Couple takes out mortgage to save neighbor dying of cancer only to find photos of her partying on vacation

A woman was jailed for her cruel scam in which she told her family and friends that she was dying from cancer and needed help. Hanna Dickenson of Australia was 19-years-old when she wanted to travel and have fun. However, she did not have the money to do so. She came up with a plan of faking an illness. The teenager told her parents that she has a short time to live and that she desperately needed money for a lifesaving treatment.
She added that she had to travel to places such as New Zealand and Thailand for special procedures. Her parents, who are farmers in Swan Hill in Victoria, did not have enough money so they turned to friends and neighbors for help. Neighbors Nathan and Rachel Cue, who were not very well off financially, took out a mortgage on their home and donated £11,000 ($15,300) for the life-saving treatment.
The good Samaritans transferred the money to an account which they were told was that of the teen’s doctor in Germany, but it turned out to be an account that belonged to the teenager.
The parents managed to get a total of £23,000 ($32,200) for their daughter’s treatment. Dickenson took the money and traveled with it but not for medical treatment but rather to have fun and party.
One day, Nathan Cue found a photo that Dickenson posted on Facebook, which showed her drinking and partying. He did some more digging and found that she was not sick at all. After being convinced that he was scammed, Nathan filed a complaint with police and Dickenson was arrested.
In court, Defence counsel Bev Lindsay asked the judge to order restitution and spare her jail time. He argued the teen did not ask her community for money, but it was her parents who chose to reach out for help.
In addition, Lindsay said that Dickenson had since turned her life around and she works as a real estate agent and that a jail term would jeopardize her career. However, Magistrate David Starvaggi did not accept the arguments, saying that Dickenson’s parents had no idea that she was lying about her illness.
The judge said that Dickenson’s actions were “despicable” and “tear at the very heartstrings of human nature.”
Dickenson, now 24, was ordered to serve three months in jail, 150 hours of community service, and treatment for mental health issues and substance abuse.
She must also pay restitution to the victims who were scammed by her lies.