The Student Room Group

Fake Oxford University student Nicola Boardman cheats parents out of £250k

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-36093775
and
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/20/drug-addict-conned-parents-out-of-250k-by-pretending-she-studied/

"A woman who cheated her parents out of £250,000 by pretending to study at Oxford University while spending thousands on holidays and a secret marriage, has been jailed."

"Frank and Marilyn Boardman gave up their jobs and sold their home, believing their daughter's claims that she would make £3m on the strength of her academic work and pay back the money."

:facepalm:

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drugs ruin families! parents are silly for believing her.
Reply 2
Avatar for Fordrin
Fordrin
10
Original post by jneill
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-36093775
and
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/20/drug-addict-conned-parents-out-of-250k-by-pretending-she-studied/

"A woman who cheated her parents out of £250,000 by pretending to study at Oxford University while spending thousands on holidays and a secret marriage, has been jailed."

"Frank and Marilyn Boardman gave up their jobs and sold their home, believing their daughter's claims that she would make £3m on the strength of her academic work and pay back the money."

:facepalm:


What kind of sick person would cheat their parents for cash, especially after they sold the house. You'd think it would stopped there. And why didn't the parents visit her in 'uni'. Too much criticism to hand out in this crime, to both parties.
Original post by Fordrin
What kind of sick person would cheat their parents for cash, especially after they sold the house. You'd think it would stopped there. And why didn't the parents visit her in 'uni'. Too much criticism to hand out in this crime, to both parties.


one who is dependent on one of the world's most addictive substances.
Reply 4
Avatar for Doones
Doones
OP
21
Original post by Fordrin
What kind of sick person would cheat their parents for cash, especially after they sold the house. You'd think it would stopped there. And why didn't the parents visit her in 'uni'. Too much criticism to hand out in this crime, to both parties.


Answer to the first part: a drug addict.

Answer to the second part: blind love?

Considering her apparent history you would have thought the parents, or at the very least, her siblings, would have been more suspicious. And what PhD earns you £3m... unbelievable.
Original post by jneill
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-36093775
and
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/20/drug-addict-conned-parents-out-of-250k-by-pretending-she-studied/

"A woman who cheated her parents out of £250,000 by pretending to study at Oxford University while spending thousands on holidays and a secret marriage, has been jailed."

"Frank and Marilyn Boardman gave up their jobs and sold their home, believing their daughter's claims that she would make £3m on the strength of her academic work and pay back the money."

:facepalm:


Wow, this is really sad :frown:
Can you really invest in your children?

What she did was wrong but I'm surprised they didn't think 0.2kmil was excessive.

Even if she were a student, whe might just be delusional about her financial prospects. Their actions seem financially irresponsible.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by jneill
Answer to the first part: a drug addict.

Answer to the second part: blind love?

Considering her apparent history you would have thought the parents, or at the very least, her siblings, would have been more suspicious. And what PhD earns you £3m... unbelievable.


It's a sad, horrible story of a mixture of the naivety, ignorance and trust of her parents and being preyed upon by the malicious psychotic behaviour of a drug addict. I feel really sorry for her poor family.

More than anything though, this kind of story exposes why we need tougher punishments for big drug dealers in particular and new methods of persecuting and removing small drug dealers from the streets.
Reply 8
Avatar for M14B
M14B
18
Truly sad for all concerned.
You have to have a very particular type of personality to do such a thing to your family. Not all drug addicts are willing to scam their elderly parents out of 250k. This situation has been used as propaganda to substantiate the government's archaic drugs policy.
It's a sad story, but it does make me question the judgement on both sides ...
I don't think people are realising that this wasn't £250k upfront but rather paid over the years for this woman's supposed postgraduate education, so tuition fees, accommodation and other living costs. She easily could have told them that Oxford is just a more expensive Uni and these costs were justified. Also, she was telling them about how much she would get, which was around £3 million based on her academic work. I'm not blaming the parents as they seriously thought they were helping their daughter out for it to pay off in the long run.


3 years is way too short a sentence for her. She ruined her parents lives. Her parents are now crippled financially, and they're nearing retirement with no savings. Her sentence could easily be doubled and I'd still say it deserves longer.
Family gatherings are gonna be a little awkward now...
Natural selection. Silly parents are broke, cheating daughter is in prison. Next!
Original post by Mathemagicien
Lol they paid £250k for an Oxford education? Idiots


They should've sent her to Bradford or something
Original post by Fullofsurprises
It's a sad, horrible story of a mixture of the naivety, ignorance and trust of her parents and being preyed upon by the malicious psychotic behaviour of a drug addict. I feel really sorry for her poor family.

More than anything though, this kind of story exposes why we need tougher punishments for big drug dealers in particular and new methods of persecuting and removing small drug dealers from the streets.


Except there's solid evidence that harder punishments don't decrease crime, and punishing people for drug crimes has absolutely no effect on drug use.

But of course, anecdotal evidence always trumps statistics and the consensus among medical experts, so we'll keep being tough on crime and pretending it works!

I do find it funny that she spent most of the money on holidays and a marriage, but we're pretending that heroin turned her into a criminal.
Reply 16
Avatar for Doones
Doones
OP
21
Original post by JordanL_


I do find it funny that she spent most of the money on holidays and a marriage, but we're pretending that heroin turned her into a criminal.


Last time I looked fraud was a criminal offence.

Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by jneill
Last time I looked fraud was a criminal offence.

Posted from TSR Mobile


Did I suggest it wasn't?

She's a criminal. She's not a criminal because she used heroin.
Reply 18
Avatar for Doones
Doones
OP
21
Original post by JordanL_
Did I suggest it wasn't?

She's a criminal. She's not a criminal because she used heroin.


So if she hadn't been a drug addict you think she would have committed the fraud anyway? Interesting.

Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by jneill
So if she hadn't been a drug addict you think she would have committed the fraud anyway? Interesting.

Posted from TSR Mobile


Considering that she spent the money on holidays and a marriage, why do you think she wouldn't have?

And do you seriously believe that heroin addicts going through withdrawals painstakingly plan several-year-long fraud operations to get their next fix? Ludicrous. This isn't some addict committing a crime out of desperation, but people will see whatever they want to see.

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