A Louisiana man has been convicted in a $1 million mail fraud scheme involving bogus checks to so-called mystery shoppers.
Heesham Broussard of Lake Charles, Louisiana, was convicted in Texas of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, two counts of mail fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft.
Prosecutors in Tyler on Wednesday announced details of the scheme to distribute counterfeit postal money orders and checks. Broussard could be sentenced to more than 60 years in a U.S. prison over the fraud linked to scammers in Nigeria. Two other people earlier pleaded guilty and also await sentencing.
Mystery shoppers are sometimes legitimately hired to visit stores and report back on quality and operations.
The scams involve people solicited to pay registration fees in the hope of becoming mystery shoppers.(Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
