Melbourne couple Mike and Karen Taylor were living the retirement dream, travelling across the country in a campervan without a worry in the world. That was until they became caught up in an elaborate crypto scam.

What makes the Taylors’ story so astonishing is they are ordinary Aussies who appear to be far from fools.

They worked hard all their lives, owned property and built up a retirement fund worth around AU$1 million.

That entire fund has now disappeared because of a cryptocurrency scam and, at 70 years of age, Mr Taylor has had to return to work as a bus driver and sell his prized 1965 Pontiac.

The cunning crypto scam

While travelling in his campervan Mr Taylor became interested in Bitcoin and stumbled across a website he says appeared “legitimate”.

The Taylors thought they’d give it a crack with just a small amount of money. This is where they got sucked in.

Initially, the illegitimate platform did deliver big returns which prompted the retirees to inject more capital.

They were contacted by smooth-talking ‘investment managers’ and, based on the initial big profits, began dreaming of making millions.

“These guys were so, so, so good,” Mr Taylor told 7 News.

They eventually lost AU$900,000 in around eight weeks – all of their superannuation.

“To just lose it in a couple months is just devastating,” said Mrs Taylor.

The Taylors decided to speak publicly about their experience in the hope it stops others from doing the same thing.

Recently Micky revealed how hundreds of millions are being lost to fake crypto news stories.