A Gold Coast woman has been ordered to repay her former friend $6,000 after telling her she needed money for cancer treatment and blaming food poisoning when she failed to return the cash.
Mum-of-three and former WAG Tiffany Black, 36, was sentenced to a 15-month intensive corrections order – served in the community – on Wednesday in Tweed Heads Local Court after swindling 13 victims.
Ms Black is married to former Wests Tigers player Benjamin Black, who is not accused of any wrongdoing.
She scammed a total of 13 people out of $9,550 including $6,000 from a former friend, reported news.com.au.
Ms Black told her friend she needed a loan to help pay for ‘cancer treatment’ and promised to pay it back after receiving a ‘payout’ from her insurer.
‘I’ve got a massive favour to ask but I really don’t want anyone knowing I’m asking and I’m so sorry for asking, I’m just desperate,’ she wrote in a text.
‘I can book in for surgery on (sic) Gold Coast but I’m $6000 short. I get an insurance payout next week and can pay back then. Do you have anything I could lend til next week? I’m so sorry for asking, it’s so humiliating, I just feel stuck.’
The next week, she told her former friend she had sent back the money but had accidentally put in the wrong account number.
She said she was ‘waiting for meds’ and then would re-send the cash.
Her friend never received a payment and Ms Black has since been ordered by a court to pay back the $6,000.
Ms Black pleaded guilty to scamming 13 people in 2023 and 2024 and must pay back all of her victims.
Her intensive corrections order expires on October 8, 2026 and includes standard conditions such as she must not offend, will be under supervision and cannot take drugs.
Ms Black’s 12 other victims were scammed using Facebook Marketplace, where the mum told people she was selling a Dyson Airwrap.
Once payment had been sent and the hairstyling tool didn’t arrive, Ms Black would blame a variety of factors.
In one case, she told Sydney woman Mikaela Larkin she had already posted the hairdryer before blaming her ‘smashed phone’ for the delay in communication.
She said she was unable to send a tracking number because she was using her daughter’s iPad and travelling.
It’s understood Ms Black then blocked Ms Larkin.
The con-woman was told police she was ‘hacked’, according to court documents.
‘When asked about informing police of the numerous transactions that have been credited to her account, the accused stated she had tried to report it but there is no evidence of this,’ the police facts state.