Hampton Woman Pleads Guilty To Mail Fraud Scheme

CONCORD, NH — A Seacoast woman pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for participating in a mail fraud scheme that led to collections of more than $200,000 in fraudulent illness claims from insurance carriers. Jacqueline Masse, 49, of Hampton, offered the plea after statements in court showed that, on behalf of herself and family members, she targeted restaurants and food companies claiming they had become sick from food. The demands, 12 letters in all, claimed that she or family members had paid or borrowed money to pay hospital bills and other expenses.

During this process, according to the court, Masse assumed the identity of the family members, had provided fraudulent medical records obtained from New Hampshire and Massachusetts hospitals, as well as bank account and credit card statements and false invoices from an ambulance company.

In the letters, she demanded nearly $400K in payments – and collected more than $206,000 in insurance settlement payment checks.

"Insurance fraud has a serious impact on hard-working individuals and families, as it drives up their insurance premiums and makes it more difficult to collect on legitimate claims," said U.S. Attorney Scott Murray. "The conduct in this case was carefully planned and persistent. It involved the attempted theft of almost $400,000, the use of bogus documents, and Masse’s use of personal identifying information that belonged to innocent members of her family. I want to commend the New Hampshire Insurance Department for its exceptional work on this case and its overall tenacious effort to investigate and prosecute insurance fraud in all of its forms."

Insurance Commissioner John Elias said he was "very proud" of the department's fraud unit and the collaborative work between the U.S. Attorney's Office and the FBI.

Joseph R. Bonavolonta, special agent in charge of the FBI Boston Division, said Masse enriched herself by exploiting the cleanliness and accountability that food providers stake their reputations on and thanked all involved for their "exceptional investigative work, which helped expose her fraud and the truth."

Masse will be sentenced in February.

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