A ‘scumbag’ trickster left a blind woman penniless after scamming her out of hundreds of pounds by falsely claiming she had cancer.
Last year, MailOnline exposed how ‘scumbag’ Zoom tutor Louise Handley, 51, from Derby, made thousands by tricking caring parents into giving her thousands for hoax classes.
Now a blind youngster who scrapes by with the help of a disability grant has lifted the lid on Handley’s latest con.
Ana Cloudy, 22, from the West Midlands, has been blind from birth and receives a disability grant from her council so she can survive. She uses a specialised program to send messages.
After Louise Handley befriended her on Facebook, Ana said she was manipulated into giving Handley £500 — leaving the disabled youngster penniless. Although Handley said she would return the money, she never did.
Ana said Handley had changed her style of scamming since last year and gone to the ‘next level’ with ‘completely different tactics’ to con people out of money.
She told MailOnline: ‘She made me feel that she would take her own life. Her tactic was cry, cry, cry, until I felt really bad.
Louise Handley, 50, (pictured) from Derby, is thought to have has made thousands by preying on caring parents who wanted their children to have extra tutoring to do better at school
Speaking to MailOnline, parents and even friends of Handley have lifted the lid on the ‘scumbag’ trickster (pictured)
After hearing Ana was sad about a loved one who was ill and had spent the day crying, Handley immediately asked if she could give her more money
Ana Cloudy, 22, who is blind and uses a specialised program to send messages said ‘serial scam artist’ Handley manipulated her into handing over hundreds of pounds
The young blind woman was left penniless and although former teacher Handley said she would pay her back, she never did
‘She’s desperate. I felt I had to help out, otherwise there was going to be a tragedy in the family.’
Nine different County Court Judgments from 2018 to 2022 that show Handley has unpaid debts of £8,922. However, it is feared the total of sums involved may be much higher.
Ana first met Handley after she received online hate for posting a message on a Facebook group saying she wanted to send flowers to a missing person’s family.
She said Handley comforted her, which sparked what she initially thought was a genuine friendship.
I have lost £500. It was my disability money… I feel betrayed. She manipulated me into this.
Ana said: ‘She sent me a message to say, ”It doesn’t matter that you didn’t know him. Don’t be discouraged.”
‘We talked a few days before she started to really talk about her financial situation in terms of it being really bad.
‘She said she had hardly anything to eat and has to care for Ryan [her 18-year-old son].
‘I said, ”If there is anything to live for, it is helping others.”
‘Offering to help was my one mistake. She realised that I would be someone who was willing to help.’
Ana said Handley also told her she had cancer and that her son Ryan, 18, was also visually impaired and had postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS).
Handley sent Ana encouragement in now-deleted messages (pictured acknowledging them here)
At the start of their sham friendship, Handley found out that Ana was a selfless person who believed ‘if there is anything to live for, it is to help others in need’
While it is true that Ryan is visually impaired and has PoTS, Handley has never provided proof for her claim of having cancer – despite repeatedly promising MailOnline that she would.
Ana added: ‘When she was hungry and poorly she would say, ”I have no one,” even though I would say, ”You have me.”
‘I would get concerned. What could she do to herself?
‘I know from my own mental health that I don’t want to be here because I’m blind.
‘But I have a stable support network. She’s a cancer patient, I thought. I would freak out. It would take nothing for somebody like that to hurt herself.
‘I contacted the police [to ask them] to do a welfare check on her [but they said it was a job for social services.]’
‘Before she was targeting families. Now she is targeting vulnerable people.
‘She’s applying psychological pressure to these people to make them feel awful and give the last of their savings to her.
‘It’s madness. She can’t be allowed to do this. She is making money out of people’s tears.
‘I still call her Lou. Maybe I love her still. I trusted her. I’m hoping this can be stopped once and for all.’
Facebook messages from Handley show that the trickster asked Ana for money to pay for NHS prescriptions.
However, she had already told Ana she received Universal Credit, meaning she would be entitled to free prescriptions if her monthly take-home pay was less than £935.
Ana said Handley manipulated her with messages saying she had been ‘let down’ by her friends who didn’t send her Tesco vouchers
The twisted scammer told Ana, ‘I’m a burden,’ before adding, ‘I have no one. I’m so hungry’
Ana sent Handley £500 in total after Handley approached her on a Facebook group for missing people
After Ana said she didn’t have any money left, Handley said: ‘Sorry to ask. I was going to get another prescription. Never mind’
Handley claimed she didn’t ‘really have any’ friends. One of her former classmates said she used to be a ‘lovely’ girl from a ‘well-to-do family’ who lived in a ‘nice area’
She mentioned her 18-year-old son Ryan’s financial needs on multiple occasions
It was only when Ana returned from going away to see her family earlier this year that she started to think something might be wrong.
She said: ‘As soon as I came back it straight away appeared to be Ryan’s 18th birthday.
‘She said she needed to buy a gift for him. I only had £35 left at the time. I sent her a Tesco voucher worth £25.
She made me feel that she would take her own life [if I didn’t pay her my money.]
‘I said, ”That’s it, that’s all I can give you. Lou, I have nothing more to give.”
‘My gut told me to look her up and I saw MailOnline’s article.
‘When I confronted her about it, she said, ”Do you really think I would lie? I do have cancer.”’
Ana blocked Handley but said she never went to the police because she was terrified her parents would find out and be angry with her.
In tears, she added: ‘They know I am wise enough not to throw money about. But I have lost £500 to that c***.
Handley promised to return the money Ana gave to her but never did
On one occasion, after receiving £80 from Ana, she said: ‘You didn’t have to do that. I will send it back next Tue’
‘It was my disability money. If they realise I have thrown it in the trash – money that the council gives me to live – I couldn’t face them.
‘I would rather fall to the grave than them being aware of it all.
‘I feel betrayed. There was a personal connection. I was able to talk about stuff that troubled me.
‘She said I was the one who she can trust and looks after her, because I care.
‘She manipulated me into this. Why would she do this to me? I helped her out. She called me kind.
The former teacher said: ‘I wanted to have something to eat and drink. But if you are tired I understand’
She added: ‘I have 20 left for food. Not good. I have a child to support. That will last a day.’ Ana replied: ‘I know honey but there’s nothing I can give you’
Handley claimed she received Employment and Support Allowance but had to ration food
Louise Handley later told Ana it was ‘scary when I have no electricity’
‘I feel almost like she anaesthetised me when she provided me with encouragement and support and then she threw a bullet in me with her scams.
‘I have the scars left by her. I have the pain from it. I haven’t been able to cry until now.
‘I just don’t know what I’m going to do.’
Addressing Louise Handley, she said: ‘I have seen my loved ones die of cancer and here you are using it to commit such horrific crimes – both legal and moral.
‘I did everything for you. You have taken advantage of my vulnerability and the fact that I help people.’
Handley also claimed she couldn’t afford painkillers and ‘cannot afford to eat’
She claimed that despite being on Universal Credit, she didn’t get free prescriptions from the NHS
She said: ‘I have a prescription for the antibiotic ear spray but can’t pay the fee’
She claimed ‘prescriptions are certainly not free for most people.’ However, the latest figures show that 95 per cent of prescription drugs were exempt from charges
Handley claimed that she had a cancerous tumour in her bladder. She told MailOnline she would send proof of her cancer on multiple occasions but has never done so
According to one of Handley’s friends from college, she used to be a ‘lovely’ girl from a ‘well-to-do family’ who lived in a ‘nice area’.
However, her life seems to have gone downhill after she left college.
The friend, who was in the same psychology class as Handley, said after a school reunion years later, the con artist started begging her college friends for money.
Screenshots of messages show Handley asking for money to book taxis and pay her rent.
Louise Handley denied she had scammed people and lied about having cancer.
When approached this year, she said: ‘I’m just an ordinary person. I’m not scamming people.
‘I may not be here for much longer [because of the alleged cancer].’
Although Handley has promised on multiple occasions to provide proof of her cancer, she has never sent any.
When Ana confronted Handley MailOnline’s previous investigation into her alleged scams, she said they were ‘lies’
She told Ana she would be ‘happy to show you medical evidence’ of her cancer but never did
Action Fraud has received multiple complaints about Handley, including one from Ana that the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau at the City of London Police were assessing.
Pauline Smith, the former Head of Action Fraud, previously told MailOnline: ‘With more than 850,000 reports coming into the NFIB each year, not all cases can be passed on for further investigation.
‘Reports are assessed against a number of criteria which include the vulnerability of the victim.
‘However, the reports most likely to present an investigative opportunity for local police forces, those where a crime is ongoing and those that present the greatest threat and harm to the victim or victims concerned, are the ones that are prioritised.’
