Florida woman arrested in $1 billion scam

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FORT MYERS, Fla., May 30 (UPI) -- A Florida woman who borrowed money by telling people she was in line to inherit more than $1 billion faces fraud and grand theft charges, police said.

Morgan Johnson, 25, of Fort Meyers, managed to collect more than $46,000 before being arrested, the Lee County Sheriff's Department said in a news release.

The department's Economic Crimes Unit said Johnson approached three family acquaintances in September 2011 and told them she was inheriting six or seven business that would pay her in excess of $1 billion.

Johnson then began hitting up the acquaintances for money to cover emergencies, racking up more than $46,000 before they became suspicious and contacted police.

Police said Johnson went to great lengths to keep her scam alive, including creating fictitious names of bank employees she was working with and forging documents that purported to show she was in line for a huge windfall.