Florida man accused of ripping off prospective moms and dads now faces federal charges
The FBI is looking for prospective mothers and fathers who believe they were ripped off by a surrogacy business operating out of Tampa and Annapolis, Maryland.
Florida and Maryland’s attorneys general are trying to shut down Greg Blosser’s The Surrogacy Group. He also faces federal wire fraud charges as the FBI looks for more victims.
The criminal complaint filed in the federal court in Baltimore says Blosser used The Surrogacy Group to rip off people from Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, Germany and Australia.
Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh’s office got The Surrogacy Group banned from doing business out of its Annapolis office until the state-level deceptive trade practices case is resolved. In Florida, Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office said The Surrogacy Group still worked out of its Tampa office despite officially dissolving as a company doing business in the state in September.
For many who choose surrogacy to start or enlarge their families through surrogacy, pregnancy isn’t an option or carries too great a health risk. Surrogacy involves an embryo created via in vitro fertilization being injected into a woman who agrees to carry the embryo to birth. The surrogate’s expenses and fee are paid for money deposited in an escrow account by the prospective parents.
Blosser’s alleged scam, as described in the complaint and several Better Business Bureau complaints, was simple: take payment from a prospective parents for comprehensive surrogacy services; not provide said finding surrogate-to-birth services; hide behind emails and unanswered messages until the victim, possibly emotionally drained, gave up trying to get the money back.
In the case of the German couple, the complaint said they tried to meet with Blosser in December 2017 when they came to the United States for a cycle of in vitro fertilization, but he “appeared to disappear. Further, all other phone numbers associated with TSG were unreachable.”
When the couple returned in March 2018, they “were unable to reach Blosser and Blosser’s office in Annapolis, Maryland, was locked when [the victim] arrived. He also indicated he traveled to TSG’s office in New York at another point in time, but the building receptionist indicated she had been at the location for 15 years and was unaware of TSG.”
Whatever the alleged scheme lacked in artifice, authorities say it didn’t lack for ill-gotten gains. The federal complaint describes around $149,250 paid to Blosser for services not provided. Moody’s office claimed the business took $270,000 from victims. Frosh’s office put the Maryland total at $100,000.
It’s unclear whether the Maryland victims named by the state are the same ones in the federal complaint.
But the FBI is looking for more Surrogacy Group victims from anywhere and asks that any fill out this questionnaire.
This story was originally published May 12, 2019 at 9:49 AM.
