Cancer scammer gets more jail time for $ 100,000 disability pension

Cancer con artist Hanna Dickinson was jailed for another year for claiming $ 100,000 in disability pension she was not entitled to while stealing family friends.

Dickinson was leading a party lifestyle of drugs and alcohol in 2013 when she told her family that she had severe leiomyosarcoma, a rare form of cancer, and needed money to seek treatment abroad. But his claims were all lies.

His parents went to their friends who donated a total of $ 41,770, and Dickinson spent the money on trips to Thailand and Hong Kong and on heavy drinking, cocaine and MDMA.

Amid that deception, Dickinson also claimed a federal disability pension, county court heard Tuesday, received $ 100,230 in benefits between January 2014 and October 2018.

She did this on the back of three fake documents she says were written by a doctor, surgeon and oncologist and then asked her mother – who was also duped – to write a letter of support and file the pension claim on it. on behalf of.

“You had no legitimate right to any of these funds,” Justice Sarah Dawes told Dickinson.

The 27-year-old was jailed in 2018 for defrauding family friends, but successfully appealed and avoided further jail time. However, her past caught up with her in June when another judge jailed her for attempting to obtain a $ 30,000 car loan through forged documents, which violated an existing community remedial order.

On Tuesday, Judge Dawes extended the prison sentence by one year for defrauding the government. Upon her release, Dickinson, who pleaded guilty to obtaining a financial advantage through deception, will then be sentenced to an additional 18 months in prison suspended and suspended for three years to ensure she is of good behavior.

“This was a sophisticated and sustained fraud perpetrated over several years,” Justice Dawes said as Dickinson sobbed and wiped his eyes over a video link from prison.