Two Brownsville men are behind bars after they ran a scam where they took out credit cards in the names of people who recently passed away.
Brownsville police arrested 18-year-old Carlos Miguel Olivar and 35-year-old Alejandro Partida on multiple criminal charges.
Investigators told Action 4 News that Olivar and Partida are accused of the running an obituary-based scam.
The two men allegedly read local obituaries and contacted grieving family members pretending to be representatives from life insurance companies.
Olivar and Partida allegedly got grieving family members to give out social security numbers and other personal information of the deceased.
Investigators said they told family members that a life insurance check would arrive in the mail.
The check would never arrive while the two allegedly turned around, used the information to take out credit cards and ran up charges.
Brownsville police said they believe the two Brownsville men ran the scam across the Rio Grande Valley.
Investigators are working with other police department but are warning the public to be aware of the scam.
They’re asking Valley residents not to provide personal information of a deceased loved to somebody they do not already know.
Olivar and Partida are facing identity theft, credit card abuse and engaging in organized criminal activity charges.
Records show that Olivar is in custody at the Cameron County Jail under $30,000 dollars in bonds.
Partida is free after posting $15,000 dollars in bonds.
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