A Fort Myers woman convinced acquaintances that she was about to inherit a billion dollars and then collected more than $46,000 from them to pay for "emergencies" she claimed could have prevented her payout, the Lee County Sheriff's Office reported.
Morgan Johnson, 24, is facing charges of fraud and grand theft.
An investigation showed that Johnson approached three family acquaintances in September 2011 and told them she was inheriting six or seven businesses from a former employer that would pay her at least $1 billion, the Sheriff's Office reported. She then began hitting up the acquaintances for money to pay for different emergiences — bank levies, child custody fees, foreclosure threats — that she said would jeopardize her inheritance, reports said.
The acquaintances gave Johnson more than $46,000 to stave off the "emergencies," but grew suspicious and contacted the Sheriff's Office.
Deputies said Johnson went to great lengths to keep the ruse alive, including creating fictitious names of bank employees she was working with and forging bank documents. Investigators believe there may be more victims.








Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
Comments » 3
marco826 writes:
oh the webs we weave...
Mayor_McCheese writes:
You have to ask yourself what kind of morons would believe this 24 year old that she is inheriting $1 billion worth of businesses. Anyone who would have $1 billion worth of businesses built them NOT by being an idiot so why would anyone believe this woman? On some level, her victims are contributorily responsible for being victims. Of course she is a criminal and should be brought to justice, but you have to wonder how gullible some people are. Maybe this is really a good example of social Darwinism at work.
RayPray writes:
"What kind of morons would believe this 24 year old that she is inheriting $1 billion worth of businesses."
If Morgan said she had that much in pre-IPO unregistered Facebook stock, I might believe her.
Morgan should be required to do community service in Lagos, where she could hone her pitch....
Share your thoughts
Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.