California bride gets 5 years for $20K fraud scheme targeting The Knot

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (KTLA) -- A Santa Clarita bride was sentenced to five years in jail after trying to use her nuptials to scam wedding-planning website The Knot out of $20,000 with false insurance claims, officials said Monday.

Vermyttya Miller of Santa Clarita was able to get $10,000 out of the company, but she'll have to pay that back, along with another $12,500 to cover the cost of investigating her fraud, the state Department of Insurance said in a news release.

The scheme began with Miller using The Knot to book the Galleria Ballroom in Glendale as a reception site in October 2016, investigators said.

The venue came with a $10,000 event cancellation or postponement insurance policy.

Shortly after securing the space, Miller filed a claim under the policy, stating she had tripped on her wedding dress and was hurt so severely that she had to cancel the reception.

Miller turned over medical documents to support her claim, and she was given a $10,000 check by the end of the month, officials said.

At that point, The Knot and its insurer did not suspect the claim was fake. But their suspicions were raised weeks later when Miller reported her $10,000 check was stolen.

The bride gave the company a police report she said she filed with the Vallejo Police Department, but investigators determined the document was doctored from an unrelated incident that occurred years earlier.

She eventually pleaded no contest to one count of felony insurance fraud, officials said.