A woman from Virginia Beach who made and sold fake coupons has been sentenced to 12 years in prison and ordered to pay back over $31 million in losses to stores, the New York Times reports.
Lori Ann Villanueva Talens, 41, ran a subscription service where people paid for her photoshopped coupons, which were for popular brands like Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, and Ziploc.
According to The New York Times “coupons would make items cost just pennies, or even force stores to pay the shopper for buying something.”
Her scheme cost companies $31,817,997.
One of her members eventually turned Talens in.
When police showed up to arrest her, they found faux coupons worth $1 million hidden all over her home.
She pled guilty to guilty to mail fraud, wire fraud, and welfare fraud, and said she feels “deeply ashamed and embarrassed”.
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