The British woman who was featured on the Netflix crime documentary Con Mum for allegedly scamming her son and leaving him in debt to fund her champagne-sipping lifestyle has been charged with multiple counts of fraud in Singapore.
Alleged victims of Dionne Marie Hanna, 84, filed police reports after watching the Con Mum documentary, local media reports.
They accuse the Singapore resident of employing similar tactics to those shown in the documentary: faking a cancer diagnosis, claiming she wanted to give away a fabricated fortune, and name-dropping the Brunel royal family or dangling promises of hefty donations to mosques and community projects.
To unlock her so-called inheritance or fund her charitable causes, Hanna allegedly persuaded victims to transfer money for things like legal fees and setting up overseas bank accounts, The Independent reported.
The victims are said to have believed her story and reportedly sent her money, convinced they’d be paid back once her inheritance was released
The authorities claim the con mum has been linked to at least five such cases with total losses to victims exceeding $155,000.
If convicted, Hanna could face up to 20 years in prison for each of the five charges.
Con Mum, which was released on Netflix on 25 March, tells the story of Graham Hornigold, whose life was turned upside down by Hanna, claiming to be his long-lost mother.
A DNA test featured in the documentary confirmed that she was indeed his biological mother.
Presenting herself as a wealthy, illegitimate daughter of the sultan of Brunel, Hanna allegedly conned the London pastry chef and others out of over $380,000, straining his relationship and leading to a breakup.
Told through interviews with Hornigold, his ex-partner Heather Kaniuk, and other alleged victims, the film ends with a call to the con mum, who claims to be living in Malaysia.
