A trial is tentatively set for next month for an East Moline couple suspected of participating in an internet scam. 57-year-old Barbara Segura and 48-year-old Frederico Sausedo have been indicted for conspiracy and wire fraud.
They were arraigned today in federal court in Rock Island, and are still in custody, pending a detention hearing next week.
Prosecutors believe they helped run what's called an "advanced payment scheme" - a common scam where people are persuaded to pay a "fee" of some kind before receiving a much larger amount of money. Segura and Sausedo are suspected of conning people out of at least 95,000 dollars, from last June (2014), through February of this year. And then wiring most of the money to co-conspirators in Nigeria and elsewhere.
Each count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud carries a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison, while each count of wire fraud is punishable by up to 30 years in prison.
They were arrested in March when a local bank noticed they were receiving payments from all over the country, and that the money was then wired overseas.
