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A woman sits on a bench looking out to sea.

"This person had stolen a real psychologist's accreditation and was posing as her on this online platform,"
she said.

A woman is unidentified in a blurred background. Spiderweb and native bush in in focus in the foreground.

"I decided to try and reach out to someone to help to kind of put me back on a path."

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"Her profile seemed to match what I was looking for … someone that specialised in neurodiverse psychology,"
Sophie said.
A screen shot from website saying 'medicare bulk billed psychology online' layered over photo of woman's hands on an ipad.

"This was where it was a little bit weird, because when [the psychologist] logged on, it was audio only,"
Sophie said.

A text message asking for tips to think about positive thoughts.

"Breathing exercises, replacing negative thoughts with positive ones."
Graphic of a girl siting in a park with a 'someone.health' website screenshot layered over the top.

"I waited for up to, like, half an hour, and then I was like, 'I don't think she's coming',"
she said.

"I kind of was just feeling like I didn't matter to them and like no one out there was going to help me,"
Sophie said.
Blurred greenery covers a woman looking away from the camera.

A woman with pink hair sits at a computer.

"My immediate reaction was very distressed and overwhelmed,"
Ms Bedford-Dyer said.

A woman with pink hair looks and stands straight into the camera.

"She's obtained money by deception, created false documents, stolen identities, and treated vulnerable people without any basis to do so,"
Magistrate Michael Wighton said.

Gateway psychology services screenshot

A close up selfie photo of a young woman with dark hair.

A brown brick building with "Heidelberg Law Courts" written on the site.

"It's putting a lot of trust in someone else. It's hoping that they're competent and that they're ethically guided, and that they have the most appropriate training to support you."

A girl with dark hair looks away from the camera.

"I was desperate when I was coming to services. I don't know much about her story, but maybe she was just as desperate as me,"
Sophie said.

Posted , updated