DORAL, Fla. – A Doral man has been arrested for his alleged role in a scam that fooled a California woman into depositing $20,000 into his account.
Andres Villavicencio, 18, faces charges of grand theft and organized scheme to defraud.
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Doral police spokesman Rey Valdes said a San Francisco woman was contacted by another woman claiming to be with the Los Angeles Police Department. She said the caller knew her personal information and told her she had been identified as being part of a drug trafficking organization.
In order to clear her name, the caller told her she would have to cooperate with police and make two wire transfers to prove the money in her bank account was legitimately hers.
One of the wire transfers, in the amount of $20,000, was made to Villavicencio's bank account, Valdes said.
Villavicencio was captured on the bank's surveillance video making three withdrawals for a total of $17,000 once the wire transfer had cleared, Valdes said.
After Villavicencio was arrested, "he provided police with vague and unverifiable information as to his involvement in the scheme and the whereabouts of the money," Valdes said.
Villavicencio was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.