Athens woman pleads guilty in North Carolina in computer hacking scheme

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — An Athens woman pleaded guilty in a North Carolina federal courthouse and admitted to stealing more than half a million dollars in a computer hacking scheme. According to our news partner KETK, 72-year-old Wanda Jackson Barker pleaded guilty to money laundering charges in a conspiracy with two women from Charlotte and Chicago. According to an indictment released last November, Barker was used as a “money mule” when she used false information to open bank accounts in her name in which some of the money from the scheme was diverted and spent. According to federal investigators, some of the participants hacked into victims’ computers and monitored emails. Officials say when the schemers learned a legitimate financial transaction was about to take place, they sent out emails instructing that the money be transferred into one of several fake accounts. A sentencing date for Barker has not yet been set.