Jasmin Mistry, 36, falsely claimed to her husband and family that she had terminal brain cancer for nearly four years to extract money worth £250,000. She claimed she had needed money for her treatment in the US but spent all of it on luxury items including handbags.
Mr. Vijay Katechia met Jasmin in 2012 on a famous online Indian dating site and six months later the two of them got married. But the groundwork for her fraud had begun shortly after her honeymoon where she started complaining about getting bad headaches, heard a court. However, her initial brain scan came back with no issues.
Fake WhatsApp account and fake cancer symptoms
Snaresbrook Crown Court was told how in 2013, she claimed she had a tumor. She had then concocted a fictitious doctor by the name of Nita Lakar and had set up a fake WhatsApp account through which she used to send regular messages to Mr. Katechia confirming her supposed medical diagnoses and treatments.
The medical secretary from Leicester would then go for hospital appointments which she would attend on her own because she wanted to show her family how "strong" she was, the court heard. And it was from 2014 when she had said it was terminal brain cancer that she had started receiving funds for her Proton Beam therapy in the US.
Prosecutor James Benson said- “She displayed to her husband the apparent symptoms – trips to the toilet to vomit, describing blood in her stools, requiring help walking up and down stairs. The defendant has plainly done some research.”
Conned about 30 victims off £253,122
But Mistry's lies extended beyond her claims of suffering from cancer where she falsely stated that she had received death threats from members of the Dubai royal family which were related to her previous employment.
Mr. Benson added- “She claimed the family were at risk of kidnapping. She said she had been assigned a security team of ex MI5 officers.”
And in late 2014 when Mistry claimed that she had only a few months to live, her husband forwarded a message asking for donations from approximately 30-35 members of his family for her treatment.
Mistry conned family and friends out of the quarter of a million pounds and fleeced almost 30 people off £253,122 including her husband Vijay Katechia, 40. All these donations were made under references such as “good luck”, “healthcare” among others.
71-year-old father in law goes to work said mother in law
Among these donations was Mistry's sister-in-law who donated her £4,700 which Jasmin sold it off to a pawn shop. Apart from her sister-in-law, Jamin's mother-in-law Puspha Katechia gave Mistry £32,000 who said she had been “emotionally wrecked” and she has been regularly speaking to “victim support”.
Mrs. Katechia in her victim statement to the court said how she has avoided “socialising” and how after all their savings were given away for her treatment, her 71-year-old husband had to go back to work. But her husband and family were not the only relatives to be part of the “pathological liars”.
Online dating website: Single status
In 2015, Jasmin had be-friended another man on a dating website where she told him that she was single and had cancer, the court heard. She went on to fake her cancer to the extent where on one instance he collected her from outside a hospital where she had worn a blue hospital band and even raised £66,000 for her treatment. After receiving the cash, she then sent him a message from a fake persona claiming she had died.
Summarising the victim's online victim statement, Mr. Benson said- “He says he was deeply in love with the defendant and being told she was alive after being told she had died came as a ‘total shock’.”
But, he was not the only other man she had lured, she had be-friended another such victim on another famous only dating website to whom she had claimed she was going to Germany for her cancer treatment.
Stock image of brain cancer from Google
Mistry was only caught in 2017 when her husband Vijay showed a “scan” that his wife had given him to a doctor friend, who said it was a “stock image” that had been lifted from Google and they later discovered a series of spare sim cards as well.
Reading his victim impact statement in court, Mr. Katechia who used to work in the financial sector space said how “we couldn't live in peace in our house” He said how it has wrecked him psychologically, emotionally and mentally and something that he will “never recover from”.
He also said to the court how he is now in substantial debt wherein he had to sell off his car, his home in India and precious jewellery. He added how it has totally ruined his faith in humanity and has questioned a lot of people's trust who donate to such causes and how he “would not wish for any individual to suffer what we have.”
Four-year prison sentence
Detective Constables Dal Riyat and Jon Bounds of the Met Police led the probe against Jasmin and found that she had spent victims’ life savings on Prada and Chanel handbags.
Judge Judith Hughes told her: “This is a terrible crime. To tell everybody you have cancer and take money from them... It’s an awful situation.”
We tried approaching Sahota&Sahota Solicitors who are Ms. Mistry's legal advisers. However, they remained unavailable for any comment.
Jasmin Mistry was handed a four-year prison sentence at Snaresbrook Crown Court after admitting fraud by false representation.
