Mother-daughter duo scams Coca-Cola out of $200K

ALBANY, Ore. — A mother and daughter duo scammed Coca-Cola out of more than $200,000 but only have to repay a quarter of that.

Carrie Jones, 55, and Sarah Jones, 31, both from Albany, Ore., pleaded guilty to computer crime Friday. The duo participated in a four-month contest in 2011 that allowed customers to text codes from Coke product bottle caps to see if they won.

The Democrat-Herald of Albany, Ore., says the two women created 650 email addresses using other people's identities and sold prize codes on eBay.

The Coca-Cola company became suspicious after a high number of winnings went to a single IP address in Albany.

According to the Democrat-Herald, contest rules said a person could not win more than twice and a household could only win five times during the promotion.

The Joneses would not tell the court where they got the codes from, according to the Democrat-Herald.

Sarah Jones and Carrie Jones avoided jail time but were sentenced to two years probation and were ordered to jointly pay $48,000 to Coca-Cola.

KIRO