A 19-year-old Homestead man was arrested Monday in connection with a scam that took $9,000 from a woman in North Carolina, according to detectives and police reports.
The victim told investigators she believed her account had been compromised after someone posing as a Navy Federal Credit Union employee contacted her. She made three $3,000 transfers on July 31, 2025, to a Wells Fargo account belonging to Benjamin Smalls, police said. Surveillance video shows Smalls using a debit card linked to that account to buy five $500 money orders at a Publix customer service desk the same day, according to the police report.
Officers arrested Smalls at 11:20 a.m. Monday at his home along Northeast 24th Drive near 41st Place, near the Homestead Air Reserve Base, and took him to the police station for questioning. In the arrest report, Smalls told the officer he had opened the Wells Fargo account using his own information and that the $9,000 had been deposited into it, the report said.
Miami-Dade corrections booked Smalls at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center near Doral shortly after 2:05 p.m. Monday. He faces three charges: third-degree grand theft, organized scheme to defraud and scheme to defraud a financial institution. His bond is set at $7,500.
The case is a reminder that scammers often pose as bank staff to pressure victims into moving money quickly.
