NEW HANOVER COUNTY — A woman was sentenced to four to five years in prison Friday after scamming people into providing her funds to support her fake pregnancy.
Wendy George, 36, defrauded at least 17 people in Carolina Beach, investigators found.
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Seeking to put a child up for adoption, George began posting on social media and adoption websites around November 2016. She was not pregnant.
George obtained a positive pregnancy test by using the urine of her pregnant friend and paid her $20 to have an ultrasound conducted in George’s name.
According to District Attorney Ben David’s office, George intended to use images of the ultrasound to prove her false pregnancy to individuals she was scamming and used the pregnancy test to obtain public benefits from the Department of Social Services.
This isn’t George’s first run-in with the law. In 2012, she was convicted for 16 counts of obtaining property by false pretenses in New Hanover County. Three years ago, George was convicted on one count of obtaining property by false pretenses in Johnston County.
On Friday in New Hanover Superior Court, George pled guilty to charges relating to her pregnancy scam. She was convicted on 10 counts of obtaining property by false pretenses, one count of felony accessing a computer to perpetrate fraud and one count of Medicaid fraud.
