FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. – The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office arrested a Palm Coast man and said a Miami-area suspect later surrendered after a phone scam convinced an elderly Flagler Beach resident to leave his debit card in his mailbox, authorities said Wednesday.
Deputies responded June 5 after the man reported that callers posing as Spectrum fraud investigators connected him with someone claiming to be from his bank. The callers told him his account had been compromised and instructed him to seal his Truist debit card in an envelope and leave it in his mailbox so it could be “collected” and secured, according to charging affidavits.
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The envelope was later removed, and investigators say $3,444.79 in fraudulent ATM withdrawals and charges followed across Palm Coast and St. Augustine.
Detectives traced the withdrawals to a vehicle driven by Mardochee Malvoisin, 36, of Palm Coast, who was already in custody at the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility on unrelated charges. Investigators said they identified a second vehicle, a Miami-area rental, used by an accomplice.
Through investigative work, detectives say they identified Emile Destin Jr., 38, of North Miami Beach, as the alleged recruiter who recruited Malvoisin to take cards from mailboxes and use them at ATMs. Destin turned himself in to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office July 13 on a Flagler County warrant and is being held there on $35,000 bond pending extradition, the sheriff’s office said.
Malvoisin remains in custody on a combined $19,500 bond that includes $15,000 on the fraud warrants and $4,500 on a separate case for driving with a suspended license, giving a deputy a false name and possession of drug paraphernalia, records show.
Investigators used surveillance video, still images and license-plate recognition to place vehicles and suspects at locations where the cards were used, according to arrest reports. Malvoisin told detectives he picked up the cards from a mailbox and used them at ATMs before meeting Destin at a Palm Coast convenience store and handing over the cards, the reports say.
“Scoffers convinced a senior resident to put his debit card in an envelope and place it in his mailbox, and they started draining his account,” Sheriff Rick Staly said in a news release. “Malvoisin already knows what a bunk at the Green Roof Inn feels like, and soon Destin will, too.”
The sheriff’s office urged residents to be suspicious of callers who ask for financial information or request that you mail or hand over a debit or credit card. Legitimate companies will not ask customers to mail or hand over a card to “secure” it, officials said.
If you receive a similar call, hang up and contact the company directly using the number on your card or account statement, and report fraud to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office nonemergency line at 386-313-4911.
The sheriff’s office also offers free scams-and-frauds classes. For information or to host a class, contact the community engagement unit at communityengagement@flaglersheriff.com.
The office is hosting a Summit to Protect and Serve Seniors on Sept. 24 and a Safety Expo on Aug. 15.