Warning: This story contains descriptions of sexual abuse against young people. The four-week trial for a former Scouts New Zealand leader charged with sexually violating boys during decades of involvement with the institution…

It all started with a simple friend request on Facebook in June last year.  

Tasmanian single mum Amanda* didn't hesitate to accept the invitation from the man, who called himself Mohammed, after also spotting him under the "people you may know" section of her own Facebook page.

"He was attractive and cute, I thought, 'Okay, why not'," Amanda told 9news.com.au. 

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At the beginning, their conversations were innocuous enough.

"It was just normal chat, 'Hello' and 'How are you today?' that kind of thing," she said. 

But, pretty soon it turned into something more. 

"We were getting along really well. We had this kind of chemistry," she said.

"Soon we were chatting every day – day and night, really." 

Mohammed told Amanda he was a cryptocurrency trader living in Washington. 

He was prolific, sending messages and photo updates of his day, along with flowery declarations of his love.

Early on in their online relationship, Mohammed made a video call to Amanda, so they could speak in person.

In the video, he appeared exactly as he did in his photos.

"I was looking at him and talking to him – it was him," Amanda said.

It would take Amanda six months to unravel a devastating truth – that nothing she thought she knew about their relationship was real – but not before she had been scammed out of about $120,000.

Amanda later found out that the photos Mohammed had been sending her of himself were actually pilfered off another Facebook profile, that of a suave London real estate agent.

She assumes the video call Mohammed made to her was a "deepfake" as the background showing during their conversation matched another video posted by the same real estate agent on his Facebook page.  

"It was so convincing, you would never know. I was completely and utterly fooled by it," Amanda said.

Stage set for scam

Amanda said it was almost three months into their relationship before Mohammed first mentioned she should invest in cryptocurrency.

"He said, 'I'm making a lot of money and I want to introduce you to it, so you can make a lot of money too'," she said.

"It was for the future we were planning together."

Amanda found out there was a Bitcoin ATM a few hours' drive from her home in Tasmania, where she could deposit $9990 a day in exchange for the cryptocurrency.

Mohammed showed her a cryptocurrency platform where he said he had already invested his money.

"He showed me a screenshot of his own account, which had about $2 million in it," she said.

To be safe, Amanda said she only bought a small amount of cryptocurrency at first, which she deposited into her trading account on the platform.

"I then tried to withdraw my money, to see if I could put it back in my account, which I could," she said.

Convinced then that the investment was legitimate, Amanda put the money back again into her cryptocurrency account.

She soon began investing larger amounts, even selling some shares she owned to buy more cryptocurrency.

But, a few months later, the cryptocurrency platform suddenly went offline.

Amanda was told it was undergoing maintenance.

Weeks went by before the cryptocurrency platform reappeared, but under a new name.

"I could still log in, my money was still there, but when I tried to withdraw it, I couldn't get any of my money," Amanda said.

It was around the same time that Amanda was starting to question everything she knew about Mohammed.

Who is the real Mohammed?

One day, she did a reverse image search on Google which led her to the social media profiles of a London real estate agent, who is entirely innocent and in no way connected to the scheme.

9news.com.au has made contact with the real estate agent whose images were used. He requested not to be identified for privacy reasons.

Amanda said when she angrily confronted Mohammed about the images, he led her to believe he was in fact the real estate agent, but had assumed a false identity to protect the public image that came with his job.

"You know me too well babe. You've seen me. I just fell in love with you because you're not after anything but just me and love," he wrote in a message to Amanda.

"I know you knew I was a big public figure but kept low."  

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Meanwhile, the operators of the cryptocurrency platform Amanda invested with suddenly ordered her to pay what they called "signal fees".

The amounts charged escalated from $US1000 ($1537) to $US1300 ($1998), and finally $US17,550 ($26,980).

"I paid the first two signal fees but then I had to stop because I knew it was not right and I was being scammed," Amanda said.

Angry, hurt and reeling from the extent of her financial losses, Amanda cut off all contact with Mohammed.

But when he reached out to her a few months later, she began speaking with him again in a bid to find out what happened to her money.

It was then Mohammed confessed to her the details of the scam. 

Amanda said her deepest sense of betrayal came when he told her he was just one of the "Mohammeds" she had been speaking to.

"I thought I was talking to one guy. I later found out I was talking to five different guys on the same account," she said.

"They were all rotating in different shifts so they were available to me all the time. All five of them shared my money."

Amanda said she had been left financially and emotionally broken by the experience, which ended in June this year, almost exactly a year after it began.

"I've been fooled, I've been betrayed. I thought I was in love and I'm still hurting a lot."

While Amanda said she felt lucky to have a job to keep her financially afloat, the amount she lost represented savings she had painstakingly put away for 25 years.

Amanda said she hoped sharing her story would help prevent others from falling victim to similar scams.

Tens of millions lost to catfishing scams 

Australians have lost more than $29 million to romance or catfishing scams so far this year, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's Scamwatch.

On average, victims lost around $11,000 each, with 2644 reports received by the agency since the beginning of this year.

The most common way for scammers to contact new victims is through dating sites and social media. 

This year has so far been an improvement on 2021, when a whopping $56 million was lost to romance scams.

Romance scam red flags

• It takes only a few conversations for someone you met online to declare they have strong feelings for you. They will often try to move your conversation from the platform where you met, asking you to communicate via chat or email.

• Their profile on the internet dating website or their Facebook page is not consistent with what they tell you about themselves.

• They may spend a long time gaining your trust  – often weeks, months or even years – before spinning an elaborate story to ask for money. 

• Their messages are often poorly written, vague and escalate quickly from introduction to love.

• If you don't send money straight away, their messages and calls become more persistent. If you do send money, they will ask you for more.

• They don't keep their promises and always have an excuse for why they can't travel to meet you and why they always need more money.

  (Source: Scamwatch)

*Name has been changed for privacy reasons

Contact reporter Emily McPherson at em********@******om.au.

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Luke Schembri has dreamed of being a pilot for as long as he can remember, inspired by his father, Jetstar captain John.

"I always wanted to fly with my dad but I never expected it to really happen," the 23-year-old told 9News.

The signs Luke wanted to follow in his father's footsteps were there from the beginning, according to his dad.

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"When kids like something, you can tell, because their eyes light up when we'd be in the backyard and the aeroplane would fly over," John said.

"I knew then that Luke had the bug, because I still do that."

Luke started his training with the Air Force Cadets when he was 14 and that led to a cadetship with Jetstar.

He was getting closer to his goal but hit a snag in 2020.

Stood-down over COVID-19, he worked at Coles, stacking shelves.

The aviation enthusiast was able to return to work and continue training and is now a fully fledged commercial airline pilot.

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In the lead-up to his first flight, Melbourne to Sydney, he was nervous but then, a surprise lifted his spirits sky-high: Luke would be making his debut on the flight deck alongside his father.

"I freaked out and gave him a quick call and asked him 'how did this happen?'" Luke said.

"He told me the story, that he's been planning it for three months."

The first flight was a success, Luke earning five stars from his dad.

"[He] picked me up on a few things I missed. He did a really good job," a beaming John told 9News.

Asked if he was proud, the Jetstar veteran replied: "100 per cent.

"[I] Don't need to add any more that, very proud, how could you not be?" he said.

An Australian is among those dead after at least 151 people were crushed when a huge Halloween party crowd surged into a narrow alley in a nightlife district in Seoul, South Korea.

A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson confirmed the death, saying it was assisting the family of the crush victim and other Australians who were at the event.

"The Australian government sends its condolences to the family and others affected by this tragic incident. We ask for the family's privacy to be respected during this difficult time," it said in a statement.

Emergency workers and pedestrians desperately performed CPR on people lying in the streets after the crush in the capital's leisure district of Itaewon on Saturday night.

Those killed or hurt were mostly teens and people in their 20s, according to Choi Seong-beom, chief of Seoul's Yongsan fire department.

He said the dead included 19 foreigners whose nationalities weren't immediately released.

Officials say the death toll could grow as 19 people among the 82 being treated for injuries are in critical condition.

Concerned relatives in Seoul have rushed to hospitals in search of their loved ones.

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Australia's Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke earlier told Weekend Today the incident was "chilling".

"Our embassy officials are highly professional and they will be working through and making contact," he said on Weekend Today.

"The death toll that we are looking at at the moment, it seems fairly inevitable that is likely to rise."

Australians concerned about the welfare of loved ones can call DFAT's Consular Emergency Centre on 1300 555 135. Those outside Australia can call +61 2 6261 3305.

Choi, chief of Seoul's Yongsan fire department, said the death toll could rise and that an unspecified number among the injured were in a critical condition following the stampede in Itaewon on Saturday night.

He said that the bodies were being sent to hospitals or a gym, where bereaved family members could identify them.

He earlier said most of the dead and injured are in their 20s.

Seoul's city government said more than 2,000 people have called a city office in nearby Hannam-dong as of midday Saturday, reporting their relatives as out of contact.

CNN Senior International Correspondent Will Ripley told Weekend Today there were more than 1700 response personnel from across the country deployed, including about 520 firefighters, 1100 police officers and 70 government workers.

"We have been here for several hours and the death toll has tripled," he said from Seoul.

Ripley said many victims were in costume at the time, making identifying people difficult.

"The fact that a lot of the victims were in costume adds another heartbreaking layer to all of this," he said.

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"It's making it difficult for these people to be investigated. You have a lot of worried families of the young people. Most late teens, early 20s, according to witnesses, who were here."

The National Fire Agency said in a statement that all of Seoul's available emergency workers have been mobilised.

An estimated 100,000 people gathered in Itaewon, near a former headquarters of US military forces in an area known for trendy bars, clubs and restaurants, for the country's biggest outdoor Halloween festivities since the pandemic began.

The South Korean government eased COVID-19 restrictions in recent months.

One survivor said many people fell and toppled to one another "like dominos" after they were being pushed by other people at a narrow downhill alley near Itaewon's Hamilton Hotel.

The survivor, surnamed Kim, said some people shouted "Help me!" and others were short of breath.

Kim described being trampled by other people for about one-and-a-half hours before being rescued, according to the Seoul-based Hankyoreh newspaper.

Another survivor, named Lee Chang-kyu, said he saw about five to six men start pushing others before one or two began falling one by one at the start of the stampede, according to the newspaper.

The stampede is the biggest disaster since 304 people, mostly high school students, died in a ferry sinking in April 2014.

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The sinking exposed lax safety rules and regulatory failures as it was partially blamed on excessive and poorly fastened cargo and a crew poorly trained for emergency situations.

Saturday's stampede will likely cause public criticism of government officials over what they've done to improve public safety standards since the ferry disaster.

TV footage and photos showed ambulance vehicles lined up in streets amid a heavy police presence and emergency workers moving the injured in stretchers.

Emergency workers and pedestrians were also seen performing CPR on people lying in the streets. In one section, paramedics were seen checking the status of a dozen or more people who lay motionless under blue blankets.

In an interview with news channel YTN, Hwang Min-hyeok, one of the visitors to Itaewon, said it was shocking to see rows of bodies laid down in the alley near Hamilton Hotel.

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He said emergency workers were initially overwhelmed, leaving pedestrians struggling to administer CPR to the injured lying on the streets.

People cried beside bodies, he said.

Another survivor in his 20s said he avoided being trampled as he luckily got into a bar whose door was open at the alley, Yonhap news agency reported.

A woman in her 20s surnamed Park told Yonhap that she and others were standing along the side of the alley while others were caught in the middle.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol issued a statement calling for officials to ensure swift treatment for those injured and review the safety of the festivity sites.

He also instructed the Health Ministry to swiftly deploy disaster medical assistance teams and secure beds in nearby hospitals to treat the injured.

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The Seoul Metropolitan Government issued emergency text messages urging people in the area to swiftly return home.

There were some deadly stampedes in South Korea in the past.

In 2005, 11 people were killed and around 60 others were injured in a pop concert stampede in the southern city of Sangju.

In 1992, a teenage girl died and dozens of others were injured during a stampede at a Seoul concert by the US pop group New Kids on the Block.

A faulty e-scooter is believed to have sparked a fire that destroyed an Aston Martin at a Sydney home.

The person living in the Northern Beaches home escaped last night's fire unhurt but about 20 firefighters were needed to prevent the blaze spreading to the rest of the property.

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Emergency services were called to Spring Cove Avenue, Manly, at 5.30pm and six Fire and Rescue NSW trucks rushed to the home.

The e-scooter was being stored in the garage of the house, which suffered only minor damage.

The car, models of which can cost into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, was wrecked.

FRNSW has warned lithium-ion batteries that power e-scooters can cause fires.

"It is not uncommon for firefighters to respond to fires which have been caused by lithium-ion battery-powered equipment such as e-bikes and e-scooters," the fire department said.

"FRNSW is urging people to do their research before purchasing, using and storing these items."

A night of violence in Melbourne's CBD has left one young man dead and others in hospital with serious stab wounds.

Senior police investigating whether the two post-nightclub brawls, just hours apart last night, were linked, described them as "disgraceful".

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Two 19-year olds were stabbed at 1.30am in a chaotic post-nightclub brawl on King Street.

Blood was splattered on the road and even on parked cars.

"It's frankly disgraceful," Victoria Police acting Superintendent Troy Papworth said.

"The community shouldn't tolerate and we won't tolerate it."

Then just before 6am on Bourke Street, two men in their twenties were stabbed.

One was killed and the other is still in hospital in a critical condition.

A 19-year-old from Broadmeadows had been arrested in connection with the fight, Victoria Police said.

No arrests have been made in relation to the man's death.

A kitchen knife was seen snapped in two and one of the victim's jeans, shoes and phone were discarded where he was treated by paramedics.

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Two young women told 9News they were partying with the victims, who'd left a nightclub, before they were set upon by up to 15 men.

Bourke Street was shut down for much of the day between Elizabeth and Queen streets as officers investigated.

"A number of incidents are under investigation and we're talking to each other but treating them as separate," Papworth said.