PALM COAST, Florida — An American Airlines flight attendant from Brooklyn, New York, has been arrested at Miami International Airport after Flagler County detectives accused her of helping to scam a 75-year-old Palm Coast woman out of about $25,310 in a sweepstakes scheme that began with a phone call claiming she had won a prize.
Source: Flagler County Sheriff's Office via Flagler County Buzz
Destiny Blake, 24, of Brooklyn, was arrested late on Friday evening, October 23, 2026, by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers as she arrived at Miami International Airport on an international flight, the Flagler County Sheriff's Office said. She was arrested on a Flagler County warrant that detectives obtained on October 13, 2026. Blake was taken to the Miami-Dade County jail and later released on a $30,000 bond.
Source: Flagler County Sheriff's Office via USA Today Network (Miramar News)
How the alleged scam worked, step by step
According to the Sheriff's Office, the scheme began in November 2025 with a phone call. The caller claimed to be with Publishers Clearing House and told the woman she had won. To collect her winnings, she was instructed to mail a $500 gift card to Destiny Blake at a Brooklyn address — which she did. The affidavit does not identify Blake as the caller.
Around the same time, the victim was locked out of her own email account: the password had been changed and the account switched to a look-alike address she never created, investigators said. Between November 15 and November 19, 2025, the victim withdrew more than $14,000 from her bank, and detectives determined Blake received $14,220 in cash and Zelle payments.
A standby flight to the victim's door
On November 18, 2025, Blake flew from New York to Daytona Beach as a standby passenger using her flight attendant travel benefits, then took an Uber to a hotel on State Road 100 in Palm Coast, according to the Sheriff's Office. The next morning, an Uber dropped her at the victim's home just before 11 a.m. Fifteen minutes later, another Uber picked her up and took her back to Daytona Beach airport. Before she flew home, purchases were made on the victim's credit card at the Daytona Beach and Charlotte airports.
Detectives determined Blake had been issued her own Apple Card as an authorized user on the victim's account. A family member later found a note in the victim's home with instructions to call the card company and tell them Blake was her granddaughter and was authorized to use the card.
The paper trail detectives described
Between November 16 and December 11, 2025, 88 charges totalling $10,590.30 were made on the victim's credit cards, the Sheriff's Office said. They included a $1,740.91 eBay order shipped to Blake's Brooklyn address, $1,523.16 spent on Apple products, and more than $1,300 at T-Mobile, Ugg, a Brooklyn hair salon, and on dozens of Uber rides and Uber Eats orders. One Uber ride was paid in Jamaican dollars in Kingston, two days after Blake flew there while working for American Airlines, detectives said.
Investigators said the online orders were placed using Blake's own name, email address and phone number. Detectives obtained surveillance video of Blake using the victim's card at a Queens supermarket, and determined her phone was in the area of the stores on the dates of the transactions.
Charges and what the sheriff said
Blake is charged with organized scheme to defraud over $20,000 from a victim aged 65 or older, fraudulent use of personal identification information of a person aged 60 or older, and grand theft over $20,000. The allegations have not been proven in court, and Blake is presumed innocent unless convicted.
Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said in the release: "Most flight attendants use their benefits to see the world. Blake used hers to further a scam against a senior resident, live a lavish lifestyle using stolen bank cards and thinking she could get away with it. Her wings were clipped by our detectives and with the help of CBP she was arrested. Her next trip? Flagler County to be held accountable for her crimes."
No legitimate sweepstakes asks a winner to mail a gift card, send Zelle payments, or hand over bank access to claim a prize — and no government agency or prize company asks for payment in gift cards. The Sheriff's Office urges anyone who believes they were targeted in a similar scam, or had financial contact with Blake, to call the Flagler County Sheriff's Office at 386-313-4911. Suspected exploitation of a vulnerable adult in Florida can also be reported to the Florida Abuse Hotline at 1-800-96-ABUSE (1-800-962-2873), and elder fraud anywhere in the US to the National Elder Fraud Hotline at 1-833-FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311).
What happens next
Blake, released on bond in Miami-Dade County, is expected to be brought to Flagler County to face the three charges there. No court date was given in the sources reviewed for this report. For diaspora families with elderly parents living alone in the US, the case is a concrete reminder to put a second set of eyes on a senior's bank, email and credit-card accounts — in this case, investigators say, the account takeover and the spending trail were visible in records long before the arrest, almost a year after the November 2025 losses.