Fraud ringleader cheated more than 250 elderly Floridians out of roughly $1.4 million: prosecutors

A federal district judge handed down a 145 month-sentence to a Georgia woman in connection to her role in a scam that bilked over 250 elderly Floridians out of around $1.4 million, federal prosecutors said.

On May 25, Edtronda Simon, 41, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.

According to prosecutors, Simon was the leader of the elder fraud scheme that got victims to hand over their credit cards, debit cards, and related personal identification numbers over the course of four years, beginning in 2016.

“Simon would cold-call elderly victims in South Florida, pretend to be from the fraud department of each senior’s bank, and convince the seniors that their accounts had been compromised, which was not true,” authorities said. “Once a senior seemed convinced, Simon would offer to send a ‘bank representative’ to the elderly victim’s home to exchange any compromised credit or debit card with a new one.”

Simon would then request to verify the PINs of the victims' accounts and a co-conspirator would pick up the cards, falsely promising to return with replacements.

“The co-conspirators used the seniors’ credit cards, debit cards, and PINs to withdraw cash from ATMs, purchase money orders, and otherwise drain money from the accounts as quickly as possible — before real bank fraud representatives caught on to the illegal activity,” prosecutors said.

Simon’s co-conspirators also pleaded guilty to charges connected to their roles in the fraud and received varying sentences: Samuel Charles, 40 months; Shaumbrica Stubbs, 76 months; Shaquille Robinson, 63 months; Luclesse Vernesse, 48 months; Ian Felder, 52 months; and Dierdre Dixon, 83 months.