How a scammer pretending to work for AFP stole the life savings of a Queensland ... trends now

An elderly widow has been forced to sell her home after being conned out of her life savings worth almost $500,000.

Margaret, 91, thought she was helping to track down fraudsters working inside banks when she was contacted by a man claiming to be from Australian Federal Police.

Over the next 10 months, the fake police officer who went by the name of Andrew William, called Margaret almost every day with instructions on where to transfer money, which included Australian and overseas accounts.

The great-grandmother from Queensland had no idea she was being scammed of her entire savings, despite being questioned by her bank about the large withdrawals.

A heartbroken Margaret is now bravely sharing her story and the heavy toll it's taken on her life and her family in a warning to other Aussies.

'He was a smooth operator. I don't know what else I can say about him. Evil, anyway' Margaret told A Current Affair.

'I thought my days were numbered. It wasn't good. I really haven't felt the same since.

'It takes a bit of convincing to convince me of these things. I look back now and think, how could I be so stupid.'

Her son Brett added: 'I thought Mum would have been the last person to get scammed like this.'

Margaret says the scammer told her that someone at her bank was trying to steal her money and persuaded her to transfer the savings to another bank so the AFP could keep a close eye on the hackers.

Margaret says she was told not to tell her friends or family as it would threaten the police operation.

'He said people were losing all their money through the hackers and that some banks were better to deal with than others,' she said.

The transactions raised alarm bells at Bank of Queensland, where Margaret was a long-time customer.

'She (at the bank) did sort of try to say, 'are you

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