News
10 February, 2026
Board tight-lipped on Azzopardi parole
The Adult Parole Board Victoria is refusing to say whether or not convicted fraudster Samantha Azzopardi has been released from jail.
The Adult Parole Board Victoria is refusing to say whether or not convicted fraudster Samantha Azzopardi has been released from jail.
Azzopardi – who grew up in Campbelltown – was due for release in October last year if she completed mental health programs.
The Adult Parole Board is remaining tight-lipped as to whether or not she completed those programs or if she is now free.
The Southern Wire sought more information about Azzopardi after an unverified sighting of the notorious con artist in Bowral in November.
It asked whether parole was refused or granted, if there were any conditions placed on her parole (if it had been granted) and whether or not Azzopardi had come to attention of authorities at all since her release – if in fact she had been released.
The response was clinical and attributed to an Adult Parole Board spokesperson:
“Due to privacy provisions in the Corrections Act 1986, the Adult Parole Board cannot comment on individual matters.”
Azzopardi made headlines around the world, allegedly using more than 100 fake identities to pose as everything from Swedish Royalty and a Russian gymnast to a victim of sex trafficking.
Azzopardi served a prison term for posing as a teenager but was arrested soon after on multiple fraud charges in Melbourne.
She was sentenced to a two-year jail term in 2023 for defrauding two specialist family violence care providers while pretending to be a 17-year-old from Belgium who had been the victim of sex trafficking.
Azzopardi’s exploits inspired a documentary with one reviewer describing her as “one of the nation’s most prolific scammers whose lies were so extreme they still defy belief”.
She was deported from Dublin after claiming to be a sex trafficking victim from Eastern Europe.
In Canada, she said she was a victim of sexual assault and torture.
In Australia, she has posed as a Russian gymnast and a schoolgirl half her age.
Anyone with more information please contact Stuart at sc@thesouthernwire.com.au
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