Fake doctor’s cancer fundraiser bid
On a warm summer afternoon, a woman in her late 40s moves into a small flat on a quiet suburban street in the east of Christchurch.
She has immaculate hair, wears beautiful jewellery, and dresses well.
It doesn’t take long for the neighbours to notice her. Some welcome her to the street. She’s invited to a neighbourhood barbecue, where she politely introduces herself as Rachel Armstrong.
Armstrong had moved down from Auckland, she explains, where she worked as a doctor. She recently secured a role at Christchurch Hospital as a trauma consultant for the Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) she said.
“She was phenomenal at communicating,” neighbour Esther Hanna said.
And she was generous with her time. Hanna was pregnant, and when she mentioned she’d been having heart palpitations, Armstrong assessed her and told her that she needn’t worry.
She also regularly visited a family next door – the Gardiners – to assess their teenage son Cameron’s medical condition.
Then, tragedy struck – or so it seemed.
Armstrong revealed to her neighbours that she had a brain tumour. She said it was terminal, and she had only months to live. Her dying wish was to host a charity event and donate all proceeds to the Cancer Society.
She would host the event – a charity golf day followed by a black tie dinner – in place of her own 50th birthday party at the end of May. Hanna used to manage events, and Armstrong enlisted her help to make her dream a reality. Things developed quickly.
The event would offer punters the chance to rub shoulders with New Zealand sporting celebrities at the prestigious Clearwater Golf Club, and all for a good cause. Richie McCaw would be the master of ceremonies.
It was ambitious, but Armstrong had connections.
Her wealthy former colleagues from Auckland would come down and pitch in. Plus, she claimed she knew McCaw’s wife Gemma from past events, and they’d be all too happy to help her out. It would be dubbed Par-Tee for a Purpose.
Armstrong contacted the Cancer Society and met with its staff. She cried as she told them that the event was so important to her because of her own terminal diagnosis.
She insisted that she be able to invoice ticket purchasers directly at $300 a pop, with payment going to a bank account she controlled. There was some back and forth until she eventually conceded that it was best to do this through a ticketing site, as all other parties suggested.
But the seeds of doubt were sown. When Armstrong didn’t show up to a meeting shortly afterwards with Cancer Society staff and other suppliers, the charity pulled its involvement. It had been weeks, and no tickets had been sold. The attendance had been advertised as 250 to 300 people. The golf club pulled the pin soon after. Armstrong’s neighbours grew suspicious. They searched for her on the New Zealand doctors register, Facebook and Google. None of their searches returned any hits.
Then she disappeared from the street without a trace. The neighbours posted warnings about her on Facebook in case she popped up somewhere else.
Shortly after making a complaint, one of them got a call back from police to say that Armstrong had turned herself in, and her name was actually Racheal Losanna Gray – a known fraudster.
In 2009, Gray torched her family home in a botched insurance fraud attempt. It left her, her husband and two children, aged 8 and 11, homeless.
She was charged with arson, and during her trial it emerged she’d been cheating on her husband with one of his best friends and colleagues at the Dannevirke fire brigade.
Gray also ripped off the brigade, stealing $3000 to pay debts. She was jailed for 2½ years. Her husband filed for divorce.
It emerged in court that she had five previous convictions for fraud.
In 2019, Gray made the news again after conning a man into thinking she was a travel agent before double-charging him and pocketing his holiday money – just over $2000 – for herself. She also used fake driver’s licences to hire cars she didn’t pay for.
She was jailed again, this time for a year and five months. At the time, Judge Kevin Phillips called her an “established liar” with “a footprint of serious dishonesty”.
The Press’ own inquiries have discovered that Gray pleaded guilty to more fraud and dishonesty offences in the Christchurch District Court at the beginning of April. It is believed that the charges relate to more fraud in the North Island. She will be sentenced in June.
It is also understood that police are investigating further allegations against her that don’t relate to the charity golf event.
The Cancer Society confirmed that it was approached by a woman named Rachel Armstrong earlier this year, who advised that she would personally underwrite any costs associated with the event she was organising. The charity withdrew involvement after she failed to show up to a meeting, and staff hadn’t heard from her since.
“We are obviously disappointed that the event did not come to fruition and that our team members’ time has been wasted,” strategic partnership manager Janice Porter-Hoare said.
Clearwater Golf Club had been similarly approached. “We ended up pulling out because it wasn’t stacking up for us,” general manager Aiden Berry said.
The Press has seen texts and emails from Gray to others claiming McCaw had agreed to MC the event, but McCaw’s management confirmed he was never contacted, and that they had never heard of Rachel Armstrong or Racheal Gray.
It was a lucky escape that no-one lost money from the golf event. But others who grew close to Gray didn’t feel as fortunate.
“She told us she had a brain tumour. We did so much for her and wouldn’t question things because we felt so bad for her,” Hanna said.
Nothing came of her heart palpitations, but Hanna said she was convinced that Gray was a doctor when she assessed her. “She talked the talk. She had all the terminology. It was pretty wild.”
Toni Gardiner, Cameron’s mother, said their family were just as convinced.
“People trust doctors. She knew exactly what she was doing and what she was talking about. It was very convincing. I feel so bad about it now.
“You feel stupid. You feel like you’ve been invaded. She’s been in our life, and it feels like she’s been through all our drawers and been involved in our private life.”
Gray could not be reached for comment.