Indian-origin woman jailed in UK for faking brain cancer, branded ‘pathological liar’

In 2013, Jasmin Mistry told her then husband Vijay Katechia that she had cancer, along with a supporting WhatsApp message what he thought was her doctor, Hindustan Times reported.

By Web Desk
December 15, 2018

An Indian-origin woman was sentenced to four years in jail by a UK court on Friday on charges of faking brain cancer to con friends and family out of over 2,50,000 pounds.

In 2013, Jasmin Mistry told her then husband Vijay Katechia that she had cancer, along with a supporting WhatsApp message what he thought was her doctor, Hindustan Times reported.

Advertisement

Investigations later revealed that the message had been sent by her using a different SIM card.

At the end of December 2014, she told her ex-husband that her severe brain cancer meant she had just six months to live, with further messages from another fictitious doctor suggesting that it could be treated in America — at a cost of around 5,00,000 pounds.

Katechia, his family and members of the public went on to be conned out of money over a two-year period between 2015 and 2017 in the form of donations they thought she needed for life-saving treatments.

Mistry’s ex-husband became suspicious when a friend of his saw a picture of a brain scan she had said was taken at one of her consultations.

The plot was finally unravelled after her ex-husband showed a “scan” to a doctor friend, who told him it had been lifted from Google.

Katechia also discovered SIM cards Mistry used to send messages pretending to be other people, and when confronting her, she admitted that she had lied.

Police were contacted in November 2017, and Mistry was arrested.

During interviews, she confirmed to officers that she was not terminally ill, and that she did not know why she had lied, according to Met Police reports.

It was found that 20 members of her extended family and eight others were found to have given her money. The total fraud amount was calculated as 2,53,122 pounds. The 36-year-old had pleaded guilty to the crime after her arrest last year.

Mistry, a medical secretary from Loughborough town in the Midlands region of England, was convicted of fraud by false representation and jailed for four years at Snaresbrook Crown Court this week.

Mistry, described in court as a “pathological liar”, created a fake online account of a fictitious doctor to message her husband and also posted “Stand up to cancer” messages on social media.

Advertisement