Australian woman gets jail time for 'despicable' cancer scam

A person holds Australian money.
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An Australian woman has been sentenced to three months in jail after lying about having terminal cancer and using donations from concerned friends and family on vacations, but her attorney says this isn't fair because she only scammed people out of $31,000.

After Hanna Dickenson, 24, told her parents she had cancer and needed to get medical treatment overseas, donations started coming in; Judge David Starvaggi said that in one case, a cancer patient donated to her while undergoing his own treatment. Since Dickenson didn't actually have cancer, the money wasn't spent on medical care, but rather on vacations and going out with friends. A donor turned her in to the police after becoming suspicious of photos she posted on Facebook, BBC News reports.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.