A Miami man is dealing with critical costs after allegedly masterminding a refund fraud scheme that value TJ Maxx and Marshalls shops greater than $288,000, authorities mentioned.
– Commercial –
Eduardo Rodriguez, 47, was arrested Tuesday and charged with grand theft over $100,000 and tried organized scheme to defraud, in response to court docket data. The arrest follows a months-long investigation into what officers describe as a large-scale operation that concerned lots of of pretend transactions throughout Florida.
In accordance with an arrest report, the investigation started in 2023 after a TJX Firms investigator flagged a suspicious sample: dozens of refunds issued to credit score and reward playing cards that far exceeded the worth of the unique purchases.
Rodriguez allegedly used 18 bank cards and 11 reward playing cards to hold out the scheme, ordering objects—largely sneakers and boots—on-line below his personal title and handle. After receiving the merchandise, he would return it in individual, producing a retailer tag with no detailed description. He then repurchased the merchandise and used the receipt to return a less expensive or totally different product at one other location, in the end accumulating retailer credit score, investigators mentioned.
Authorities say Rodriguez repeatedly used the identical receipts throughout numerous shops to proceed the rip-off and even enlisted his spouse and son to hold out fraudulent returns throughout Miami-Dade County and past.
In January 2024, TJX Firms blocked Rodriguez’s dwelling handle from making on-line purchases, however he allegedly circumvented that by creating new profiles and utilizing different addresses. In an effort to trace the fraud, loss prevention officers started marking his shipments with invisible ink. A complete of 56 packages had been tracked.
Investigators later found that Rodriguez was reselling the merchandise regionally, on-line, and thru his enterprise on the Redland Market Village in Homestead. Since December 2022, he’s believed to have made a minimum of 744 gross sales totaling over $232,000. In the identical interval, Rodriguez and his household reportedly processed 1,467 returns price greater than $288,000.
From January 2024 to July 2025 alone, Rodriguez allegedly orchestrated or participated in 985 fraudulent transactions, costing TJX Firms greater than $128,000.
His arrest got here Tuesday as he tried to return 4 pairs of Timberland boots price $278.16 at a TJ Maxx in Cutler Bay. A search of his automobile turned up a number of pairs of sneakers and quite a few receipts. Extra merchandise linked to the scheme was recovered from his dwelling and enterprise.
Rodriguez was booked into jail and appeared in court docket Wednesday, the place a decide set his bond at $40,000 and ordered him to avoid all TJ Maxx and Marshalls shops in Miami-Dade County.
In a press release, a spokesperson for TJX mentioned, “We’re conscious of the latest arrest and are grateful for the help of the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Workplace and Police Division. As that is an lively investigation, we are going to most respectfully defer any extra remark to regulation enforcement.”
