Austin Zamarippas Austin Hughes Theft of Services, Paid with Fraud Checking, and Credit Card Accounts. Atascosa Texas

On Nov 21, 2022, I was contacted by Austin Hughes through web chat services for executive protection. I called Austin and arranged to meet him at his place of business. I met with Austin Hughes at Thirsty's SA located at 8902 S Presa St, San Antonio, to discuss his security needs and the request he submitted through our website chat. I called Austin, and we arranged to meet at his place of business to discuss his needs. When I met Austin at this location, he stated he was the new bar owner and required executive protection. Austin said he was familiar with executive protection because his dad had his security team for about 30 years. Austin informed me his dad was in Dubai and was in the oil and nightclub business. He stated they have clubs in Houston and a new location here in San Antonio. I asked him why he needed security, and he said it was because he believed people were following him home from Thirsty's bar. I asked Austin when services were required to start, and he said immediately. I agreed to provide services for 30 days as the only Close Protection Officer at $17,548.13. I began working on this security contract on Nov 22, 2022.

Immediately after signing the first service agreement, Austin said he wanted to go forward with an entire security team of (6) Close Protection Officers and vehicles. Austin stated that this request was due to threats his family had been receiving, but he did not elaborate when asked more about that. I began to work on the contract cost for equipment, payroll, and taxes for one year. This contract would start on Dec 8, but in the meantime, I would continue working alone and acquiring the appropriate equipment for the contract. The total contract cost was $1,349,470.50 and would require a 25% down payment. This contract also included three vehicle purchases requested by Austin.

Austin paid $100,000 through a intuit invoice and another $299,999 through a direct bank transfer. After several days the $299,000 was returned as a fraudulent transaction, and the $100,000 was identified by intuit as fraudulent 33 days later. He made several other fraudulent transactions to other businesses and payments. 

I found out who he was by identifying several other victims. Austin had several felony warrants, and we arrested him on those warrants. Since we have been defrauded, we have found several other victims. We have since filed a BCSO report and are seeking charges against him. 

We are seeking other victims to contact us so we can gather as much as we can for investigators.