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AFlorida woman is in hot water after running a crime scheme that swindled more than $50,000 worth of plastic surgery and dental work in under a year. Terilyn Riggins used identity theft to help people afford different procedures, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

After nearly a year of investigating Riggins, Orlando Police officials zeroed in on the crime ring. Over that course of time, 14 Central Florida women were arrested and over a dozen people fell victim to identity theft. “The plastic surgery was tummy tucks, breast implants, breast reductions, the Brazilian whatever — whatever you could get with plastic surgery, that’s what they were getting done,” said Orlando Police Detective Todd Herb in a statement. More than half of the women arrested told police officials that Riggins, 28, aided them through the process, says the report.

Officials are unsure about how Riggins got the victims’ information, but upon receiving it, she was able to tap into their credit card accounts and charged a small fee to people looking to get procedures done. In some instances, medical offices were able to spot the fraud before moving forward with the procedures. According to the police report, Riggins’ cell phone number was used to call a credit card company over 300 times in less than a year. The phone number was reportedly linked to 16 accounts under the credit card company. Herb said the crime ring was Riggins’ “full-time job.” The company contacted police officials in July.

Some of the victims whose information was stolen disputed the charges and others overlooked the bills, according to the site. Riggins was arrested in March and charged with grand theft, scheme to defraud, and identity theft. According to the Federal Trade Commission, Florida is listed as one of the worst states when it comes to fraud and identity theft. In 2015, there were 490,000 complaints across the country.

SOURCE: Orlando Sentinel | PHOTO CREDIT: Juan Silva

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