MIAMI – On social media, Robert Pulido went by the name Berto Delvanicci and flaunted a luxury lifestyle to tens of thousands of followers.
On his Instagram bio, Pulido claims to be a 24-year-old multi-millionaire foreign exchange trader but police says he scammed at least three victims out of a total of “$159,000 dollars of their hard earned money.”
Authorities say Pulido allegedly promised to use his expertise to invest their money while charging a monthly subscription for his sage investment advice, only for the victims to end up with nothing.
One of Pulido’s alleged victim agreed to speak to Local 10 News anonymously.
He said he first connected with Pulido in 2019, when he turned 18. He had just come into some money from his grandmother’s inheritance.
He gave Pulido $75,000, in part for investments, and to buy an Audi R8 to use for a car rental business the two had discussed.
Instead, investigators say Pulido posted photos of the R8 to his own social media accounts.
The car allegedly never generated any rental revenue, and the victim never recovered a dime from Pulido.
When the Federal Trade Commission began investigating, authorities said Pulido pressured victims not to cooperate.
Pulido was arrested Saturday at Miami International Airport after flying in from Colombia. He’s out of jail after posting a $45,000 bond.