Police: Fix-A-Flat Scammers Caught In The Act

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) --  A scam pulled in Miami-Dade County landed two men behind bars, police said.

Officers said the scam targets customers at financial institutions, mainly women and elderly people.

The way it works, they said, is they wait for the person to go inside and then puncture one of the tires of the victim's car.  Once the victim is back in their car, they follow them and as their tire deflates they pull up close and offer to help. This gives them the opportunity to steal the victim's money.

Miami-Dade Police Detective Alvaro Zabaleta CB4's Peter D'Oench, "They pull up as good Samaritans and say let me get into your trunk, your car. What they want to do is get inside and get in to your wallet and your purse."

Zabaleta said, "We need to learn from this and educate the community. Don't trust anybody. If something were to happen to you, don't let people get inside your vehicle because inside your vehicle you have your registration and your insurance card and documents with important information."

"That means they can later go back to the victims and break in to their homes," he said. "Don't make it easier for them. We need to think of how innovative these crooks are and how we need to learn from this."

Officers said Hernan Trujillo, 46, and Cesar Vargas, 36, are under arrest in connection to the scam.

The arrests stem from an incident that happened last week as detectives were investigating an unrelated incident near 25th Street NW 107th Avenue.

A detective said they caught the duo in the act and spotted them trying to catch up to the 55-year-old victim - at one point driving onto the sidewalk. Detectives followed them and pulled up next to the victim's vehicle to tell her she had a punctured tire.

Detectives said while they were talking to the victim, one of the men tried for a second time to puncture a tire on the victim's car.

Both men were arrested but police believe there may be more victims out there. They had previously been arrested for similar incidents.

"We know they have struck before and we stopped them before they could strike again," said Zabaleta. "This time this was stopped because of our observant detectives."

"They were brazen enough to commit this crime in broad daylight and one of them tried to puncture a tire while the victim was talking to one of our detectives," said Zabaleta. "We know they have done this before."

Charges against the suspects include criminal mischief, loitering and prowling and possessing burglary tools and fake identification.

They're asking anyone who believes they were a victim to call the Economic Crime Bureau at 305-994-1000.