A ‘contractor’ took $6,000 for work in Miami-Dade, then disappeared, cops say
A Hollywood man posing as a contractor for someone looking for home repair work disappeared with $6,000, , North Miami Beach police say, before hitting the customer’s credit card for $1,016 on UberEats.
Whether or not 50-year-old Edgar Chang overindulged in delivered food, he doesn’t have a contractor’s license, according to a search of online state records. What Chang does have are charges of grand theft, credit card fraud, uttering a forged instrument, fraudulently receiving money as a contractor and falsely advertising as a licensed contractor.
He was arrested Friday and released Saturday after posting $10,500 bond. North Miami Beach police want anyone who thinks they’ve been a Chang victim to call the detectives at 305-949-5500.
Anyone who has been a victim in the City of North Miami Beach by the below defendant is asked to call Detective Rivera 305-949-5500 pic.twitter.com/4dEFGtYl6a
— North Miami Beach PD (@myNMBPolice) April 20, 2024
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Money for nothing
The other way to look at what’s in Chang’s arrest report: a North Miami Beach resident used a contractor without a license and got taken for $6,000.
The man, who lived in the 17000 block of Northeast Eighth Place, wanted his air conditioner replaced. Chang, the arrest report says, presented an invoice of $10,200 with $6,000 due up front for buying all that’s needed for the job.
The resident agreed, even though, the report says, Chang, “failed to produce a legal contractor’s license, instead stating that he works under proxy of another person’s contractor license.”
On Aug. 18 and 20, in transactions the arrest report says is backed up by CashApp and Venmo records, Chang received $2,000 and $4,000, respectively. By Aug. 30, Chang showed the customer an invoice of $5,462 from South Florida Appliance. Police say South Florida Appliance employees confirmed that Chang produced a counterfeit invoice.
Chang’s would-be customer couldn’t reach him for two months, a task made more difficult by Chang changing his number. Also, the credit card information the customer gave Chang for buying supplies, the arrest report said, showed food and other charges.
“He noticed several UberEats charges that totalled $1,016.87 in [Chang’s] name,” the arrest report said. “Also on the credit card statement was a charge to T-Mobile in the amount of $187.”
The North Miami Beach resident picked Chang out of a photo lineup, police said.
