Officers in Volusia County said they arrested a scammer who was part of a group posing as Volusia County officials.
Detectives said Keith Merard, 26, was arrested in South Florida after an 11-month investigation.
According to a report, Merard and others posed as Volusia County officials to cheat sellers out of their products.
Deputies said the group contacted hundreds of suppliers to open lines of credit and make fraudulent purchases.
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One company that sells Starlink kits became suspicious of a bogus high-end order from Volusia County's purchasing director and contacted her directly, according to a report.
Deputies said the discovery led the company to realize that they had previously received a very similar supplier order of 15 Starlink kits for approximately $48,000, which were delivered to a storage unit in Davie, and that the “vendor” never received the invoice paid.
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Investigators said someone eventually tried to activate one of the stolen Starlinks in October, which allowed them to track down the suspect.
Deputies said the money made from the sale of the stolen goods would eventually be converted into Bitcoin and transferred abroad.
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