SAFM’s Cosi recalls $12,000 breast cancer listener scam from 2008

The Bec, Cosi & Lehmo Breakfast show on newly rebranded SAFM has gotten to the bottom of a scandal from 2008, which could be one of the biggest scams in Australian radio history.

Following the station’s recent rebrand back to heritage name SAFM from Hit107, Anthony ‘Lehmo’ Lehmann was confirmed to join Rebecca Morse and Andrew Costello.

On Monday, Cosi recalled the time that SAFM listeners were scammed out of $12,000 by a con woman who claimed to have breast cancer. He was on air at the time and remembers the scandal well.

“Some of you may have fallen victim to this scam if you made a donation to SAFM… a massive con!” said Bec.

Cosi set the scene by sharing that the scam happened when he was hosting Breakfast with Rabbit and Amber.

It all began when a con artist called Sara Robertson from Canada made up a series of characters to feature on one of Rabbit’s ‘gotcha’ calls. After a made-up man named Blaine dobbed in his made-up wife Sarah for a ‘gotcha’ call, ‘Sarah’ confessed to Rabbit off air that she had cancer.

“She was pretending to be a Canadian trying to move to South Australia, and ‘Blaine’ was in Adelaide,” Cosi explained. “She then asked Rabbit to walk her down the isle… now she has got the radio station hook, line and sinker.”

That’s when things start to get really weird. Rabbit and SAFM wanted to give ‘Sarah’ $1,000 to help her get to Australia. “Calls start flying in with innocent people wanting to donate to this woman… calls start flowing in.”

The con artist ended up with $12,000, and used it to fly to Australia, where she spread fake ashes at Glenelg beach… and more weirdness!

Listen to the full story below: