Fake Influencer Scammed Her Way To $1M — Now She's Headed To Prison

LOS ANGELES, CA — A Los Angeles woman who carried out a range of schemes — ranging from Target return scams to impersonating influencers in order to get free clothing — was sentenced Thursday to five years in federal prison and ordered to pay more than $1 million in restitution, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Jennifer Quan, 24, of the Miracle Mile area of Los Angeles, pleaded guilty in March to three federal counts of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.

Quan used a variety of schemes to scam a wide range of victims out of more than $1 million, according to prosecutors, including:

• Conning fashion companies into sending her over $120,000 in cash and products by impersonating influencers
• Buying electronics from Target and returning non-functioning replicas or counterfeit ones to the store, collecting over $840,000 in the process
• Scamming DoorDash out of over $42,000 by canceling orders after receiving delivery items.

Quan's schemes "showed ingenuity, cunning, and creativity — but little remorse," the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

She went out of her way to hurt others, prosecutors said, more than once calling DoorDash to exact revenge on delivery drivers by demanding that the employee not get paid or be suspended from their job.

"Defendant's lies risked cheating these Dashers out of their livelihoods," prosecutors wrote, adding that Quan also lied to U.S. Pretrial and Probation Services and defied a judge's orders.

The DoorDash scam involved her exploiting DoorDash's status as a third party between independent-contractor delivery drivers, called Dashers, and major retailers from whom DoorDash fulfills delivery orders.

She called DoorDash's support line posing as the owner of stores from which she ordered delivery. She would tell the support agent that the order had not been picked up by a delivery driver and it should be canceled, when in reality she had already received the items herself, court documents show.

Court documents detail how Quan's often chaotic phone calls, filled with unusual claims, were apparently successful. Prosecutors detailed this excerpt from a single phone call, which involved Quan posing as the "owner" of Sephora and Target:

"Hello, I work at the restaurant, I need you to reverse the status and unassigned the Dasher from a completed order because the item is still at my store ... Yeah, the customer's name is Maggie G. My store's name is Sephora; I'm the owner. My name is Laura ... Now please, please cancel it 'cause, um, we aren't able to fulfill it no more ...

"Now I — yeah I need you to reverse another order and cancel it. So my other order is for the same customer but at my other store called Target. Same issue ... The store Target, I own that as well, and it has the same issue, so I'm going to need you to reverse the status and cancel ...

"Now for one more order, I need you to reverse the status and cancel it ... the order is called Target, as well ... can you refund the customer to her card? ... So did this get refunded to her credit card, sweetheart? ... Thank you, sweetie."

Immediately upon being released on bond, Quan began transferring over $150,000 from undisclosed accounts in structured amounts of $9,999, contravening the magistrate judge's orders, prosecutors said. "And despite the heightened scrutiny, she continued her DoorDash fraud scheme while on bond," they wrote.

Court papers show Quan defrauded fashion companies by impersonating influencers and their employees by creating email accounts displaying similar names. She then sent emails and texts to famous fashion brands, including Authentic Brand Group, House of CB, Pretty Little Thing, and Fashion Nova, impersonating the influencers or posing as their assistants, according to court documents obtained by Patch.

The influencers were identified in court only by the initials B.M., K.J., J.S. and L.R. Prosecutors say Quan created email addresses that referenced the influencers' names and reached out to companies in order to enter into "influencer agreements," claiming that she would use the celebrities' social media platforms to advertise and promote the companies' products.

In one instance, she wrote from an email purported to be associated with B.M. to Fashion Nova, where she stated “I typically charge $6k a month but that depends. I also receive clothing or materials to create content as well. The rate is negotiable," documents show.

In another instance, she wrote to Authentic Brand Group, stating “My name is [V.V.] and I am one of the assistants to [K.J.]” and “We are currently working on a secret project and wanted to feature some of your styles," according to documents.

In total, Quan fraudulently caused the fashion companies to send her nearly $121,000 in cash, jewelry and merchandise, court papers show.

City News Service contributed to this report.