Con artist and cancer faker who lied about being terminally ill to swindle more than $100,000 from taxpayers will spend LONGER in jail after more of her lies were uncovered

  • Hanna Dickinson is in jail for swindling $100,000 for fake cancer treatment
  • Dickinson, 28, was jailed for 12 months last November over the elaborate scam
  • On Thursday she was given another four month sentence in a Melbourne court
  • Dickinson had faked a reference letter from her employer to use in court 

By Eliza Mcphee For Daily Mail Australia and Aap

Published: 11:45 BST, 14 October 2021 | Updated: 11:53 BST, 14 October 2021


Hanna Dickinson, 28, told her loved ones about she had a rare form of cancer and fraudulently obtained more than $100,000 in Disability Support Pension benefits between January 2014 and October 2018

Hanna Dickinson, 28, told her loved ones about she had a rare form of cancer and fraudulently obtained more than $100,000 in Disability Support Pension benefits between January 2014 and October 2018 

A cancer scammer who was jailed for lying about being terminally ill will spend even longer behind bars after she was caught in another fabrication.

Hanna Dickinson, 28, told her loved ones she had a rare form of cancer and fraudulently obtained more than $100,000 in Disability Support Pension benefits between January 2014 and October 2018. 

She was sentenced to 12 months behind bars in November last year and on Thursday was given another four-month sentence after pleading guilty to making a false document at the Melbourne Magistrates Court.

Dickinson forged a fake reference letter from her manager at aged and disability support service HenderCare to use in court, the Herald Sun reported.

Her manager had no knowledge the reference had been attributed to her or used in a court plea during February last year after Dickinson pretended to be someone else to secure a $30,000 car loan.

The scammer on Thursday was also fined $1,500 for illegally obtaining a mobile phone after using a former friend’s email for an iPhone contract worth $2,500.

Dickinson’s lawyers on Thursday said she’d been caring for other inmates’ babies while in prison and had shown ‘compassion and empathy’. 

Her string of lies first began in 2013 when she told loved ones she had been diagnosed with leiomyosarcoma, a rare cancer that affects smooth muscle tissue.  

The conwoman was handed a two-and-a-half year jail sentence in Victoria’s County Court last November over what Judge Sarah Dawes described as ‘disgraceful’ lies, but Dickinson was only ordered to serve 12 months.

Serial con artist and cancer faker Hanna Dickinson (pictured) will spend another four months in jail after submitting a fake reference in court

Serial con artist and cancer faker Hanna Dickinson (pictured) will spend another four months in jail after submitting a fake reference in court

Serial con artist and cancer faker Hanna Dickinson (pictured) will spend another four months in jail after submitting a fake reference in court

The order meant that after she served 12 months she could then be released on a $1000 recognisance order requiring her to be on her best behaviour for three years. 

Her elaborate scam involved faking medical documents, including one purporting to be from a doctor and another from a surgeon, to claim the disability pension.

She said she was about to start chemotherapy and was looking at overseas treatment options.

Dickinson even tricked her own mother, who in 2014 told Services Australia that her daughter only had three months to live. 

While telling her lies she conned friends and family into raising $41,770 for treatment for a cancer she didn’t have and was given a two-year community corrections order in 2018.  

But Dickinson breached that by falsifying documents to get the $30,000 car loan and was subsequently jailed in June of last year.

She was still behind bars when she was given the 12-month sentence in November, 2020. 

The court heard she’d used the money she’d swindled to fund her partying and lavish lifestyle, while also taking overseas trips.  

Hanna Dickinson (pictured at a previous court appearance) claimed she had terminal cancer so she could collect more than $100,000 in disability payments

Hanna Dickinson (pictured at a previous court appearance) claimed she had terminal cancer so she could collect more than $100,000 in disability payments

Hanna Dickinson (pictured at a previous court appearance) claimed she had terminal cancer so she could collect more than $100,000 in disability payments

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