Advancements in technology have led to a spike in scammers and con artists across the country.
But today’s scammers are more sophisticated than ever before.
And this Florida man just learned the hard way that messing with Elon Musk’s Starlink is not a good idea.
Scammers and con artists have become highly sophisticated in recent years thanks to advancements in technology like AI voice cloning.
And there are scammers seemingly everywhere these days, especially on the internet.
A study by NatWest, a British commercial bank, showed a massive spike in fake parcel delivery texts, AI voice cloning, and social media marketplace scams over the past 12 months.
According to the group F-Secure, 34% of people have experienced some form of a cyber scam within the past year and 85% have received a digital scam attempt.
But not all scammers target individuals.
Some scammers target businesses and corporations with their sophisticated schemes.
That is exactly what 26-year-old Florida man Keith Merard spent the past year doing in Volusia County.
According to reports, Merard and his accomplices claimed to be officials from the Volusia County government to trick vendors into delivering products under false pretenses.
The scam went on for more than 11 months as the group contacted vendors and convinced them to open up credit lines so they could make massive purchases.
“The sheriff’s office said Merard was part of a group that for 11 months pretended to be Volusia County officials to con vendors out of their products,” the Daytona Beach News Journal reported. “The scammers contacted hundreds of vendors to open lines of credit and make fraudulent purchases,” the Journal continued. “In many cases, the vendors got suspicious, and orders for various types of equipment were rejected.”
In one order, the scammers successfully purchased $7,000 worth of reusable respirators that they had shipped to Miami.
But it was when they tried to scam Elon Musk’s Starlink that their nearly-year-long scheme came crashing down.
“Detectives discovered another case where in October a company selling Starlink kits delivered an order of $48,000 to a storage unit in Davie that was never paid for,” the Journal reported. “That same company became suspicious when another high-end order was made from the scammer posing as Volusia County’s purchasing director,” the Journal continued. “The company contacted the county’s purchasing director, who told them the order was fake.”
On October 31, someone attempted to activate one of the stolen Starlink satellites.
Since the equipment showed the exact location of the device, the police found their suspect and put an end to his con.
“Investigators then obtained a search warrant and served it Monday at Merard’s Miramar apartment where they found him,” the Journal reported. “He confessed to the scams, according to the sheriff’s office Facebook post.”
Merard was charged with an organized scheme to defraud and criminal use of personal identification.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
