Police believe people in Leicestershire might have fallen foul of a woman who used the internet to con victims out of tens of thousands of pounds.

Joann Wood trawled websites to find women in online lesbian chat rooms and dating agencies who she could fleece out of their savings – telling them she was terminally ill with cancer and needed money for treatment.

Yesterday, the 53-year-old was jailed for four-and-a-half-years at St Albans Crown Court after judges heard one of the victims had lost her life savings of £28,000 and was now in debt by £53,000.

In total, Wood had conned her victims out of almost £100,000.

Other lies she told included a story that she was an expert in the gold trade and investing in gold. As a result, one man was so taken in he gave her £10,000.

Police are following up allegations from women in Leicestershire and are appealing for people in the county who think they have been conned by Wood to come forward.

Wood, originally of Newthorpe, in Nottinghamshire, and now of Knightsfield, Welwyn Garden City, was convicted of four charges of obtaining property by deception, two offences of fraud by false representation and two offences of possessing a Class A drug.

She asked for 13 other offences to be considered, including more crimes of fraud, impersonating a police officer, taking a motor vehicle without consent and making off without payment.

Wood's scams also extended to staying in hotels and guesthouses and leaving without paying bills. In one case, she stole a Land Rover from the owners.

Other deceptions included purporting to be a nurse. She used her first aid skills to con her way into caring for elderly people, some of whom were terminally ill. Her oldest victim was in her mid-80s.

She stole medication from some of her victims, which she used to persuade others that she was being treated for cancer.

Jailing Wood, Recorder Philip Brook-Smith QC, told her: "In many cases the methodology you employed was to pretend you were suffering from cancer, and in need of money for operations and such like. You were happy through your greed to take that money for your own purposes."

Detective Sergeant Mick West, of Hertfordshire CID, said: "We would like to speak to anyone else who feels they may have been targeted by this woman.

"She had a number of aliases and you may have known her as Jayne O'Neil, Jayne Thayer or Kathryn Wheldon."

Anyone who thinks they may have been a victim should call Hertfordshire police on 0845 33 00 222 quoting crime reference B1/09/2003.