WOMAN FAKED CANCER TO STEAL FROM FIANCE
CANCER SCAM
BEDFORD COUNTY, PA. • The man had known Michelle Zipp for only a few months, but he knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.
So after learning that his 31-year-old fiancée had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, the smitten Pennsylvania man decided he would do whatever it took to keep the love of his life alive. That included exhausting his bank account and taking out loans totalling US$40,000 to pay for Zipp’s cancer treatments.
But Michelle Zipp didn’t have cancer.
“It’s a really sad situation,” Bedford County District Attorney Bill Higgins said. “He felt they were engaged to be married, but obviously her intentions were different.
“What we have here is a bad person who preyed upon the heart and kind intentions of a really good person who wanted to help,” he added.
The relationship began in October after the two were introduced by a mutual friend. Higgins said he isn’t sure exactly when Zipp’s ruse began, but the prosecutor believes it was easier to maintain because the couple didn’t see each other often.
“Most of the relationship was conducted through text messaging and email and phone calls,” he said.
Higgins said Zipp persuaded the man — whose name has not been released — to take out loans to help her pay for the surgeries she said she desperately needed. At one point, the man transferred more than $6,000 to Zipp at a Walmart through moneygrams.
To keep the lie alive during the four-month-long relationship, Higgins said Zipp manufactured characters over text.
“She even sent him text messages from a reported nurse who was treating her to give him updates on her health status,” the prosecutor said.
Higgins said one of the deceitful texts from the nurse who didn’t exist informed the victim his girlfriend was in a medically induced coma. That same day, Zipp was pulled over by a state trooper, proving she was conscious enough to drive.
“She even gave him the name of the hospital she was staying at and gave him a lot of details,” Higgins said. “She told him that if she didn’t get the money for these surgeries she would die.” “She exploited him with romance,” he added.
Zipp is charged with theft by deception, which amounts to creating a false impression to rob an unsuspecting victim. The charge is punishable by a maximum of 20 years in prison.