Miami-Dade Mother and Son Arrested in $671,000 Synchrony Bank Fraud Scheme

Law enforcement in Miami-Dade County has charged a mother-and-son duo with orchestrating a complex financial scheme that defrauded Synchrony, a Connecticut-based financial institution, of approximately $671,175. Yuman Malpica, 54, and Jose Fernandez, 28, were arrested Tuesday on multiple felony charges stemming from the alleged theft, which investigators say exploited the bank’s consumer financing partnerships with jewelry retailers.

According to Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office records, the suspects used fraudulently obtained personal identities to place orders for jewelry through Synchrony’s online merchant portal. The scheme involved five Florida-registered companies: Jasny Jewelry, Kate Jewelry, Lissy Gold Jewelry, Rocky Jewelry, and an additional entity, through which thousands in fraudulent transactions were processed between the suspects and the financial institution.

Investigators traced the pair to a three-bedroom residence in Doral’s Neovita gated community, where they recovered evidence including luxury vehicles registered to the defendants. Transactions routed through Lissy Gold and Rocky Jewelry alone generated over $507,000 in fraudulent payments directed to a JPMorgan Chase account under the name JM Solutions 97 LLC, which Fernandez operates from his Doral address.

Both suspects, who were born in Venezuela, were booked at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on Tuesday evening. Each faces four felony counts: organized scheme to defraud, grand theft, fraudulent use of identification, and unlawful possession of five or more identifications. Bond was set at $120,000 per defendant, with a court order requiring proof that any assets used for bail are not proceeds from criminal activity.

At the time of booking Wednesday, both remained in custody pending immigration proceedings, with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement placing detainers on their records.