Clifford Stanley Perrin died in Maryborough Hospital on Christmas Eve 2025, aged 84 and divorced.
asserted
Perrin → die → Eve
He had been the victim of a scam that depleted his finances, leaving his estate with one asset: a small property in Hervey Bay, which was subject to a reverse mortgage.
asserted
which → deplete → mortgage
According to the Supreme Court of Queensland judgment in the Will of Clifford Stanley Perrin [2026] QSC 247, his handmade will named the scammer, whose purported name was Stella Helena Perrin, as executor and beneficiary.
uncertain
name → accord → executor
On 24 September 2026, Treston J found that she did not exist and that her appointment and the gift to her failed.
asserted
appointment → find → her
How did a fake online lover target an Australian pensioner’s home
Mr Perrin was born on 24 February 1941 and did not finish high school, but worked in a variety of occupations during his working life.
asserted
Perrin → target → life
His father died in about 1986 and his mother in 2004, and in the years before her death he was her full-time carer.
asserted
he → die → death
In 2005 he retired to a modest home in Point Vernon, Hervey Bay, where he lived until he went into hospital before his death.
asserted
he → retire → death
He was briefly married between April 1971 and June 1976, and the marriage ended in divorce.
asserted
marriage → end → divorce
The judgment records that his only daughter was born shortly after the marriage in 1971.
asserted
daughter → record → 1971
While she was growing up she was told her father was deceased, and she learned otherwise in her twenties.
asserted
she → grow → twenties
Around 2010, a DNA test showed a 99.99 per cent chance that Mr Perrin was her father.
asserted
Perrin → show → chance
The court noted that the relationship was "not a particularly close one" and that, after about 2019, he appears to have stopped contacting her entirely.
asserted
he → note → her
In about 2012, he befriended a local bus driver, Mr Kim, who began picking him up two or three times a week.
asserted
who → befriend → times
Mr Kim observed that Mr Perrin was a lonely man who lived alone and did not appear to have a regular circle of friends.
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who → observe → friends
How did a fake online wife convince a pensioner he was married to her
Unknown to both his daughter and Mr Kim, Mr Perrin had one other friend, a woman called Stella Helena Bennett.
asserted
Perrin → convince → friend
Records obtained after his death indicate that he met her over the internet in about 2012.
asserted
he → obtain → 2012
She told him she was born in 1976, a former fashion model from an upper middle-class family in New York, who lived in the town of Massena.
asserted
who → tell → Massena
At that time, Mr Perrin was a 71-year-old pensioner with significantly impaired vision who could no longer drive.
uncertain
who → drive → vision
According to the court, he had never travelled to New York and had never met Stella.
uncertain
he → accord → Stella
Even so, on 25 April 2013 he considered that he had married her.
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he → consider → her
In an email to a friend on 6 May 2013, headed "Take a seat before you read this, Pete", he described Stella as his wife and said she was coming to live in Point Vernon.
uncertain
she → head → Vernon
Stella told him they had been married by proxy and later sent him a copy of a marriage certificate, which the court found to be a forgery.
asserted
court → tell → certificate
Around the time they connected online, she also said she had received a large inheritance from her father, held in New York by a Zimbabwe-based company, which she could not access until tax was paid.
uncertain
tax → connect → which
The judgment records that she sought his financial assistance and identity information to pay the Internal Revenue Service, and promised to move to Hervey Bay with the balance of the funds.
asserted
she → record → funds
In 2014, she told him she had moved to Kuala Lumpur and become a Malaysian citizen.
asserted
she → tell → Lumpur
She later said Malaysian taxes were blocking the inheritance and gave him an "inheritance tax bond disclosure" and a letter purportedly from "MPI Generali Insurans Bhd".
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taxes → say → Bhd
The court found both documents were false, and stressed that there was no suggestion the legitimate company had any part in producing them.
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company → find → them
How did a pensioner’s fake online wife obtain his money and inheritance
Stella extracted various funds from Mr Perrin over time.
asserted
Stella → obtain → time
The evidence shows she asked him to transfer money to accounts in other people's names, send Bitcoin, send iTunes Gift Cards and Steam Wallet Cards, provide cash to unspecified third parties, and mail new SIM cards or iPhones to her.
asserted
she → show → her
At different times she also obtained his credit card information, bank details, myGov account details and identity documents.
asserted
she → obtain → information
In May 2024 his own bank blocked a transfer, and a bank employee told him the receiving account was associated with a scam.
uncertain
account → block → scam
The court found that Mr Perrin suggested Stella simply prove her identity, but that she instead suggested he tell the bank he was sending money to a family member who needed medical help.
uncertain
who → find → help
The will is dated 3 May 2024, although the evidence suggests it may have been executed on 4 May 2024.
uncertain
it → date → May
It was witnessed in the presence of two justices of the peace.
asserted
It → witness → peace
The court described it as a handmade document in two parts.
asserted
court → describe → parts
Part A revokes earlier wills and appoints Stella, "my wife", as executor and trustee, recording that she lived in Kuala Lumpur.
asserted
she → revoke → Lumpur
It also bequeaths the bulk of the estate to her.
asserted
It → bequeath → her
A further dot point provides that if Stella should "pass away before my death", the entire estate goes to his daughter.
asserted
estate → provide → daughter
The court found that Mr Perrin was not shown to lack testamentary capacity and that the will was duly executed.
asserted
will → find → capacity
It found no earlier will.
asserted
It → find → will
…and 11 more, not listed.
The Aporia
