Six individuals are accused of defrauding Florida seniors out of nearly $250,000 through elaborate grandparent scams, the Florida Attorney General announced on Monday.
The Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution revealed that the scam targeted seniors across multiple counties, including Palm Beach, Brevard, Broward, Lee, Miami-Dade, Orange, and Sarasota.
The Miami-Dade Police Department’s Vice Intelligence Squad handled the case, identifying the alleged fraudsters as Jairo Izquierdo, Gennesis Castro, Wendy Angelina Ortiz, Ada Tido, Wandy Castro, and Olfa Cornielle. These individuals reportedly contacted South Florida seniors while posing as lawyers or legal representatives of their grandchildren.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, the fraudsters told victims that their grandchildren had been arrested for hitting a pregnant woman with a vehicle and required bail money. The seniors were then persuaded to send the bail payment.
The suspects instructed the victims to use cash only, placing the money in a box to be picked up by a courier. Unknowing ride-share drivers, booked by the criminals, then collected the cash and delivered it to the scammers at a predetermined location.
Investigators discovered that the scammers repeatedly contacted the same victims, pressuring them for more money. In one case, a Palm Bay victim initially sent $9,000 but was later told that the pregnant woman had miscarried, requiring an additional $18,000 due to upgraded charges. The fraudsters continued the ruse, claiming the baby’s father attacked the senior’s grandson, leading to more charges and an additional $20,000 for bail plus $7,500 in court fees. The victim ended up paying over $54,000.
Similar tactics were used on a Melbourne victim, who paid $53,000 to the criminal group.
“These fraudsters know that most grandparents would do anything to help a grandchild in need. Through a convincing imposter scheme, they used fear and family to extort Florida seniors, stealing nearly a quarter of a million dollars,” said Attorney General Ashley Moody. “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.”
All six defendants face multiple first-degree felonies, including organized schemes to defraud, grand theft, criminal use of personal identification, and more, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
The investigation involved collaboration from multiple law enforcement agencies, including the West Palm Beach Police Department, the Boca Raton Police Department, the Jupiter Police Department, the Miami-Dade Police Department, the Sunny Isles Beach Police Department, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, the Brevard Sheriff’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the North Port Police Department, the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, the Palm Bay Police Department, and the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.