Love Mules: 7NEWS Spotlight investigates devastating crime wave targeting innocent Aussie grandmothers
A global investigation has uncovered the devastating crime wave targeting and manipulating innocent Australian grandmothers into international drug mules.
The bombshell revelations are uncovered on 7NEWS Spotlight as journalists Michael Usher, Mylee Hogan and Denham Hitchcock go undercover in Brazil, Japan and Hong Kong to expose the cruel deception of online romance scammers.
It comes just days after a Brazilian judge cleared Veronica Watson, 59, of drug smuggling after she was found with 1.5kg of cocaine leaving Sao Paulo Airport last December.
The Queensland grandmother has always maintained her innocence and says she was scammed by a man posing as a love interest.
'I trusted him. He said he loved me,' she told Spotlight.
'I thought we were going to get married.'
In December, Perth grandmother Donna Nelson was sentenced to six years behind bars after smuggling 2kg of meth in a suitcase into Japan's Narita Airport in 2023.
The 59-year-old said she received the suitcase from a man she met on social media in 2020, and brought it from Laos to Tokyo as instructed.
The judges acknowledged Nelson was a victim of an online romance scam, but said she should been suspicious enough to not carry his suitcase.
Nelson's lawyer, Rie Nishida, said the verdict was a 'very unreasonable decision'.
'We need to talk with Donna but we will fight until the end, until she gets freedom,' she told reporters outside court last year.
'She's devastated but she's a strong woman so we will discuss and prepare for the next fight.'
Nelson's family have since confirmed they will be appealing the verdict.
'These online relationships were real, in both cases they went on for two and a half years (with) messages and video calls,' Hitchcock said.
'This is a new type of scam, insidious, evil and cruel.
'We're not just telling these women's stories; we're attempting to track down the people who destroyed their lives and show how it can happen to anyone.'
Love Mules airs on 7NEWS Spotlight on Sunday
at 8pm
on Seven and 7Plus.
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