Florida man drains $234,000 from bank customers in California and Nevada, posing as fraud investigator: Department of Justice

A Florida resident admitted to stealing tens of thousands of dollars from bank customers across the United States by posing as a fraud investigator.

U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California He says Albert Guerra, who resides in Miramar, Florida, pleaded guilty to running a nationwide bank fraud scheme with his accomplices. Guerra’s scheme involved first obtaining information about the bank’s customers and then contacting them under the pretext of conducting fraud investigations.

“He convinced the victims to withdraw cash and hand it over to alleged bank employees — who were simply ride-hailing drivers sent by Guerra to retrieve cash from the victims and return it to him.”

Because many of his victims were elderly, Guerra typically told taxi drivers he hired to collect money that he was sending them to pick up documents from his grandparents, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California.

While Guerra is a Florida resident, details in his plea agreement indicate he defrauded more than $170,000 from victims on the West Coast. In October of 2025, Guerra defrauded $136,300 from three victims residing in different parts of San Diego, California. Three days after being robbed from the trio, Guerra spent $24,000 on a Tesla Model 3 in Las Vegas.

Up north in Oregon, Guerra stole $40,000 from at least one victim.

Guerra, who pleaded guilty to bank fraud and money laundering charges in late March, is scheduled to be sentenced in June.

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