Two men from the Dominican Republic charged in a wide-ranging “grandparent scam” that allegedly victimised nine New Jersey residents have been extradited to the state.
Rafael Ambiorix Rodriguez Guzman, also known as “Max Morgan”, 59, and Felix Samuel Reynoso Ventura, also known as “Fili” and “Filly The Kid”, 37, appeared in federal court in Newark on Monday, authorities said. Both were ordered held in jail by a judge, the US Attorney’s Office for New Jersey said.
The two are among 16 charged in connection with the scheme in which scammers tricked their victims into believing their grandchildren had been arrested following a car accident and needed money, the US Attorney’s Office said. The alleged fraudsters had hundreds of victims across the country and stole millions, prosecutors allege.
Rodriguez Guzman and Reynoso Ventura are each charged with mail and wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, mail fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Neither man has an attorney listed in court records.
In reality, there were no accidents and no grandchildren were arrested.
Eleven men from the Dominican Republic ranging in age from 24 to 59 were charged in a 19-count indictment in April. The charges include mail and wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, mail fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and money laundering.
In addition, five New York City residents ranging in age from 21 to 43 are charged with wire fraud conspiracy in another alleged ruse that ran from January 2019 to December 2023.
Alleged victims from New Jersey reside in Lindenwold, Paterson, Toms River, East Brunswick, Williamstown, Teaneck, Warren in Somerset County, and Hamilton in Mercer County, according to court papers. Other victims are from New York, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.
Some victims were duped out of tens of thousands of dollars, authorities said.
A first group of callers knows as “openers” posed as the victims’ grandchildren and used technology to make it appear they were placing phone calls from the United States. Later, “closers” impersonated police officers, defense attorneys or court employees to secure the money, prosecutors allege.
Victims were either told to mail cash, send funds by an app or wait for a courier to come to their home to pick up money, authorities said.
The victims from New Jersey who were ordered to mail money were instructed to send it to either: East Orange; Reading, Pennsylvania; or Cleveland, Ohio, charging documents state. Some New Jersey victims were directed to use a messaging app to forward money to the Dominican Republic.
Though the thieves varied their stories, a commonly used angle involved the scammers telling grandparents that a woman who was in the crash with their grandchildren was pregnant and had suffered a miscarriage, authorities said. – NJ.com/Tribune News Service
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