Queensland woman Amanda Maree Power has recently been jailed after faking cancer and fraudulently raising about A$24,000 from friends, family and strangers over several years – including to pay for holidays and fake medical bills.

Among Power’s victims were those diagnosed with cancer and her former employer, Cancer Council Queensland.

Power is the latest person found to have faked an illness and to have benefited financially, and in other ways.

Perhaps the most notorious, Australian Belle Gibson, was not criminally charged. She was however found liable in 2017 for breaching various consumer laws and fined $410,000. She had built a wellness empire based on a lie – that nutrition and a healthy lifestyle had cured cancer she didn’t have.

Canada’s Ashley Kirilow and Maddison Russo from the United States have also been convicted of fraud for faking cancer.

But why would someone do this? We don’t know the full details of Power’s motivations. But generally speaking, there are a few reasons why people fake illness.

Only the individual truly understands why they’re faking an........

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