Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/759501
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 7 DECEMBER 2016 7 News Thursday TVM 20:50 Website pulls no punches in warning public against con artist Anika De Vilera MAT THEW VELLA A woman of Croatian national- ity, Anika De Vilera – currently residing in Malta – was ordered by the Maltese courts to pay over €80,000 to a third party for a loan. But the Sliema resident has a chequered history of fraud, ac- cording to a website set up to track down the movements of De Vilera – real name Anika Sljokavica, 35 – whose extrava- gant lifestyle landed her in the Maltese courts. The website anikadevilera.com pulls no punches in dishing out every single biographical detail of De Vilera's history of fraud, together with a psychiatric his- tory of the mother of two. In January 2016, the Croatian magazine Nacional described De Vilera as a "habitual con art- ist", who in 2013 was suspected of misappropriation of funds from an 8.5 million Croatian kuna charity fund she was a PR consultant to. After the death of the charity's beneficiary, Nora Situm, in March 2013, the bene- ficiary's parents, Ivica and Dana filed a claim against the Hrabro Dijete charity. "Shortly before we left for the USA, De Vilera asked us to sign a contract according to which she would represent us in the media. Dana and I signed it," Ivica Situm told Nacional, of the PR contract which was later ter- minated. As founder of the company GV3 UX, De Vilera is said to owe Croatian travel agency Mondo Travel some 270,000 kuna. "At first she would pay everything, giving us a false sense of com- fort. Once someone gains your trust, you don't ask many ques- tions. Then she stopped paying and started behaving suspi- ciously. It was very important to her that she stayed in luxury hotels and spend time with rich people. She spent about a year travelling with us," Mondo Trav- el told Nacional. When GV3 UX went bankrupt, it left Mondo Travel with unpaid service. According to a report is- sued by the Berlin police back in March 2010, De Vilera was suspected in three cases of fi- nancial fraud, the most serious being a €360,000 claim from Riller & Schnauck GmbH, after she used invalid credit cards and false addresses to obtain three BMWs, misrepresenting herself as a doctor for the organisation Charité. She also misrepresented her- self as Dr Anika Mesic to the company Herdenberg Concept GmbH, to claim some €7,000 to host a symposium in Croa- tia with the title 'The World As Guest In Croatia'. She gave the impression that the costs would be borne by the Croatian gov- ernment. In September 2010, the Berlin Administrative Court convicted De Vilera on three accounts of fraud and sentenced her to two fines and one seven-month pris- on sentence, which were later dismissed after she was deport- ed from Germany. "Altogether it is to be assumed that the accused will continue to cover her cost of living, at least partially through committing similar crimes – as she has be- ing doing so for quite a while," the chief inspector for the Ber- lin commissioner of police said in his 2010 report. "Apparently she used her im- postor talents not only to cheat her way from one high-society buffet to the other, but also to commit plain goods and service credit frauds – after all a certain way of attire is necessary to keep up appearances." Histrionic personality disorder De Vilera entered Germany in 2000 with a visa to study den- tistry at the Marburg University, but in 2008 the Rhine-District administration in Neuss re- quested her to leave Germany and faced her with deporta- tion for not submitting proof of health insurance to the Cologne University. In a 2008 psychiatric opinion for the Neuss local court, Dr H.J. Althoff said that De Vilera was suffering from "a histrionic personality disorder with anti- social and paranoid tendencies as well as of a moderate depres- sive state. The psychiatrist said De Vil- era had an obsessive desire for attention and appreciation. "She fights inner emptiness with superficial interests, but in particular with aggressive and criminal behaviour, while defaming important emotional aspects of her actions. "Due to being rejected and humiliated in early childhood, and due to the lack in interper- sonal contacts, since she was not allowed to bring friends or other students home, and since she had to bear being an out- sider due to her father, she has fantasies of omnipotence and she makes up fantasy stories, which for her are a kind of self- consolation. Her instinct pushes her to an instant satisfaction of needs, which results in a kind of narcissistic triumph." Malta fraud According to Nicholas Grech, who runs Nicks Chauffeur Ser- vices, in June 2015 De Vilera re- quested a personal account with his company, but never settled the bill for chauffeuring ser- vices. "We at Nicks and Victoria Meyer from Sunseeker Malta tried several methods to set a repayment with Ms De Vilera. No success. On Thursday, 11 November 2015 I received a text message stating that our bill has been paid via bank transfer. As a matter of fact this wire transfer never happened. "Legal action should be taken against Anika De Vilera. From my point of view and experience in my business… Anika is a real pro con [artist] and has the abil- ity to manipulate new people that come across her." Anika De Vilera, now a resident in Malta, has a chequered past of fraud in Germany