When Chrystal Winfield was 10 years old, her mother, Bronwyn, vanished. The 31-year-old was last seen in her Lennox Head home, in May 1993.
Her husband, Jon Winfield — the man Chrystal had always known as her father — reported her missing 11 days later.
Bronwyn has never been found. The 1993 investigation was found to have been mishandled, and a subsequent coronial inquest in 2002 determined Bronwyn's death occurred around the time she disappeared. In 2009, NSW Police announced a $100,000 reward to help solve what is now considered a cold case.
To this day, Jon continues to maintain his innocence.
Watch: The Ballarat community pays tribute to missing woman, Samantha Murphy. Article continues after the video.
Chrystal never recovered from the devastating loss of her mother. But that was just the beginning of a lifetime of pain for the now-41-year-old.
At the time of her mother's disappearance, Chrystal was already grappling with the revelation that the man she had been living with all her life, wasn't her biological father – something Bronwyn shared with her daughter shortly before she vanished.
Chrystal met her biological father when she turned 12, and they immediately clicked. While he wasn't in a position to care for her, the pair spoke daily and spent as much time together as they could, often staying with his parents on school holidays.
When she was 14, Jon moved to Sydney for work, taking Chrystal's younger half-sister with him. At the time, Chrystal couldn't bring herself to leave Lennox Head, and remained living in the small town, bouncing from family to family.
While forever grateful for the love and support of her community, the constant moving left the teenager feeling untethered, and she longed for a place to call home.
At 16, Chrystal secured her own place to rent, and she lived there while completing school in Ballina. Through it all, her friends say, she remained one of the kindest and most compassionate people they knew.
"I got Bell's Palsy when I was a teenager so half my face was completely paralysed," shares high school friend, Rennie Fletcher.
"Chrystal used to catch my school bus back to Lennox, and during those trips she'd sit next to me and chat. I remember it vividly because she used to sit on my paralysed side and act as if it were nothing and all."
A painful childhood culminating in heartache.
After turning 18, Chrystal decided to make a fresh start, relocating to Sydney to start her own business. She threw herself into her work, relishing a new chapter, but a piece of her heart always remained in Lennox Head, the place she hoped her mother would one day return to.
Over the years, Chrystal's relationship with her biological father grew stronger, but in her late twenties, she lost him to heart failure, leaving her devastating once again.
Grappling with loss and heartbreak, Chrystal closed her business, and promised to focus more on herself and her family. That decision paid off, and soon she had married and built her dream home with her new husband.
Over the next decade, Chrystal finally came into her own. For the first time since she could remember, she felt as though her life was moving in the right direction.
And then, in 2020, she gave birth to her son. And while becoming a mother was a dream come true for Chrystal, the arrival of her baby brought back painful memories of her own mother.
This, combined with the isolation of raising a newborn during the height of the COVID pandemic, sent Chrystal spiraling into severe post-natal depression. As she suffered alone, Chrystal's marriage broke down and she lost her home."
"Chrystal has endured things most of us can't even imagine, and somehow she's still the same kind, loving, trusting person we knew as kids," says Rennie.
"That is a miracle. But to the wrong type of person, it's also a vulnerability."
A lifetime of pain exploited by a scammer.
Last year, Chrystal was in the Sydney suburb of Cabramatta when she was approached by a man.
Chrystal had recently spoken on journalist Hedley Thomas' podcast, Bronwyn, which investigated her mother's disappearance.
The experience was fresh, and with old wounds reopened, Chrystal was particularly vulnerable and fragile.
Chrystal had experienced so much bad luck and trauma, says Rennie, that the scammers were able to convince her they could lift what they perceived to be a curse on her life.
At the time, Chrystal was desperate. She had been living with pain and heartache for decades, and wanted it to end. She longed for her mother.
"Desperate for closure, when the scammers told Chrystal that they could lift the shadow she felt had been hanging over her for decades, she made the irrational decision to trust them."
The scammers put in the work, taking the time to gain her trust, until eventually they requested she supply $300,000 worth of gold bullion, which they would bless and return to her.
"When she received the bullion back, she realised it had been switched for concrete, and she had been scammed," Rennie says.
This was Chrystal's life savings, money she had set aside to build a home for herself and her son.
When Chrystal's school friends – including Rennie – found out what happened to her, they wanted to help out, setting up a Go Fund Me page to try to recoup some of her savings.
"The majority of donations so far are from ex-students of Southern Cross High School, but we hope to expand on that," says Rennie.
"We can't right the wrongs of the past, but together we can return Chrystal's savings to her," Rennie writes via the Go Fund Me page.
"We can restore her dream of building her own tiny home, and a community of tiny homes to support people struggling with the cost of living.
"We can give Chrystal back her future. We can give her our love and support. And we can give her son the lifetime of happy memories that Chrystal was denied."
'Surrounded by scammers.'
According to scam investigator, Kylee Dennis, scamming has reached "epidemic" proportions globally - whether it be romance scams, remote access, fake emails - we are surrounded with it.
Making matters worse is the associated shame that often comes with being scammed, meaning many victims are too embarrassed to report it.
"When I look at my own personal life, I am receiving at least a dozen phishing emails and telephone calls daily. This is where the scammers try to put fear into the lives of ordinary Australians."
Kylee says you'll find scammers lurking almost anywhere, in the hope of finding a vulnerable victim.
"People looking for love, wanting to make their financial position better, wanting to make a better life for their family.
"A scammer's job is to manipulate and deceive their victims. You indicate an area in your life that is sad and vulnerable, and they will target that emotion."
Scammers do the work, often luring victims into trusting them over a period of time, before pulling the rug from beneath them.
One of the cruelest elements of scamming, says Kylee, is that often times, a person is mustering up a lot of strength during a vulnerable period to make a positive. change in their life, and that's when their targeted.
"Someone, like Chrystal, realising she needed closure, goes and finds a source to assist her. Making that first call to someone shows a lot of strength, unfortunately that's when the scammers pounce."
Kylee says many people believe it won't happen to them, or that they're too smart to be scammed, but, she says, it can happen to anyone.
"We are all capable of being a victim and we all need to accept and alter our negative language around victims of scams," says Kylee.
"I purchased something on Facebook three years ago and I have never received the item. Though it only cost $29, I was scammed."
According to Kylee, a scammer's primary technique is subtle coercion over a period of time.
"The shiny future, whether that be a life together, newfound wealth, finding someone, fixing an issue. The scammers will use persuasive language to ensure they get what they want, usually significant financial gain.
"Scammers will spend months, maybe even years, to obtain all the financial wealth from their victim."
Obtaining legal justice can be tricky, as often scammers are difficult to track down, and are often located overseas.
"We need to educate everyone on this type of crime," says Kylee.
"Banks are improving the way they look at scams within their banking portal. It is up to us to take a step back, and investigate before we hand over monies."
Essentially, if it sounds too good to be true, Kylee says, it probably is.
"Unless you can meet, touch, see the person in person, I would not engage with anyone," she says.
"Unfortunately, we are living in a world now where trusting someone on face value needs to be examined thoroughly.
"Scammers are skilled in persuasive language and with Chrystal, they knew she was looking for closure. The scammers will use the exact words and ideas that you are searching for. They will always have the right answer. A scammer will never say no, and you will feel that you have found your ' knight in shining armour' who will be able to solve your issues."
Kylee believes part of the problem is the shame associated with being scammed, the subsequent silence only serving to empower and embolden perpetrators.
"Share your story with others. There is so much shame and embarrassment associated with this, however, if we can talk about it in a positive light, then maybe we could make a difference."
Feature image: Supplied.