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What began as a traffic stop led to the arrest of experienced fraud crews accused of targeting dozens of casualties across the country, including old people in Moore Park.
The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office announced Monday that three suspects had been suspended April 19th through Garfield County, Colorado, for “unrelated traffic violations.”
Deputies saw the suspect’s felony arrest warrant and detained them, and subsequent investigations revealed that detectives found at least 11 cases of crew members scaming people in Southern California, and then found 14 more cases in New York since December 2023.
Officials said the way these scams were coordinated began by targeting older victims who were trying to use ATMs.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, the 70-year-old Moore Park man was about to withdraw money from the Bank of America ATM in the US around 11:30am on December 27, 2024, when one of the suspects approached him.
The suspect offered to help the man by showing the ATM a “tap” function instead of inserting the ATM card into the machine.
Officials said the suspect had exchanged the victim’s ATM card for another, unknown to the man.
Detectives are allegedly found surveillance video showing the second suspect during the exchange and saw the victim enter pins into the machine.
“By knowledge of the victim’s ATM card and the victim’s PIN, two male and third female suspects used the victim’s ATM card to perform multiple ATMs with a total loss of $3,800 at various ATMs in Southern California.”
Over the next few months, investigators identified the three crew as Pedro Cuspe (ages 61, 61 and 40), and Estefuni Fara, 25, all New York residents.
All three suspects were handed over to Ventura County, waiting for a $150,000 bail.
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