A Virginia woman has pleaded guilty in a U.S. court to faking her own kidnapping in Guatemala to extort money from her family in the United States.

U.S. prosecutors say 34 year old Sheena Flores was living in Guatemala with a child last year when she told her family she had been abducted and would be killed if a ransom was not paid.

The family wired $3,000 before learning the kidnapping was a hoax.

Flores faces up to 20 years in prison when sentenced in October.