A man and a woman from Middlesex County have been charged in a multistate elder abuse financial scam.
NEW BRUNSWICK -- Two New Jersey residents were arrested Friday in connection with a nationwide phone ring that allegedly scammed 19 senior citizens out of $45,500 in more than a dozen states.
Erica Puello, 25, of Old Bridge, and Amaury Fernandez, 24, of North Brunswick, were arrested and charged with theft by deception and conspiring to commit theft by deception following a probe by investigators, according to a statement from the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office.
The two allegedly conducted the scam from New Jersey between September 2015 and July, cheating residents in the state as well as residents in Maryland, Florida, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Michigan, Minnesota, Texas, Illinois, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio and Washington, D.C., the statement said.
Investigators uncovered that Puello and Fernandez had allegedly cheated the victims out of money ranging from $1,000 to $5,500 "by making bogus phone calls posing as relatives, friends or attorneys who needed money wired to them quickly," officials said.
An employee at the bank of one of the victims had recognized the scam and warned the customer. However, the customer disregarded the warning and went to MoneyGram to complete a transaction, according to officials.
"The Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office, through its Elder Abuse and Exploitation Team, will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute scammers who prey on the vulnerable," said county Prosecutor Andrew C. Prosecutor in the statement. "These arrests are a result of one of several new and wide-ranging investigations conducted by the team."
Officials said that phone calls seeking money should be verified by authorities and that in the past, scams have been foiled when the potential target has contacted the real person whose name was being used by the scammer.
The investigation remains ongoing. Anyone with information can contact the investigator who led the probe, Det. Christopher Pennisi, of the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office, at 732-745-3300.
Spencer Kent may be reached at skent@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerMKent. Find the Find NJ.com on Facebook.