Homestead man accused of defrauding North Carolina woman

A fraudster impersonated a Navy Federal Credit Union employee to persuade a woman in North Carolina to transfer $9,000 to a bank account belonging to a 19-year-old man in Homestead, according to detectives. Believing that her account had been compromised, the victim in North Carolina’s Jacksonville County made three $3,000 transfers to a Wells Fargo account belonging to Benjamin Smalls on July 31, 2025, according to a police report. Surveillance video shows Smalls using a debit card associated with the Wells Fargo account to buy five $500 money orders at a Publix Supermarket’s customer service desk on July 31, 2025, in Miami-Dade County, according to the police report. Police officers arrested Smalls at 11:20 a.m. on 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, according to the arrest report. Smalls said, “he had opened a Wells Fargo account using his own personal information, and