A serial con artist who posed as more than 70 different people, including an orphan and a Russian gymnast, has been arrested again on new charges.
Samantha Azzopardi was arrested by Victoria Police on Tuesday, October 10, on High Street in Northcote, about 10km northeast of Melbourne’s CBD.
Police allege the 35-year-old woman obtained financial benefit through deception and has been remanded in custody over several counts of alleged deception in multiple areas in Melbourne.
The incidents are said to have occurred between August 25 and October 9, 2023.
A Victoria Police spokesperson said Azzopardi is being held in custody until she appears in court next month.
Samantha Azzopardi was arrested by Victoria Police on Tuesday, October 10, on High Street in Northcote, about 10km northeast of Melbourne’s CBD.
“Victoria Police have arrested a woman following a series of alleged deceptions in Dandenong, Brighton and Reservoir,” the spokesperson said.
‘A 35-year-old woman of no fixed address was arrested in High Street, Northcote on October 10.
“She has been accused of obtaining financial advantage through deception.”
Azzopardi made global headlines in 2013 after falsely claiming she was a 14-year-old child trafficking victim in Dublin.
She only spoke to police in broken English and communicated through drawings after she was taken into custody.
However, a major international investigation showed that she was a fantasist.
Throughout her life, Azzopardi has pretended to be various people, including a 13-year-old schoolgirl named Harper Hart and a 15-year-old Russian gymnast named Emily Sciberras.
Her exploits were told in a four-part documentary series called Con Girl.
Police allege the 35-year-old woman obtained financial benefit through deception and has been taken into custody for several acts of alleged deception in multiple areas in Melbourne
It revealed how she tricked a family into taking her in in 2010 after claiming she was a gymnast.
They had even prepared to adopt Azzopardi after falling for her alias before several documents revealed her real identity.
In October 2019, a French couple in Melbourne took her in after she claimed to be an 18-year-old woman named Sakah.
Azzopardi took the couple’s children to a psychiatric hospital a month later, where she claimed she was abused by her uncle.
More recently, Azzopardi faced Sydney’s Downing Local Court in December 2022 after pleading guilty to telling police she was a 14-year-old child abuse victim from France.
She was sentenced to 17 months behind bars when her case was heard earlier in November last year.
At the hearing in December, Azzopardi’s lawyer Stewart O’Connell said that Azzopardi “was unable to control this impulse (making false reports) at this time and the (medical) reports show unequivocally that this will not change until she undergoes intensive and received ongoing psychological support’.
Azzopardi made global headlines in 2013 after falsely claiming she was a 14-year-old child trafficking victim in Dublin
The court heard the scammer had been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and persistent depressive disorder with anxiety, with additional diagnoses suggested by various medical experts.
The court was also told that Azzopardi had been diagnosed with a condition known as pseudologiafantastica, which manifests as compulsive and pathological lying.
She had her sentence shortened to three months by the judge after it was labeled as ‘somewhat severe’.
Azzopardi must appear in the Heildelberg court on Wednesday, November 1.