Oregon mother jailed for surrogacy scam

One Oregon woman was sentenced to 20 days in jail and two years probation after a particularly crafty surrogacy scam came to light. Audrey Magallon from Astoria, Oregon, offered herself as a surrogate mother to infertile couples on the internet. After agreeing to send her "biological material" (sperm) and money, Magallon scammed two couples at the same time. She told them that she got pregnant after inseminating herself with the intended fathers' sperm, and convinced them by sending doctored pregnancy test pictures and ultrasound images.

Audry Magallon, 31, is a mother of four and she used her children's ultrasound pictures to convince her victims that she was indeed expecting. Apparently, Magallon's children were taken into state custody when court proceedings commenced. She, meanwhile, told the court after sentencing: "I am sorry for what I did, but 'I'm sorry' doesn't mean an awful lot". Besides spending 20 days in jail and being on probation for two years, the other aspects of this woman's sentence include not being allowed to use the internet after she gets out of jail, not getting involved with surrogacy programs, and paying her victims back the money she received from them over $10,000.

The New Zealand couple she scammed told the court how absolutely "shattered" they were by the whole situation, describing how they looked forward to finally becoming parents for a whole five months, and even buying baby clothes. Magallon gave the couples she deceived regular updates on the supposed pregnancy and talked about prenatal appointments she went to. "I can't begin to tell you how much I hurt inside, Cheniya Beres told the court, You stooped to new, low levels." The judge told Magallon: "It was a web of lies. You have caused these people unspeakable grief." Are you interested in participating in surrogacy yourself, but want to avoid situations like these? Read our articles on how to choose a surrogate mother and surrogacy costs in the US.