Two St. Croix residents were arrested Friday for an online fraud scheme that bilked $71,000 out of Banco Popular customers.
The investigation into Luis Arias Alvarez and Daymarie Roque-Guerrero was launched last week by the V.I. Police Department’s Economic Crime Unit, which found that the two were able to gain access to the bank’s Mi Banco online platform and withdraw funds from customers’ accounts without their permission.
According to a VIPD news release, the two were allegedly observed multiple times on Banco’s surveillance cameras using the Retiro Movil platform to withdraw funds from ATM machines at the bank’s branches in Orange Grove, Sunshine Mall and Sunny Isles. Funds withdrawn totaled $71,000.
Friday, close to 4 p.m., the Economic Crime Unity received a tip that Alvarez was spotted
around the bank branch in Orange Grove, then left the area on foot, heading toward Pueblo in Golden Rock. It was there that police were able to detain him and transport him to the Wilber Francis Command station, where he was placed under arrest without incident.
Meanwhile, Roque-Guerrero was picked up at her residence and also transported to Wilbur Francis Command, where she was arrested. Bail for the pair was set at $20,000. Unable to post, Alvarez was remanded to the John A. Bell Correctional Facility, pending an advice of rights hearing Monday, while Roque-Guerrero was released on a 10-percent bond, or, after posting $2,005.
Charges against the two include grand larceny, obtaining money by false pretenses and identity theft.
