A 32-year-old Fort Lauderdale resident, Justin G. Dwyer Sr., has been charged with multiple felonies after allegedly conning a 75-year-old Connecticut man out of $9,200 by impersonating a Bank of America fraud investigator.
The scheme kicked off on September 13, 2025, when the victim received what looked like a legitimate Bank of America alert about an unauthorized debit card charge tied to a California rental car company. The message came with a phone number. The victim called it. A man answered, introduced himself as a bank fraud investigator, and told the victim his account had been flagged for suspicious activity linked to someone named "Brian."
From fake freeze to real cash loss
The caller claimed the victim's Bank of America account had been frozen and walked him through setting up a Chase Wallet on his phone, directing him to transfer funds into a supposedly safe temporary Chase account. The victim went to a Bank of America branch in North Haven, withdrew $9,500 in cash, then drove to a Chase branch in Hamden and deposited $9,200 into the account the fraudsters controlled.
That money was gone within three days. ATM withdrawals, debit card purchases and peer-to-peer payments, all made in Florida, drained the account to just $0.67. As authorities noted in the case, according to CT Insider, "the timing, volume and consistency of the transactions demonstrate a coordinated effort to immediately withdraw and convert the deposited funds."
Investigators traced the Chase account to an August 2025 opening under the name Nelson Edward Henriquez, using a Florida area code phone number. Police allege Dwyer had access to the account despite it being registered under another name. He now faces charges of second-degree larceny, first-degree identity theft, fourth-degree money laundering and illegal use of a debit card.
Dwyer is being held on a $50,000 bond. His plea hearing is set for August 6 in New Haven Superior Court.
