Fraudster in trouble after scam romance

A New Norfolk man has been left bereft and in trouble with the law after apparently being duped by an online scam, feeding huge quantities of money to a fictional woman named “Margaret”.

Anthony James Hill, 69, faced the Supreme Court of Tasmania on Monday, pleading guilty to dozens of fraudrelated charges after ripping off the New Norfolk Golf Club repeatedly during 2017.

Crown prosecutor Simone Wilson said Hill was the club treasurer in 2017 when he took more than $28,000 – via 30 unauthorised transactions with its bank cards to pay for a range of goods and services, and also by directly transferring its money into his own account.

But defence barrister Pip Monk painted a tragic picture of Hill’s circumstances, explaining his crimes were committed in the context of a scam in which he was the victim.

She said he’d met a woman named Margaret via online dating in 2011 – feeding her about $200,000 over 10 years.

“He believed and was told Margaret was from Spain, living in Germany,” Ms Monk said.

“It’s likely he was in fact conversing with a multitude of different people.”

The lawyer said “Margaret” convinced Hill she was about to receive a half-million-dollar inheritance, from which she would repay him with a “windfall”.

“He was sending her thousands of dollars at a time … all with a view to her repaying him the proceeds of that inheritance,” Ms Monk said.

“He was deeply entrenched in the romance side of this scam. He got into financial stress and by 2012 he was bankrupt. By then, he was cobbling together what he could to send to Margaret.”

She admitted not all the money Hill appropriated from the golf club had gone to “Margaret”, but said he thought he’d be able to repay every cent.

Ms Monk said things went from bad to worse when Hill ran into financial hardship as a result of all the loans, for money to send to Margaret for her apparent visa issues.

“In 2017 when he took on the role at the golf club, he was bankrupt, he was lonely … and to top it all off, he was diagnosed with cancer.”

Some of the money Hill fraudulently obtained from the club was used to pay his medical bills at Hobart Private Hospital.

Justice Gregory Geason ordered Hill to undergo a home detention report, but said that didn’t necessarily mean that was the sentence he would impose. Hill, who is on bail, will return to court on November 23 for sentence.