MIAMI (WSVN) – A federal grand jury in Miami has returned a 22-count indictment charging five men in connection with a nationwide fraud and money laundering scheme that generated $1.5 million in bogus refund credits, authorities said.
Michael Jerry Phanor, 35; John Ngotho, 33; William Lopes, 35; Armani Amado, 28; and Henry Nunez, 27, face wire fraud and money laundering charges for allegedly exploiting payment processors and financial technology systems to manipulate refund transactions at retail chains across the United States.
According to the indictment and court filings, the defendants used a “split-tender” method, purchasing merchandise with two debit cards and returning it to trigger multiple fraudulent refunds to the first card while intentionally delaying the second refund…