A 29-year-old Fort Lauderdale, Florida woman scammed $45,000 out of a Darien woman by pretending to be an employee with the victim’s bank, Darien police said.
The Florida woman turned herself in at Darien Police Headquarters Friday, May 10, in response to an arrest warrant charging her with first-degree larceny, a felony.
Darien police gave this account of the incident and investigation:
On Sept. 29, 2023, the victim told police that she received the call. The woman pretending to be a bank employee, Gabriella Rodrigues, told the victim that there had been a fraud committed with her account.
Arrest photo from Darien P.D.
Gabriella Rodrigues, 29, of 3rd Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, charged with first-degree larceny after a $45,000 was stolen from a Darien woman in a phone scam
The victim provided information that Rodrigues used to set up new user login information, which allowed online access to the account. A short time afterward, the victim checked her bank account and found that $45,000 had been wired from it. She called police.
A Darien police detective determined that the bank account that received the wire transfer is owned by Rodrigues. Her identity was confirmed, and she was identified with video surveillance of her at the bank during fraudulent transactions.
Rodrigues was contacted. She claimed she was a secondary victim, and she could provide documentation for that. But she didn’t, so Darien police applied for and were granted an arrest warrant on April 29. The warrant had a court-set bond of $150,000.
After her arrest, she was released on bond. Rodrigues, of 3rd Avenue in Fort Lauderdale, is scheduled to appear May 28 in state Superior Court in Stamford.