Six people have been arrested in connection with a "grandparent scam" ring that stole some $250,000 from seniors throughout Florida, authorities said.
The suspects told the seniors their grandchildren had been arrested after hitting a pregnant woman with a vehicle and they needed bail money, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said in a news release Tuesday.
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Miami-Dade Police, who were one of many law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation, said the scammers posed as lawyers or legal representatives of the grandchildren.
They then arranged for the grandparents to send payment, pressuring them by telling them the money was necessary for the grandchildren to be released from jail, Moody said.
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The fraudsters asked for cash, which was picked up by a courier - usually a ride-share driver who didn't know of the scam - and delivered to the suspects, Moody said.
The scammers preyed upon seniors in multiple counties, including Brevard, Broward, Lee, Miami-Dade, Orange, Palm Beach and Sarasota.
In a few instances, the scammers contacted the same victim multiple times pressuring for more cash.
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In one instance, a Palm Bay victim made an initial bond payment of $9,000, but fraudsters told the victim that the pregnant woman miscarried and the grandchild required an additional $18,000 because authorities upgraded the charges, Moody said.
The defendants then told the same victim the baby’s father attacked the senior’s grandson for causing the miscarriage, and during the course of the attack the grandchild elbowed a police officer, causing an additional $20,000 needed for bail, as well as $7,500 in court fees. The victim ended up paying the fraudsters more than $54,000.
Nearly identical events happened to a Melbourne victim, who paid $53,000 to the criminal group.
In another case, a Sarasota victim sent $8,000 and the fraudsters called back the next day saying the pregnant woman lost the child and requested another $4,000 for bail. The day after that, the defendants claimed the grandson owed medical bills due to the accident and required another $1,700.
A victim in Pompano Beach paid $30,000 for bail and later sent an additional $7,000 because the fraudsters claimed the pregnant woman died and the bond increased, Moody said.
The six suspects - Jairo Izquierdo, Gennesis Castro, Wendy Angelina Ortiz, Ada Tido, Wandy Castro and Olfa Cornielle - face multiple first-degree felonies, including organized scheme to defraud, grand theft, criminal use of personal identification and more.
"These fraudsters know that most grandparents would do anything to help a grandchild in need, and through a convincing imposter scheme they used fear and family to extort Florida seniors—stealing nearly a quarter of a million dollars," Moody said in a statement. "Working with our great law enforcement partners in South Florida, we were able to shut down this far-reaching grandparent scheme and now six fraudsters will have to answer for their crimes."
