6 people arrested in Florida for creating a ‘grandparent scammer’ ring that stole $250,000 from seniors – NBC 6 South Florida

Six people have been arrested in connection with a “grandparent scam” ring that stole about $250,000 from seniors across Florida, authorities said.

The suspects told the seniors that their grandchildren had been arrested after hitting a pregnant woman with a car and that they now had to raise money for bail, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said in a press release on Tuesday.

Miami-Dade police, one of numerous law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation, said the scammers posed as attorneys or legal representatives for the grandchildren.

They then persuaded the grandparents to wire the payment and put pressure on them by telling them the money was necessary for the grandchildren to be released from prison, Moody said.

The scammers demanded cash, which was picked up by a courier – usually a ride-share driver who knew nothing about the scam – and delivered to the suspects, Moody said.

The scammers preyed on seniors in several counties, including Brevard, Broward, Lee, Miami-Dade, Orange, Palm Beach and Sarasota.

In some cases, the scammers contacted the same victim multiple times and pressured them to hand over more money.

In one case, a Palm Bay victim initially paid $9,000 for bail, but scammers told the victim the pregnant woman had suffered a miscarriage and another $18,000 was needed for the grandchild because authorities had increased the charges, Moody said.

The defendants then told the same victim that the baby’s father had attacked the senior’s grandson, causing the miscarriage, and that the grandchild had elbowed a police officer during the attack, which resulted in an additional $20,000 in bail and $7,500 in court costs. The victim ultimately paid the scammers more than $54,000.

A victim in Melbourne suffered almost the same fate: he paid the criminal group $53,000.

In another case, a victim from Sarasota sent $8,000 and the scammers called back the next day saying the pregnant woman had lost her child and demanded another $4,000 in bail. The next day, the defendants claimed the grandson was at fault for the accident and demanded another $1,700.

One victim in Pompano Beach paid $30,000 bail and later wired another $7,000 because the scammers claimed the pregnant woman had died and the bail was then increased, Moody said.

The six suspects – Jairo Izquierdo, Gennesis Castro, Wendy Angelina Ortiz, Ada Tido, Wandy Castro and Olfa Cornielle – are accused of several serious first-degree crimes, including organized fraud, grand theft, criminal use of personal identification and more.

“These scammers know that most grandparents would do anything to help a grandchild in need. Using a convincing fraud scheme, they used fear and family to extort Florida seniors – and stole nearly a quarter of a million dollars,” Moody said in a statement. “Working with our amazing law enforcement partners in South Florida, we were able to stop this far-reaching grandparent scheme and now six scammers must answer for their crimes.”