Bronx man stole thousands from Long Island woman in phone scam last year, Suffolk police say

Servando Ruiz Cuenca, 45, was arrested for an alleged phone scam involving a 65-year-old woman in Center Moriches. On Sept. 30, he purportedly claimed to be a Chase bank representative and told her her account had been compromised. She was instructed to transfer $44,000 into another account. Police said withdrawals totaling $28,000 were made at two Chase branches in New Jersey shortly afterward, and the remaining $16,000 was recovered after she reported the incident. Cuenca was charged with third-degree grand larceny and is scheduled to be arraigned in Central Islip. Phone scams are reported as the highest per-person loss category to the Federal Trade Commission, with a median loss of about $1,500.

"Servando Ruiz Cuenca, 45, is accused of having called the woman, 65, on Sept. 30 and "purported to be a Chase bank representative claiming her account had been compromised," a department news release said, "and the woman was instructed to transfer $44,000 into another account." The release implies, but does not explicitly say, that she then made the transfer. The account to which the money was transferred was Ruiz Cuenca's, which is how he was later caught, police said in an email."

""A short time later, withdrawals were made at two Chase bank branches in New Jersey totaling $28,000," the release said. The woman "immediately reported the incident to police" and the remaining $16,000 that had not yet been withdrawn was recovered, according to the release. Police did not say why more than seven months elapsed between the alleged theft and the arrest in the case, nor how Ruiz Cuenca happened to target the woman, whose name was not disclosed."

"Ruiz Cuenca, who is charged with third-degree grand larceny, is to be arraigned on Wednesday at First District Court in Central Islip. He was arrested with the help of the NYPD's warrant squad. The release does elaborate about why the warrant squad was involved. Eli Finkelson, a spokeswoman for bank parent company JPMorganChase, told Newsday she was looking into the case."

"Scams that start with a phone call - compared with social media or email - represent the highest per-person loss reported to the Federal Trade Commission, about a $1,500 median loss, according to a 2025 report by the agency, which found 2024 losses overall totaled $12.5 billi"

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