usdoj.gov | 4/23/09 | $1.7 million | suspect: Nancy Alexander |
A federal judge today sentenced Nancy Alexander, 67, to a year in prison for a fraud involving about $1.7 million in counterfeit checks and money orders. Alexander produced fraudulent checks on her computer and forwarded other checks that had been shipped to her from Nigeria. The objective of the scheme was to have recipients of the counterfeit checks wire money to the perpetrators of the scam.
“This is what’s known as a ‘wire-back’ scheme,” U.S. Attorney Corrente said. “And, although the roots of the scheme may be foreign, this case tells us that international scam artists often need some local help to advance their schemes.”
Alexander created on her home computer about 291 counterfeit checks, totaling $1.6 million in purported value, and shipped the counterfeit checks to intended victims throughout the United States. Unknown individuals then tried to persuade the targets to deposit the counterfeit checks and wire some of the purported value to another account.
In April 2008, Customs agents intercepted a parcel addressed to Alexander that contained 119 counterfeit checks and money orders. It had originated in Nigeria and had been shipped through France.
U.S. Secret Service agents interviewed victims and intended victims who had been sent the counterfeit checks and determined that they had been approached in several ways: one after she had posted a resume online, another who had advertised a pool heater for sale in a local newspaper, and another who had been seeking a work-from-home job.
All were asked to cash checks of various amounts, keep some of the money, and wire the balance to other accounts. All the checks were later determined to be counterfeit, and victims lost money that they had wired back – in amounts ranging from $2,000 to $5,000. Other targets were more cautious, and either waited for the checks to clear – which they did not – or did not respond at all.
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