J’can woman gets three years in US prison for scamming
Published:Saturday | September 21, 2024 | 12:10 AM
A Jamaican woman has been sentenced to three years’ imprisonment in the United States for creating a series of fraudulent debt relief companies that targeted debt-ridden Americans and tricked the victims into paying fake processing fees.
Thirty-seven-year-old Sereika Savariau, of Montego Bay, St James, was sentenced on Thursday.
Savariau, also known as Sereika Savariau-Goodison, pleaded guilty on April 16, 2024, to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud affecting a financial institution.
In addition to the prison term, US District Court Judge Amit P Mehta ordered Savariau to pay restitution to the victims.
As part of her guilty plea, Savariau admitted that from at least June 2016 through September 2018, she and other conspirators created and operated a series of fraudulent debt relief companies that tricked US citizens into paying bogus processing fees and to disclose personal identifying information and identity documents.
One of the fraudulent websites said consumers could receive up to US$60,000 in government-funded aid to pay their bills. Another claimed consumers could receive up to US$25,000 in annual debt relief.
Savariau admitted that through their false representations she and her co-conspirators tried to defraud US victims out of more than US$550,000. More than 50 individuals sent money to the conspirators because of the scheme, most commonly through Western Union, believing the funds were service processing fees.
The US Attorney’s Office said Savariau and her conspirators took advantage of people who were desperate to have their outstanding bills paid and improve their financial situation.
“Thinking they were to receive government-funded debt relief, victims eagerly sent their sensitive personal and financial information and paid exorbitant ‘processing fees’ – approximately 14 per cent of the requested debt relief. The nature of the scheme caused many victims to be victimised multiple times,” it said.
The conspirators also fraudulently used the victims’ personal identifying information for other illegal purposes.
In one example, a victim’s information was used to create a PayPal account for use in the scheme. The information was also used to apply for and obtain an American Express prepaid credit card. A different victim’s name and address were used to register one of their fraudulent debt relief sites.