By Caribbean360 From St Lucia News Online

CARIBBEAN 360 – A federal grand jury has indicted a Jamaican woman for impersonating a Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) special agent in connection with an international lottery fraud scheme based in her homeland.

Vania Lee Allen, 30, has been charged with wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and falsely impersonating an employee of the United States government.

According to the indictment, she and a co-conspirator in Jamaica sought to unlawfully enrich themselves through a fraudulent lottery scheme targeting an elderly resident of Evans, Georgia. Allen’s co-conspirator falsely informed the victim by phone that he had won money in a lottery and instructed him to make payments to various people in order to collect the purported lottery winnings.

In order to gain the trust of the victim and induce him to continue to make payments, Allen travelled from Jamaica to the United States in early May 2015 and falsely portrayed herself to the victim as an FBI agent.

The indictment alleges that Allen sent a number of text messages to her co-conspirator in Jamaica discussing the plan to impersonate an FBI agent, including a text that attached an image of a law enforcement style badge with an “FBI” logo and the words “Federal Bureau of Investigation” on the face of the badge.

Allen allegedly traveled to the victim’s home and provided him with a cellphone and directed him to speak with the person on the line, who was her co-conspirator in Jamaica.

For more on this story go to: http://www.stlucianewsonline.com/caribbean-jamaican-indicted-for-impersonating-fbi-agent-in-lottery-scam/#sthash.C3SK2FhJ.dpuf