Woman converted to Christianity says ...

Claudia Roberts is a convicted fraudster who says that finding God has changed her life from one of crime to a Christian who wants to inspire others.

She was the central figure in an overseas employment scam that fleeced over 500 persons of $20 million in 2010.

Roberts said her life of crime started after the father of her children paid money to someone who promised to find a work for him overseas. The job did not materialise as promised and this sparked the idea for the couple to scam persons out of money who wanted job opportunities abroad.

The mother of five said after becoming aware of how much money could be made from such a scam, they decided to operate a business to fleece unsuspecting victims.

"When we realise how much money we could make, we decided to do one of our own, so we opened office space and put an ad in the newspaper advertising jobs," said Roberts.

Forty-three-year-old Roberts told The Star that she was running scams that varied from overseas employment agencies to agencies offering to help persons get positions in schools abroad.

Roberts swindled money from unsuspecting persons promising them jobs within a three or six-month period. "It was very easy, you know what to do to get people to believe. You do your research to answer the questions," said Roberts.

Roberts said she would close down their office space when the time came for her to produce the jobs abroad that she promised to her clients. "We moved from location to location and sometimes we just cool out," said Roberts as she told the Star how she escaped confrontation from persons who she took money from under false pretence.

The couple made millions of dollars which they used to purchase land and vehicles including an Escalade van.

But Roberts' life of crime would catch up with her. She was imprisoned three times between 2006 and 2013. It was the 36-month sentence from October 2010 and November 2013 that would make Roberts become serious about not going back to prison and becoming fully committed to Christianity.

"He(God) took me to a place where he could get my full attention, there were no kids around, no mother or father," said Roberts of her final stint in prison where she said she became a dedicated Christian.

Roberts, who got emotional as she told her story, said her time in prison made her start writing songs which she now sings in the various churches that she visits to tell her story.

Acting Minister at the Kingdom of Heaven Embassy Ministry, Victoria Sharpe-Miller, told The Star that she has witnessed changes in Roberts since she started attending the church in Portland and she was her for deciding to tell her story.

"When she just came home (to Portland), she used to hide out at home but she wants others to see her life as an example that change is possible," said Sharpe-Miller.

Roberts has advice for persons who are seeking employment abroad, "When you see ads or anything, contact Ministry of Labour," said Roberts. She said the Ministry has a list of all legal employment agencies so persons need to be more careful when making transactions for job opportunities.

The woman convicted of over 100 counts of obtaining money by false pretence told The Star she wanted her story to inspire change, "I want to know I can touch the lives of people in a positive way." Roberts said her story shows that God is real and can change you.