MUSKEGON COUNTY, Mich. — Michigan State Police say a Maryland woman scamed an elderly Muskegon man out of tens of thousands of dollars after claiming she had cancer.
MSP say 20-year old Jessica Travers met a Muskegon man on a flight from Detroit to Virginia and convinced him that she was a cancer victim with two small children who was trying to find a way to pay for medical treatments. She gave the victim a fake name and age and told him she was waiting for a large financial settlement but needed money in the meantime to pay for chemotherapy. The victim, who was living on social security, agreed to loan the woman the money until she could pay him back from a settlement and earnings from her online financial business.
Investigators say Travers visited the victim in Michigan, obtained his personal information and opened numerous credit cards in his name without his knowledge. Investigators say Travers charged over 80-thousand dollars worth of items and obtained cash advances of over 40-thousand dollars. She also falsified a loan application for a car which the victim agreed to purchase for her so she could drive to and from her medical treatments.
To obtain more money, they say she convinced the victim she was in the hospital in Grand Rapids and needed additional money for a mastectomy. Investigators learned she was actually traveling throughout the country with her boyfriend spending money at the Crowne Plaza in New York City, buying designer shoes from Christian Louboutin and makeup from Gucci.
In May 2013, Travers was featured on “Dateline” after she posted a fraudulent ad on Craigslist saying she was 35 years old and interested in meeting an older man if he wired her 75-hundred dollars. She was exposed during and undercover sting operation.
Travers and her boyfriend were stopped in Baltimore, MD last Thursday and charged with unlawful possession of a motor vehicle. She is currently in jail in Baltimore Maryland. She is facing charges of unlawful possession of a motor vehicle and larceny by false pretenses over 20-thousand dollars. Detectives from the Michigan State Police are working with Baltimore PD and the Muskegon County Prosecutor’s office to extradite her back to Michigan
