July 19, 2015
Like blood-sucking mosquitoes and ticks, scam artists are a sure sign of summer. Although they target the elderly and other vulnerable citizens year ‘round, warmer weather seems to be their peak season.
They have been surfacing locally for the last month. One of their most recent capers occurred last Tuesday in Upper Darby where a 75-year-old woman lost $3,000 in a classic “pigeon drop” scheme in which the scammers left her with a bag full of cut-up newspapers instead of the promised cash for making a “donation.”
A similar scam was perpetrated upon a senior citizen in Glenolden on July 2 and on a 54-year-old woman in Caln Township, Chester County, on June 23. Police in all three municipalities are working together to determine if the same flim-flammers were at work.
In Upper Darby, the victim, was approached at a Glendale Road shopping center by a man who appeared to be in his early 50s, had a dark complexion and was wearing a black suit, black hat and sunglasses and carried a brown shoulder bag. He said his brother had just died in Africa and he was looking for a “credible Christian person” to help him make a church donation in his brother’s memory. Then he showed her a brown bag he said was filled with money which he would share with her if she gave him $3,000.
After the woman withdrew $3,000 from her bank, she was approached by a second man who appeared to be in his early 40s, had a brown complexion and was wearing a brown plaid shirt and a brown and black hat. He told her she was a good Christian, she put her money in his brown bag and he handed her another brown bag, instructing her not to open it until she got home.
In the Glenolden caper, the scammers, described as two black males with African accents approached their target in a supermarket parking lot. One told her he needed donations to return to Africa and if she gave them $700 they would give her $40,000 in return. They even took her to lunch at fast food restaurant before she went to her bank and withdrew $700 and gave it to them. They gave her a bandanna supposedly full of money, prayed over it and told her not to open it until she got home. A bandanna was also used to convey fake money to the Caln Township woman who withdrew a lot of cash from her bank and gave it to the scammers after watching the men pretend to withdraw money from another bank.
AbridgedSOURCE: The Daily Times, Editorials
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