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Norway man faked cancer to con family

The Local Norway
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Norway man faked cancer to con family
The man took regular trips to Bremerhaven in Germany for 'treatment'. Photo: Dharion|Flickr

A Norwegian man faked a ten-year battle with cancer, raising more than a million Norwegian kroner ($117,000) in donations from friends, family and strangers for his 'treatment'.

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The 46-year-old man fooled family members and friends into believing that he needed expensive cancer treatment. He also sold fake cancer treatment to cancer sufferers he met online. 

"It concerns his foster parents, in-laws, siblings, brother in-law and sister in-law," Richard Rød of the Hedmark police told Norway's Aftenposten newspaper.

In order to make his story believable, the man traveled to the German town of Bremerhaven on what police describe as holidays.

"He has also created e-mail addresses, here he has written replies in English from the fake treatment centre. He went on the actual trips to show that it was for real," said Rød. 
 
The man also solicited money from strangers on Facebook through a support group that raised 200,000 kroner ($23,500).

"This case differs from other fraud cases because of its explicit cynicism and crudeness. The issue has emotional aspects, as he has inflicted trauma on many people close to him for a long time by pretending to have cancer," said Rød.

The man is also charged with selling fake medication to two cancer patients, desperate to find a cure. "In reality, it as vitamin B that he bought from a health food shop," Rød explained. 

One of the patients paid 100,000 kroner ($11,700) for the vitamins, and the other paid 40,000 kroner ($4,700).

The man risks up to six years in prison for aggravated fraud if found guilty when the case is brought before Gjøvik district court on 8 October. 

"It's a very serious case. It involves many people hand has been going on for a long time. Among those who were defrauded are people who have sold property to help him," Rød said. 

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