless\u2019 after trusting the wrong person. Credit: 7NEWS\"CaroleCarole Curtis pictured with Christopher Smith who she once trusted with everything. Credit: 7NEWS\"CaroleCarole Curtis was allegedly convinced by Smith to take out a high-interest mortgage secured against her home. Credit: 7NEWS<\/p>\n

According to bank records obtained by 7NEWS, more than $2 million was deposited into Curtis\u2019s account.<\/p>\n

But more than half was transferred into another company linked to a close relative of Smith.<\/p>\n

But Smith wasn\u2019t operating alone, 7NEWS revealed.<\/p>\n

Alongside him was bankrupt Gold Coast<\/a> businessman Jay Erin David Capel, spotted in Hawaii holidaying with Smith.<\/p>\n

Jay Capel is accused of promoting dodgy investment contracts with a fake ABN.<\/p>\n

Investors were told their money would go into trust accounts.<\/p>\n

Instead, it was directed to a standard savings account in Capel\u2019s company name.<\/p>\n

In response to the accusations, Capel claimed he was just the salesman and said he believed the pitch from Chris Smith.<\/p>\n

He said the projects were legitimate and he never intended to mislead anyone.<\/p>\n

Capel admitted he was \u201cstupid\u201d to trust Smith and said he is now working to repay investors and support Curtis.<\/p>\n

There is no allegation the influencers were involved in, or had any knowledge of, the alleged scam.<\/p>\n

\"ConvictedConvicted conman Christopher Bruce Smith is accused of ripping off an elderly woman\u2019s life savings. Credit: 7NEWS\"GoldGold Coast businessman Jay Capel says he was just the \u2018salesman\u2019 in the alleged scam. Credit: 7NEWS\"JayJay Capel, influencers and victim Carole Curtis pictured together before the alleged scam unravelled. Credit: 7NEWS\"JayJay Capel and Christopher Smith seen living it up in Hawaii. Credit: 7NEWS<\/p>\n

One investor, Leah Britton, confronted Smith directly after losing $50,000 in a property deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou stole my money!\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Smith denies any involvement in fraudulent or unlawful conduct.<\/p>\n

While Curtis fights to keep her home, Smith lives in a luxury mansion with the lease still in her name.<\/p>\n

7NEWS is continuing to investigate this unfolding story.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

New details emerge of alleged armed rape and kidnapping in popular tourist spot<\/p>\n

2 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Shock new details emerge about \u2018completely avoidable\u2019 fatal crash<\/p>\n

1 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He promised dream holidays, luxury getaways and raffle wins all sold through glamorous influencers on social media. But…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":277127,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4740,64,4219,525,22236,563,1165,6459,50,255,10558,48727,5236,345,158],"class_list":{"0":"post-277126","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-crime","11":"tag-finance","12":"tag-gold-coast","13":"tag-instagram","14":"tag-lifestyle","15":"tag-money","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-personal-finance","18":"tag-property","19":"tag-queensland-news","20":"tag-queensland-police","21":"tag-social-media","22":"tag-technology"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115315912617393816","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}