Crook poses as Sunny Isles Beach police chief, scams thousands from victim

SUNNY ISLES BEACH, Fla. ā€“ A new troubling scam has criminals posing as a police chief.

Unsuspecting victims are being told to pay up or be locked up.

Itā€™s happening with crooks posing as Sunny Isles Beach Police Chief Eddie Santiago.

ā€œThey pretended to be me, they spoofed our telephone number to our police station, it showed up on her caller ID,ā€ Santiago told Local 10 Newsā€™ Rosh Lowe. ā€œThey had her convinced it was me.ā€

It turns out this person posing as Chief Santiago said there was a warrant for the arrest of the woman he was trying to scam, and said she had to pay bitcoin to make it go away.

ā€œThey are very elaborate. They knew a lot about me, they went on our website,ā€ he said.

Not only did the scammer know a lot about Santiago, but when the victim mentioned meeting him, the crook said yes and went along with it.

That victim transferred about $3,000 to a bitcoin account, convinced the chief could get her out of a warrant.

ā€œThereā€™s not a police agency that is going to call and ask for money,ā€ he said.

Santiago said he will do everything in his power to put this scammer behind bars.

ā€œThe message Iā€™m sending out, if you do this to our residents, we are going to find you and arrest you,ā€ he said.


About the Author
Rosh Lowe headshot

Reporter Rosh Lowe has been covering news for nearly two decades in South Florida. He joined Local 10 in 2021.

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