A Miami couple is facing multiple charges related to a fraud scheme that bilked a family who was promised Rolexes and a cruise out of over $200,000, authorities said.
Antonio Diaz, 65, and Maria Blasco Diaz, 64, were arrested Tuesday on charges of organized fraud of $50,000 or more, first-degree grand theft, theft from the elderly, and uttering forged instruments, arrest reports said.
Blasco Diaz is also charged with issuing worthless checks.
According to the arrest reports, the victims were longtime friends of the couple who they hadn’t seen in a while.
In 2021, one victim purchased a ring at a store and encountered Antonio Diaz, who was employed there, and when she went to pick up the ring with her husband, the husband was browsing Rolex watches, the reports said.
Then, in 2022, the victim received a text from Blasco Diaz offering that her husband could buy a Rolex using a friends and family 50% discount, which was offered to other relatives, the reports said.
Several relatives expressed interest and deposits were made for 16 Rolex watches and one Patek Philippe watch, totaling $138,948, the reports said.
Blasco Diaz said the watches would take months to arrive, then provided multiple explanations for delays including that they were sent to the wrong store or were being held by quality control, the reports said.
In February 2023, Antonio Diaz sent one of the buyers a screenshot of an email to show proof that the Rolexes had been ordered and would arrive in March 2023, the reports said.
Also in March 2023, the female victim gave Blasco Diaz a $3,000 check for a pair of discounted lab created diamond earrings but she was told she couldn’t pick them up until they were released from quality control, the reports said.
Other jewelry purchases were made by family members totaling over $13,400, the reports said.
The victim also sought Blasco Diaz’s opinion on a cruise, and Blasco Diaz told her she could obtain discounted cruises through a friend who worked for a cruise company, the reports said.
The victim and family members paid the suspects $44,910 and the cruise was scheduled to depart July 9, 2023, the reports said.
The reports said the victim repeatedly asked Blasco Diaz for travel documents and Blasco Diaz offered various excuses until less than a week before the cruise, on July 3, when Blasco Diaz went to the victim’s workplace and said her friend at the cruise company had been fired.
Blasco Diaz gave the victim checks for partial repayment and said she would repay the remaining balance through a home equity line of credit, but the checks were later determined to have come from a newly opened account with insufficient funds, the reports said.
The victim contacted the cruise company using a reservation number previously provided by Blasco Diaz and the company confirmed it was active but didn’t belong to the victim or any of her family, the reports said.
Blasco Diaz sent additional checks but the victim contacted the bank and was told not to deposit them because there were insufficient funds, the reports said.
No repayment was ever made to the victims or their family members, and it was determined the couple collectively stole just over $200,259 from the victims, the reports said.
Diaz and Blasco Diaz both appeared before a bond court judge on Wednesday, where one of the alleged victims told a judge her parents, who are in their late 70s and early 80s, were victims of the scheme, along with 20 family members who believed they were going on the cruise.
“Our whole family was scammed by her, through friendship,” the woman said. “It was somebody who we trusted wholly.”
The judge granted the couple bonds of $35,000 each.