But individuals aren’t the most lucrative on a per-target basis, organizations are, and there is no better way to scam them than from the inside.
While funnelling capital from a non-profit, of all places, seems especially cruel, it’s not uncommon, as small budgets, low internal controls and weak tech protections often leave them particularly vulnerable.
What’s even more sickening about a few recent high-profile cases are the ways that the perpetrators used the fortunes they embezzled, which had been intended to help vulnerable groups: on frivolous items for themselves, such as fancy cars, designer goods, luxury vacations and, in one case out of Oklahoma, even plastic surgery.
Money meant for children spent on lavish lifestyles
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Police has revealed that Andree Harper — the former top executive of Mary Abbott Children’s House, an advocacy center for child victims of physical abuse, sexual abuse and various forms of endangerment and neglect based in Norman — is currently facing charges for allegedly diverting $219,000 from the organization into her own purse, KFOR News reports.
Echoing the Minnesota daycare and broader social service fraud schemes that made headlines earlier this year — for defrauding taxpayers of potentially billions of dollars, which were used to fund the high-end lifestyles of a handful of criminals — Harper is believed to have spent charity funds on everything from fast food and Amazon orders to plane tickets, Airbnb stays and cosmetic surgery procedures.
The lid was blown off of the con during an audit in spring 2025 after some “irregularities” in the institution’s finances came to light.
“The audit found that the funds were taken from multiple Mary Abbott House accounts, which included multiple banks, as well as Amazon and Venmo accounts,” an Oct. 26 statement from the authorities reads. “Based on the information gathered, OSBI special agents presented their investigative report to the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office for review.”
Harper, who had been at the organization for years, is no longer employed with Abbott House after turning herself in.
An unfortunate trend
Based on online comments, residents from the Norman area have been quick to draw parallels between the Abbott House case and another local instance of fraud committed by Brent Swadley, the proprietor of Swadley’s Foggy Bottom restaurants.
