SINGAPORE: The whereabouts of an alleged con woman featured in a scam documentary were revealed on Saturday ( Apr 5 ), when she was produced in Singapore’s State Courts for fraud charges.
American national Dionne Marie Hanna, 84, was arrested on Mar 28, time after , a film called Con Mum debuted on streaming software Netflix. It tells the story of how she reportedly tricked her brother, leaving him in bill, after reconnecting with him.  ,
Hanna appeared in the State Courts via videolink. She was lying on a hospital bed, dressed in a patterned clothing. An investigating official was with Hanna, who was disadvantaged.
She , was therefore handed , five counts of fraud by false picture involving three alleged victims.  ,
According to the authorities, Hannah reportedly cheated her patients through promises of investment opportunities and estate entitlements.
The subjects were asked to exchange money for legal fees and the beginning of international bank accounts, and were reportedly promised that they would be reimbursed through Hanna’s estate.
ACCUSED CLAIMED SHE IS TERMINALLY Sick
Two of the crimes are said to have occurred in France, where Hanna presumably deceived a gentleman named Paiman Supangat.
Between Mar 3 and Mar 5, Hanna is said to have told him that he needed to pay legal costs to start a bank account, and for her to enhance the input amount to him.
She is also accused of deceiving , Mr Paiman into thinking that she intended to compensate him the cash that she wanted to borrow from him to finance her private purchasing costs. She had no intention of returning the income, the command stated.  ,
In Singapore, somewhere between Feb 17 and Mar 10, Hanna claimed , that she was from the , Brunei aristocratic family, that she was chronically sick with cancer, and that she wanted to deliver her success to Mr Paiman and his child.
Her claimed health situation was reportedly used to lie another target in Singapore, Mr Mohamed Syafiq Paiman.  , She reportedly expressed her wish to deliver her prosperity to him on Mar 10 this year.  ,  ,
Hanna is suspected of deceiving a fourth victim, Mr Mohamed Ariffin Mohamed Kawaja Kamaludin, at 10 Scotts Road- the target of Grand Hyatt resort in Singapore- from Feb 13 to Feb 14.
She allegedly committed fraud by making him believe she was  , terminally ill with cancer, and expressing her intention to donate S$ 3 million ( US$ 2.2 million ) to Masjid Khalid and S$ 2 million to Mawar Community Services, a registered society to help ex-offenders.
Charge plates did not state the value of loss suffered by the alleged victims.
Singapore authorities said on Friday that , Hanna is believed to be involved in at least five instances of cheating with costs amounting to more than S$ 200, 000.
The judge granted the lawyer’s application to own Hanna remanded for a month upon her release from Tan Tock Seng Hospital, and for consent to possess her taken out for investigations into related crimes.  ,
Asked if she understood, Hanna replied “yes” poorly.
Her situation will be mentioned once on Apr 11.
Fraud MUM DOCUMENTARY
Singapore officers said that they have been receiving , information from patients since Mar 28.
The survivors just realised that they had been cheated after Hanna was featured in Con Mum, which became available on Netflix on Mar 25.  ,
Con Mum follows the experience of a London cake chef Graham Hornigold, whose existence was upended when Hanna, claiming to be his long-lost family, reappeared to him in 2020. Hanna is referred to as Dionne in the picture.  ,
Presenting herself as a powerful child of the sultan of Brunei, Hanna next proceeds to swindle Mr Hornigold and other survivors out of more than hundreds of thousands of pounds, according to the film. The innovations caused Mr Hornigold’s cut with his spouse.
The story is told through conversations with Mr Hornigold, his ex-partner and another admitted subjects of Hanna’s.
At the end of it, Mr Hornigold is shown to have a video phone with Hanna, who claims to be in Malaysia. But, media reports on the picture had placed her movements as mysterious, as Hanna declined to participate in the film.
A DNA test shown at the end of the video concludes that Hanna was really Mr Hornigold’s natural family.
If convicted of fraud by false representation in Singapore, an perpetrator may remain jailed for up to 20 years, fined, or both.  ,