A Florida man is facing multiple felony charges for allegedly draining thousands of dollars from a 75-year-old Connecticut resident through a fake bank fraud investigation.
Fort Lauderdale resident and 32-year-old Justin G. Dwyer Sr. is charged with second-degree larceny, first-degree identity theft, fourth-degree money laundering and illegal use of a credit or debit card for allegedly masterminding a scheme that cost the elderly victim $9,200, reports CT Insider.
Authorities say the case began on September 13th, 2025, when the victim received what appeared to be a Bank of America alert concerning an unauthorized debit card transaction involving a California rental car company.
The message included a phone number that the victim called, and a man claiming to be a Bank of America fraud investigator answered and allegedly told the victim that his account had been flagged because of unusual activity.
Police allege that the “fraud investigator” said a person named “Brian” was responsible for the suspicious transaction and claimed the victim’s Bank of America account had been frozen.
The caller allegedly told the victim that Chase Bank had opened a temporary account in his name and instructed him to transfer cash into it. The victim was also directed to install and configure a Chase Wallet account on his phone.
Following the caller’s instructions, police say the victim withdrew $9,500 from a Bank of America branch in North Haven. He subsequently traveled to a Chase branch in Hamden and used his phone to deposit $9,200 into the account controlled by the alleged fraudsters.
Investigators later obtained records showing that the Chase account had been opened in August 2025 under the name Nelson Edward Henriquez using a phone number with a Florida area code.
Although the account was registered under Henriquez’s name, police allege Dwyer had access to it and used it as part of the scheme.
Bank records also show that the victim’s money was quickly moved out of the account through ATM withdrawals, debit card transactions and peer-to-peer payments conducted in Florida.
Within three days of the deposit, only $0.67 remained in the account. According to authorities, “the timing, volume and consistency of (the) transactions demonstrate a coordinated effort to immediately withdraw and convert the deposited funds.”
Dwyer remains in custody on a $50,000 bond. His plea hearing is scheduled for August 6th in New Haven Superior Court.
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