Karen Vasseur, 63, and her 42-year-old daughter Tracy Vasseur, of Brighton, Colorado, were sentenced to prison for what authorities are calling a “Nigerian internet scam.”.
According to the Colorado Attorney General's office, the two women scammed 375 people in the United States and 40 in other countries, with their victims transferring more than $1 million into their accounts.
Tracy Vasseur was sentenced to 15 years in prison, with five years suspended. In addition, she was sentenced to another 4 years, with 3 years suspended, for committing other crimes that she committed in parallel with the fraud case.
Her mother, on the other hand, was sentenced to 12 years in prison with 5 years suspended.
Karen Vasseur tricked her victims into believing they had inherited millions of dollars from a military friend in Nigeria, promising them unsecured loans if they paid her a down payment for expenses.
The loans were never given to the victims, but she received thousands of dollars in advances.
