Canberra woman accused of dating scam claimed to have Michael Clarke's baby

A 26-year-old Canberra woman who allegedly told a man she met on a dating website that she had a son to former Australia skipper Michael Clarke was charged on Tuesday with defrauding four more men of more than $160,000, using the Plenty of Fish website to lure the men.

According to court documents, Crystal-Lee Lancaster told one of her alleged victims that she was a sports doctor who had worked for the Australian cricket team, as well as the Queensland Maroons and South Sydney Rabbitohs. She also told him she had a son to cricketer Michael Clarke, she suffered from diabetes and when she was 14 she had liver cancer.

She is alleged to have asked one of the victims to borrow money to pay medical expenses for her diabetes and for school fees after he told her he had received more than $260,000 in inheritance after the death of his father. The man allegedly handed over $61,490 in 24 separate transactions between October 2015 and April 2016, which he said he believed was a loan, not a gift.

She allegedly started asking for money every few days, saying she needed it for things like chemotherapy and insulin and $15,000 for her son’s school fees.

Possible doctored documents

“At no time was he ever just giving her the money,” court documents read, as reported by ABC Radio Australia.

The documents said after his final payment, he discovered on Instagram that the photos Ms. Lancaster used in her Plenty of Fish profile were not of her, which Ms. Lancaster admitted, and she made four payments back into his account over the next two months, amounting to $3,750. There were four other alleged victims, dating back to 2011, who also lost varying sums, including one who allegedly gave her more than $128,000.

An inquiry with the register of Births, Deaths, and Marriages showed no records of her having a child. Police said she also admitted she did not have diabetes, and her only job has been at a childcare center. She did not apply for bail and will be back in court later this month.