Florida Women Using Identify Theft to Fund Plastic Surgeries
While many people want plastic surgery some are more desperate than others. Recently a case came up in central Florida where those who couldn’t afford the surgery were turning to 28 year old Terilyn Riggins who was allegedly using stolen IDs in order to cover the costs.
Riggins was arrested in March after a nine month long investigation and she is accused of running a crime ring that scammed more than $50,000 worth of breast implants, tummy tucks and dental work.
According to Orlando Police Detective Todd Herb they have arrested 14 women, most of who are residents of Pine Hills, and identified at least 12 victims of theft.
Herb said that the arrested women were either friends of Riggins or had met her in jail and some of them had amassed bills for more than $15,000. In exchange for her services Riggins either received a small fee or was offered favors by the women such as doing her hair or cooking for her.
All of them women are accused of using stolen identities to receive, or attempt to receive, plastic surgery or dental work from legitimate offices around central Florida. According to Herb they were undergoing everything from tummy tucks, to breast reductions to breast implants.
When they were asked how they would pay for their surgery the women gave stolen credit account information and said that the card belonged to a sister, cousin or other close relative. When the surgical office went to verify the account the women show as connected to it, although fraudulently.
However, in some cases the surgery office was notified of the fraud before the surgery began, in one case this was just minutes before. A woman was on the table about to be anesthetized when the doctors were told to stop.
The fraud victims were normally aged between 19 and 24 years old and when they were faced with the bill they alerted their bank or ignored it.
Riggins has a number of convictions dating back to 2009 which range from petty theft to grand theft.