Flight Attendant Arrested in $25,000 Sweepstakes Scam Targeting Palm Coast Senior

An American Airlines flight attendant has been arrested on multiple felony charges after the Flagler County Sheriff's Office said she used her airline travel benefits to help carry out a sweepstakes scam against an elderly Palm Coast woman.

Detectives say the scheme began in November 2025, when a caller posing as a Publishers Clearing House representative told a 75-year-old woman she had won a prize. She was instructed to mail a $500 gift card to 24-year-old Destiny Blake at an address in Brooklyn, New York.

Around the same time, the victim was locked out of her email account after its password was changed and the account was switched to a look-alike address. Between Nov. 15 and Nov. 19, 2025, she withdrew more than $14,000 from her bank and delivered $14,220 to Blake in cash and Zelle payments, according to the sheriff's office.

Investigators say Blake flew as a standby passenger, using flight attendant perks, from New York to Daytona Beach on Nov. 18, 2025, and then booked an Uber to a hotel on State Road 100 in Palm Coast. The next morning, just before 11 a.m., an Uber dropped her at the victim's home. She left 15 minutes later in another Uber bound for the Daytona Beach airport. Unauthorized purchases were made on the victim's credit card at the Daytona Beach and Charlotte airports before she returned home, the sheriff's office said.

Detectives also say Blake became an authorized user with her own Apple Card under the victim's account. Family members later found a handwritten note in the home telling the victim to say to the card issuer that Blake was her granddaughter.

From Nov. 16 to Dec. 11, 2025, investigators logged 88 charges totaling $10,590.30 on the victim's credit cards. They included a $1,740.91 eBay order shipped to Blake's Brooklyn home, $1,523.16 in Apple products, and more than $1,300 spent at T-Mobile, Ugg, a Brooklyn hair salon, and on Uber rides and Uber Eats orders. One ride in Kingston was billed in Jamaican dollars two days after Blake flew there for work.

Detectives said the fraudulent online orders used Blake's name, email and phone number. Store surveillance video showed her using the stolen card at a supermarket in Queens, and cellphone records placed her phone near the retail locations on the dates of the transactions. The total loss to the victim was roughly $25,310.

A warrant was obtained on Oct. 13 for grand theft and fraudulent charges, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers took Blake into custody late Friday. She was booked into the Miami-Dade County jail on charges of organized scheme to defraud over $20,000 from a victim 65 or older, fraudulent use of personal identification information of a person 60 or older, and grand theft over $20,000. She was released on a $30,000 bond and faces extradition to Flagler County.

Officials have not said how the initial caller targeted the Palm Coast woman or how her email account was altered. Sheriff Rick Staly said: "Most flight attendants use their benefits to see the world. Blake used her's to further a scam against a senior resident." He added, "Her wings were clipped by our detectives."

Families caring for older adults can find steps for securing accounts and devices at flaglersheriff.com/senior-safety. Suspected elder financial abuse can be reported to the Florida Abuse Hotline at 1-800-962-2873, the National Elder Fraud Hotline at 1-833-372-8311, or the Flagler County Sheriff's Office at 386-313-4911.