A federal judge has sentenced a Fayette County woman to 30 months’ imprisonment for working as a “money mule” within a foreign-based scam conspiracy to defraud victims out of tens of thousands of dollars and use their stolen identities.
55-year-old Elizabeth Conrad of Ramsey pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, one count of mail fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit access device fraud, one count of access device fraud, one count of money laundering – concealing nature of fraudulent proceeds and one count of aggravated identity theft. She was ordered to pay $78,480.26 in restitution to the victims.
U.S. Attorney Steven D. Weinhoeft says foreign-based fraud conspiracies rely on money mules residing within the U.S. to receive their illicit proceeds and distance themselves from prosecution. He says Conrad knowingly supported the fraud conspiracy, ignored multiple warnings from law enforcement and laundered proceeds from victims.”
According to court documents, Conrad served as a “money mule” for foreign scammers in a conspiracy to defraud U.S. victims from 2019 through 2022. Money mules are people who, at someone else’s direction, receive and move money or valuables obtained from victims of fraud. Money mules add layers of distance between crime victims and criminals, which makes it harder for law enforcement to accurately trace stolen funds.
Conrad accepted packages at her home sent through the mail from victims containing cash, checks, gift cards and electronics. Knowing the goods were fraudulently acquired, Conrad would then repackage the items and send them off to co-conspirators. On two occasions, Conrad received deposits from fraudulently acquired PPP loans into her bank account. Conrad also attempted to deposit checks and wired funds in cryptocurrency to her co-conspirators. Conrad and conspirators used at least 69 fraudulent debit cards to rack up over $30,000 in charges.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service St. Louis Field Office led the investigation.
