Woodbridge Man Accused Of Scamming $1M Out Of Friends, Family

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — A young man from the Fords section of Woodbridge is accused of scamming $1 million out of his family and friends in a video game business scheme, federal prosecutors in New York City said Thursday.

The man is Vincent Villafane Cruz, also known as Vinny, 28. He lives in Fords, but works primarily in Staten Island as a self-employed photographer and graphic designer.

The case against him is being prosecuted by U.S. Attorneys based out of Brooklyn, because most of his 40 alleged victims live in Staten Island. Many are elderly and work as public servants such as police officers and nurses.

Many lost large portions of their savings, said U.S. Attorneys. In one case, a woman who lives on Staten Island and works as a nurse invested $141,000 with Cruz. He paid her some of it back, but she lost $115,000.

In total, federal prosecutors say he took approximately $1 million from his 40+ victims, many of whom were friends and family. Cruz convinced people he knew across the country to invest in his scheme.

Cruz was indicted Dec. 5 by a New York City grand jury on one count of wire fraud and four counts of unlawful monetary transactions over $10,000. Federal prosecutors just unsealed the indictment against him Thursday.

U.S. Attorneys say that between 2021 and May of this year, Cruz persuaded people he knew to invest with him in the purchase of graphics cards for gaming laptops. A graphic card is inserted into a computer or video game system to play video games, usually with enhanced graphics and special effects. Cruz told people his business plan was to buy and resell graphics cards, claiming he could take advantage of the global chip shortage.

Cruz told people he was connected to an overseas manufacturer of graphics cards who would sell him the cards cheaply at wholesale, which he would then sell at a mark-up in the U.S. He promised his friends they would have large — and guaranteed — returns.

But it does not appear he bought and sold any gaming cards as he claimed, said prosecutors. Instead, they say he misappropriated substantially all of the money for his own benefit, including using the money for day-to-day living expenses, buying a luxury car (an Audi) and online gambling and sports betting. He also used some of the money to make partial repayments to other investors, in a mini pyramid scheme.

For example, one victim in Staten Island sent him two separate checks for $16,000. On June 4, 2022, Cruz cashed them both at a check-cashing center in Woodbridge. That same day, he put down an all-cash $26,500 down payment for an Audi at a car dealership near the check-cashing center.

When victims started to ask for their returns, or their money back, prosecutors say Cruz made up elaborate stories, including that all his assets had been frozen by the IRS. That was not true, they said.

He is being represented by the Brooklyn public defender's office.

This case was investigated by the NYPD-U.S. Secret Service Cyber Fraud Task Force.