Samantha Azzopardi returns to court for allegedly swindling $25k from domestic violence refuges
A serial con artist who swindled almost $25,000 from two Melbourne domestic violence refuges faked a pregnancy test to get hold of much needed funds in a “cunning and sophisticated” scam.
South East
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A serial fantasist who swindled more than $20,000 from domestic violence refuges faked a pregnancy test and purported to work for a major streaming platform to fool her victims.
Samantha Azzopardi, 36, appeared in the Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court on October 9, pleading guilty exactly one year after she was arrested in Northcote.
Azzopardi appeared from the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre on Wednesday via videolink.
The court heard Azzopardi engaged in an extended period of “sophisticated” offending, amounting to six charges relating to obtaining financial advantage by deception after she scammed more than $20,000 in housing and vouchers from two Melbourne domestic violence refuges.
The court heard Azzopardi began her “cunning” ruse just 40 days after being released from a NSW corrections order for similar offending.
Azzopardi first fooled a 19-year-old Danish woman solo travelling through an intricate web of coercion, where she pretended to be an employee of Village Roadshow, a police officer, a lawyer and more while using 10 known aliases.
The court heard Azzopardi used a fake account to convince the Danish backpacker they’d been cast by the major film company to stay in low budget accommodation and film their experiences through video diaries.
Azzopardi first fronted up to a Melbourne domestic violence refuge in August 2023, claiming to be a 17-year-old from Belgium and a victim of serious family violence.
Azzopardi claimed she had been abused alongside her sister (the Danish backpacker) by their stepfather, and used an AI generated picture depicting the two women together as children.
Over a three-month period, Azzopardi scammed $24,979 from two refuges in accommodation, doctors visits, food vouchers and more.
The court heard Azzopardi went as far as faking a positive pregnancy test result to continue her “sophisticated” act.
She made efforts to look younger than she was, including modifying her appearance with facial freckle tattoos.
In victim impact statements read to the court, two family violence support workers said Azzopardi’s “abhorrent behaviour” had caused them to question their own experience in identifying true victim/survivor stories.
“Genuine victims were denied our refuge for 37 nights because a unit was being accessed by a fraud,” one worker said.
“A colossal waste of taxpayers’ resources which were poured into her sick hoax.”
The court heard Azzopardi had been formally diagnosed with severe personality disorder borderline type and psuedologia fantastica (pathological lying).
Her lawyer Joshua Bruzzichessi said Azzopardi’s offending was indicative of a coping mechanism.
“As long as she engages with her fantasy, she doesn’t engage in self-harm,” he said.
“She creates these circumstances to feel as though she’s re-enacting her past trauma and getting attention from the people she needed help from in the past.”
The court heard Azzopardi had been sentenced on three other occasions in Victoria over similar offending, with her priors dating back to 2001.
On Wednesday Magistrate Luisa Bazzani said Azzopardi’s offending was “cunning, organised and repetitive”.
“This offending is serious, repetitive, it is offending that has caused an enormous amount of damage to the victims involved and the services taken from other potentially genuine and in need family violence victims,” Ms Bazzani said.
Ms Bazzani sentenced Azzopardi to two years imprisonment with a 12 month parole period.
She was ordered to pay back the stolen funds to the domestic violence refuges and fined $700 for opening an account under a false name.
Azzopardi has spent exactly one year behind bars in pre-sentence detention so is eligible to apply for parole immediately.
