A woman who claims to have been duped into believing her eczema was a contagious skin disease went broke after spending all her money on “cures”, a court heard yesterday.

Charmaine Grima, 30, from Żurrieq, said she handed over about €23,000 to Raymond Camilleri, 38, from Qawra, who is pleading not guilty to fraud charges.

Ms Grima’s 18-year-old brother, Anton Falzon, told the court the story began when his sister came across a newspaper advert.

In a previous sitting, the court heard that the advert offered “oriental doctors and trained Maltese staff” who would help customers look “young and beautiful”.

Mr Falzon said he went with his sister to Mr Camilleri’s clinic in St Paul’s Bay and entered the treatment room several times. Mr Camilleri discussed products with her and she bought creams.

The situation got out of control when his sister began spending all her spare cash on creams every month. Their mother would get angry, especially when Ms Grima would ask for money, Mr Falzon said, adding that his sister visited the clinic every two weeks.

Mr Camilleri’s former wife, Lorenza, testified behind closed doors. In a previous sitting, Ms Grima told the court that the lotions given to her by Mr Camilleri led her to develop a skin rash.

After becoming friends, they went camping together in Florence and, while there, he told her he had contracted the infection when she bled at night and the blood ended up on his face.

He said he needed to go to Mongolia for a blood transfusion to be cured and required about €32,000 to fund the trip. She offered to help him by working part-time as she did not have enough money.

By then, he had also allegedly secured a loan from a certain Charles Saliba and told her he needed to pay him back. He said that her brother had a cleaning company and she could work there, giving her salary to him to pay off the debt.

The case continues.