British national Dionne Marie Hanna, who is at the centre of the Netflix crime documentary Con Mum, has been charged in Singapore for defrauding three people.

A statement from the Singapore Police Force (SPF) on April 4 stated that police had received several reports from victims that Hanna had approached them with investment opportunities and inheritance entitlements.

They were asked to open overseas bank accounts and transfer money for legal fees, which she allegedly promised would be reimbursed through her inheritance. The victims only realised they had been conned when she was featured in the documentary released on March 25.

The documentary tells of how the 84-year-old reconnected with her son, London pastry chef Graham Hornigold in 2020, 45 years after his birth. She claimed she was terminally ill — only to scam Hornigold and leave him in debt of around 300,000 British pounds (S$521,000).

According to the SPF, Hanna was arrested in Singapore on March 28. She is believed to have been involved in at least five cases of cheating with loss amounting to more than $200,000, based on preliminary investigations by the police.

On April 5, she was handed five counts of fraud by false representation involving three alleged victims at the State Courts, according to The Straits Times.

Court documents revealed that from Feb 13 to 14, while she was at 10 Scotts Road, the address of hotel Grand Hyatt Singapore, she'd told Mohamed Ariffin Mohamed Kawaja Kamaludin that she has terminal cancer.

Hanna also allegedly lied to him that she wanted to donate $3 million to Masjid Khalid and $2 million to Mawar Community Service.

Between Feb 17 and March 10, she told Paiman Supangat about her alleged terminal illness, claiming she was a member of the Brunei royal family and wanted to distribute her wealth to him and his son.

She also lied that she would return the money borrowed from him for shopping in France between Feb 28 and March 10. The charge stated she has no intention of returning the money, CNA reported.

While in France between March 3 and 5, she is said to have told Paiman that he needed to pay the legal fees to receive her inheritance.

On March 10 in Singapore, she also used her purported ailing condition to deceive another victim, Mohamed Syafiq Paiman, and expressed her desire to distribute her wealth to him.

The court ordered Hanna, who had appeared in the State Courts via videolink, to be remanded for a week upon her discharge from Tan Tock Seng Hospital. Her case will be mentioned again on April 11.

If convicted of fraud by false representation in Singapore, Hanna may be imprisoned for up to 20 years, fined, or both.

yeo.shuhui@asiaone.com

For more original AsiaOne articles, visit here.