HANOVER, VA (WWBT)- A Hanover county woman who faked having cancer and took charity payments from the public walked away from court Monday with no prison time. Martha Nicholas could have faced up to 40 years in prison for fraud but a judge said her mental illness caused her to lie. The judge sentenced her to 10 years for fraud but suspended all 10 and placed her on supervised probation.

She had been an advocate for helping people beat cancer but Martha Nicholas couldn't beat the 100 hours of community service a judge ordered for frauding welfare and the public.

"The Commonwealth is disappointed. We wanted some type of incarceration," said Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Adam Jurach.

Nicholas' mother testified saying their entire family really believed she had cancer four separate times. Prosecutors said not so fast.

There is a warning that the next phone call you receive may be a scam call. The Better Business Bureau is warning that crooks are making calls claiming to be with The National Do Not Call Registry.

If you're trying to stop those annoying telemarketing calls, chances are, you've ended up on The National Do Not Call Registry website. It's the place you go to register your phone number to stop or limit the calls you don't want. Crooks are aware of the site and now they are calling consumers, claiming they are with the registry.

The criminals tell callers they can sign them up for the service.  The call is not coming from the Federal Trade Commission, which operates the site. We've learned that the callers are after your private information. If you fall for the trick, you could be the victim of identity theft.