Bronx man accused of stealing thousands in Long Island phone scam
A Bronx man is accused of posing as a Chase Bank worker and steering a Center Moriches woman into moving $44,000. Suffolk police say $28,000 was withdrawn before detectives recovered the rest.
Servando Ruiz Cuenca, 45, of the Bronx, is accused of using a phone scam to take money from a 65-year-old Center Moriches woman after pretending to be a Chase Bank representative, Suffolk County police said.
Investigators said Cuenca called the woman on Sept. 30, 2025, told her her account had been compromised and pushed her to transfer $44,000 into another account. Police said two withdrawals totaling $28,000 were then made at Chase branches in New Jersey before detectives with the Suffolk County Financial Crimes Unit recovered the remaining $16,000.
The case shows how quickly a bank-impersonation scam can move from a single phone call to a multistate theft. The victim was in Center Moriches, the suspect was in the Bronx, and the withdrawals were carried out in New Jersey, a trail that underscores how these frauds can cross county and state lines before a target realizes what happened.
Police say the warning signs were built into the call itself: an unexpected claim that an account was in danger, pressure to act immediately, and instructions to move money to another account. Federal consumer agencies say those are classic hallmarks of imposter scams, in which fraudsters pose as a bank or another trusted business to steal money or personal information. The FDIC says bank-impersonation scams were the most reported scam by text in 2022 and had risen nearly twentyfold since 2019, while a typical victim lost about $3,000 and faced identity-theft risk.
USAGov advises that unexpected contact from someone claiming to be a bank representative can be a scam and says the safest response is to verify the call independently before sending money or personal details. In practice, that means hanging up and calling the bank using a known number, not one given by the caller.
News 12 Long Island reported that Cuenca was held overnight after his arrest and was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday, May 28, 2026, in First District Court in Central Islip. For Suffolk residents, the case is another reminder that a caller who sounds urgent and official can still be a criminal trying to drain an account before anyone has time to stop the transfer.
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