BENTON, Ill. — A woman who scammed her Cahokia Heights grandmother out of more than $300,000 was sentenced to three years in prison, a statement from the United States Attorney’s Office Southern District of Illinois said Monday.
A Florida resident, 39-year-old Tanya M. Aboseada, convinced her grandmother to wire money into her bank account under false pretenses— at least 12 times, the statement said. The fraudulent wire transfers happened between November 2021 and August 2022.
Aboseada pleaded guilty to 12 counts of wire fraud in May, the statement said.
"Aboseada admitted to lying to her grandmother about needing money to transfer a truck title into her name, owing money to the IRS, paying attorney fees and fines for a vehicular accident she was in, and paying the family of an alleged child she killed in a vehicular accident to avoid going to jail," the statement said. "In total, Aboseada admitted to stealing $317,049 from her grandmother."
According to the special agent in charge of the FBI office in Springfield, Illinois., the FBI is committed to getting justice for victims of elder abuse, Special Agent Christopher Johnson said.
“The fraud perpetrated by Tanya Aboseada relied on the love and devotion of a family member, which is in many ways more heartless than when the perpetrator is a stranger,” Agent Johnson said.
In addition to the three-year sentence Aboseada received on Wednesday, she must pay back every cent of the $317,049 she fraudulently got from her grandmother.
In the statement from U.S. Attorney Rachelle Aud Crowe's office, she thanked the FBI for getting justice for a grandmother who only wanted to help her grandchild.
“Seniors are warned to avoid giving money to strangers who may be looking to take advantage of them, but it’s a different kind of deceit when criminals target their own elderly family members,” the U.S. Attorney said.
