Last year, Colleen Lingwood was on her deathbed, with friends having gathered to say their final words before she passed away from organ failure related to listeriosis.

Those present, including Colleen’s friend, Corinna Tannian, were told that she had been taken off life support, with the expensive treatments she had received not enough to return her to health.

Imagine Corinna’s surprise, then, when she learned that Colleen was still going strong a year later, although she is now facing charges of more than 100 counts of fraud, along with husband Andrew.

One of those charges stems from the fact that Corinna deposited R5 000 into the Lingwood’s private account, ostensibly contributing towards the cost of a surgeon to fly into Johannesburg and perform an expensive medical procedure.

This from TimesLIVE:

Days later, when the surgery still hadn’t gone ahead, Tannian became suspicious.

It was only months later, in October, that she learnt that dozens of criminal cases had been opened against the couple at the Sandton police station — not just relating to the illness donations, but also against Colleen’s company, Genie in a Phone, which promised reduced deals on timeshare vacations.

Another complainant, Dionne McNellie, in her statement to the police, said Colleen [above with husband, Andrew] would promise to make bookings at resorts. While she would book them, she would not pay the balance of the money she had taken from her clients.

McNellie said that due to a series of luxury holidays she had booked for herself, relatives and her pastor, and having donated R21,000 to Colleen’s “surgery”, she was robbed of at least R170,000. McNellie is also due to testify.

In total, the Lingwoods are estimated to have defrauded more than 140 complainants, to the tune of at least R1,5 million.

If you’re thinking this would make a good Carte Blanche episode, you’re not alone:

I guess now we wait.

The couple appeared in the Randburg magistrate’s court last Monday, with the prosecutor saying he had 26 dockets at the time. That number is expected to double by their next court appearance, scheduled for this week.

It seems incredible that the Lingwoods think they could get away with something like this, especially in the age of social media, but I guess sometimes you develop a taste for scamming and you have to scratch that itch.

At this stage, the couple’s legal representation, Herman de Klerk, has refrained from commenting publicly.

[source:timeslive]