Surveillance camera photos help catch scam artist

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Investigators say several people lost large amounts of money to a lone scammer.

Photos from a surveillance camera show Teresa Moore as she enters a grocery store to pick up cash from a wire transfer. Authorities say this is one of several trips Moore made after scamming people out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"We've kind of determined she has been scamming people for at least 10 to 15 years," said U.S. Postal Inspector Dan Taylor.

According to authorities, one of her victims was an elderly woman caring for her mentally challenged daughter.

"Teresa Moore convinced her that her daughter had been arrested but that she had taken care of posting her bail and then asked our victim to reimburse her or else her daughter would be re-arrested," said Taylor.

The second victim was an elderly man Moore met on a dating website.

"She convinced him he had been a victim of identity theft and that he had various legal settlements coming as a result of that," said Taylor.

He lost $120,000.

"With each of these victims they are angry they have been scammed and also ashamed that they fell for this, but now they know better," said Taylor.

Investigators say one of Moore's own decisions led to her capture.

"She would have them wire transfer the money to her," said Taylor. "That is actually part of how we caught her. We had surveillance video of Teresa Moore picking up several of these wired transfers and we used that evidence to help prove the case."

Teresa Moore was sentenced to almost four years in prison as a result of her conviction in this case and she will owe $86,000 in restitution to the victims.