Men Preyed On Low-Income Hispanics, Scammed Them Out Of $1M: LADA

BELLFLOWER, CA — Two men have been charged in a cryptocurrency scheme where they defrauded low-income Spanish speakers seeking loans and high-limit credit lines out of $1 million, according to authorities.

Los Angeles City Prosecutors say Yone Lopez Rios, 53, of Rancho Cucamonga and Erwing Diaz Cuevas of Norwalk, 35, created a fraudulent investment scheme using their financial service, Fuego Tax, in Bellflower from 2020 to 2022.

Over those two years, the men convinced customers of Fuego Tax who were looking to get loans or high-limit credit cards to invest what they received in a cryptocurrency mining business known as Zukre Platform Corporation. They promised investors, who gave anywhere between $4,500 and $280,000, that the action was risk-free and protected by insurance.

The investors were then provided with written contracts and told to download a Zukre mobile application to see how their investments were doing, prosecutors said.

However, the company was not registered in California, nor did it conduct any of the operations the men promised their investors, according to authorities. None of the investors made a profit or had their initial investment returned, prosecutors said.

On Friday, prosecutors announced that Rios and Cuevas had each been charged with 30 felony counts of grand theft. Rios faces additional charges of forgery relating to an item exceeding $950 in value and passing a non-sufficient funds check exceeding $950.

“My office will not tolerate financial predators who purport to offer legitimate services, but instead offer lies and devastating financial loss,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said in a statement “Let me be clear: If you steal from our communities, whether in the streets or through sophisticated investment or cryptocurrency schemes, we will find you and hold you accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”

If convicted, Rios faces a maximum of 23 years and eight months in prison. Cuevas faces 21 years in four months in state prison, authorities said.