Mother admits fraud: €358,000 in donations for son's fabricated cancer
A 42-year-old has confessed before the Giessen Regional Court to feigning her son's cancer for nearly three years. In doing so, she fraudulently obtained over €358,000 in donations.
Confession before Giessen Regional Court: mother faked son's cancer diagnosis
At the start of proceedings before the Giessen Regional Court, a 42-year-old has confessed to fabricating her son's cancer diagnosis over nearly three years in order to obtain a total of €358,000 in donation money. According to n-tv, the Giessen public prosecutor's office is charging the woman with commercial fraud in 13 cases and forgery of documents in two cases.
The offences are said to have taken place between September 2021 and October 2024. According to the indictment, this was preceded by a dermatological examination of the child, who was then five to eight years old, the results of which proved unremarkable and required no treatment. A clinic in Switzerland that the woman visited with her son reached the same conclusion.
Subsequently, the 42-year-old is alleged to have begun constructing a false medical history: she claimed the child suffered from melanoma and required expensive, rare treatment in the United States. According to the public prosecutor's office, she spread this claim both to her family and via media and internet platforms. Prosecutor Kai Karges stated that the donation appeals had prompted considerable sympathy — private individuals and charitable organisations donated tens of thousands of euros in some cases.
Particularly serious: the boy himself believed he had cancer, Karges said. The fraud was uncovered when the boy's paediatrician became aware of the donation appeals through social media and contacted the youth welfare office. "Then the web of lies was exposed," Karges said. The child was subsequently taken into care.
In a statement read by her defence counsel Ramazan Schmidt, the defendant admitted all charges unreservedly: "All offences are admitted without any reservation whatsoever. This applies both to the facts of the case and to the amount of each sum stated." She would make no further comment on other questions for the time being, Schmidt added — his client regretted what had occurred.
Despite the confession, the trial is continuing with the presentation of evidence. More than 20 witnesses are scheduled.
Source: n-tv