View from the cop: Crime & punishment
View from the Cop is moving to a new site on Wordpress. Blogger Steve Rose of the Sandy Springs Police Department gives his take on crime, offers safety tips and give his weekly picks from the police blotter. Follow Steve Rose to the new blog site.
AJC.com > Metro > View from the cop > Archives > 2009 > February > 09 > Entry
If it’s too good to be true, it probably is
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Scams are alive and well.
Just when you thought we were doing quite well losing money the old fashion-way - through various money markets and retirement accounts and beyond - the familiar scams pop up from time to time.
You know the ones I’m talking about: the Internet scams, the old ‘found money’ or Pigeon Drop .
There are a dozen variations but the fundamentals are the same: The perp approaches a victim with “found” money and asks for advice on what to do. Phone numbers are exchanged. The perp entices the victim with a “reward” or “split of the money” scenario if nobody claims it.
And, the perp makes sure to say, there is a lot of money involved.
Perp has “associate” or “boss” who assists in advice. That person is usually male and begins to slowly intimidate the victim. “Don’t tell anyone or you’ll screw this up for us.”
The perp’s associate suggests putting up earnest money or money to cover future taxes, usually several thousand dollars. The hook: Victim become first greedy, then intimidated and does not reveal her (victim is usually a female) doubts so the victim begins to funnel money to the perps. Once they feel they’ve gotten all they’ll get, they’re gone. (You’re saying: Who would fall for that? Lots of folks—fast money opportunity—something for nothing?
This scam has several variations.
Police “bait” scam. The initial part of the scam, the found money part, takes place but then the “police” contact the victim and wants assistance in catching the crooks. They ask the victim to put up bait money to trap them.
Phony stock deal. I’ve seen this one out here a couple of times. Two females in business attire make contact with a potential victim in the parking lot of a large retail store. They tell the victim they are going to set up a tent and then, for a limited time, offer that company’s stock for only ten-percent of the current stock price. If the victim takes the bait, they urge the victim to withdraw the funds and return. One associate takes the funds (cash) into the store to the “office” but they’re out the other door in no time and gone. The second associate excuses herself and is soon gone.
The poor guy from a third-world country who doesn’t know about banks in this country. A man approaches the intended victim and asks for a ride and then pulls out a wad of cash offering to pay for the ride. The victim says “Why do you have that much cash? You’ll get mugged. Why don’t you put it in the bank? The perp tells the victim that in his country the banks are run by crooks. (I know what you’re going to say.) Right about this time another man, who is, in fact, the partner of the first perp, walks up from nowhere and tells the man he overheard his conversation and that he should indeed put the money in the bank. At this point he says to the poor immigrant “In this country, we use checks. I don’t happen to have one but this gentleman probably does.”
The victim says “Oh yes” and holds up the check so that the perps can see the account number and the rest is history. The other variation of this one is they go to an ATM and the victim shows how that process works. They get his PIN number. The only drawback for the crooks on this one is they must later steal his ATM card—generally while they’re all in the same car.
Now, you must be saying to yourself, “Who would fall for this?” Well more people than you could imagine do fall for this and a number of other scams.
Potential victims, regular folks, shy away from the awkward task of being skeptical. That’s why seniors are the prime victims of cons involving phony “nest egg” quick investment return deals or home repair scams and a dozen other things. Scam artists talk too much. They get the victim involved in listening and then, hopefully, confused.
A good quality for anyone to have is a polite sense of skepticism. Questioning someone who offers a “too good to be true” deal will usually crumble the phony sales pitch or “deal” they’ve set up for you.
Although these con artists are good, they don’t have a plan B or C if you start asking questions.
Now go forth and do good.
Services »
Comments
By Patrick
February 9, 2009 4:16 PM | Link to this
My brother got hit by a “Jamaican Switch” once where perps approached him at a Kroger with a wad of money they said they’d found. Eventually they coaxed him into putting up some earnest money -which they held- while letting my brother hold the found money. They split on him and the found “money” turned out to be a wad of newspapers. My brother didn’t lose much cash but he still doesn’t understand what happened and how they switched the wad of cash for a wad of paper. I tell him just call the cops next time.
Regarding checking account numbers: Would anyone right down their bank account number and just start handing it out on the street corner? No? Well, every check you write has your account number on it, along with all the other info needed to empty your bank account. EVERY check. The one you use to pay your rent or mortgage, pay your light bills, or pay for that bottle of soda at Kroger. Or the pizza you had delivered. You just handed all your personal info to someone you don’t even know.
Every person you hand a check to gets your account number. Do you really know what they’re going to do with it? Can you really trust all of them? How do you know?
Checks are incredibly unsafe. Just don’t do it, and please, don’t leave a checkbook in your car.
By Patrick
February 9, 2009 4:21 PM | Link to this
My brother got hit by a “Jamaican Switch” once where perps approached him at a Kroger with a wad of money they said they’d found. Eventually they coaxed him into putting up some earnest money -which they held- while letting my brother hold the found money. They split on him and the found “money” turned out to be a wad of newspapers. My brother didn’t lose much cash but he still doesn’t understand what happened and how they switched the wad of cash for a wad of paper. I tell him just call the cops next time.
Regarding checking account numbers: Would anyone right down their bank account number and just start handing it out on the street corner? No? Well, every check you write has your account number on it, along with all the other info needed to empty your bank account. EVERY check. The one you use to pay your rent or mortgage, pay your light bills, or pay for that bottle of soda at Kroger. Or the pizza you had delivered. You just handed all your personal info to someone you don’t even know.
Every person you hand a check to gets your account number. Do you really know what they’re going to do with it? Can you really trust all of them? How do you know?
Checks are incredibly unsafe. Just don’t do it, and please, don’t leave a checkbook in your car.
By Thinkwell
February 9, 2009 7:13 PM | Link to this
This is worse than the time I drove to a restaurant and gave my car to the valet, who wore a bright red vest, (and was very professional looking). So I goes into the restaurant and orders me Big Mac and fries and a coke………You know, when they play the grift that good, you can never smell it coming. There’s no defense against the red vested valet outside of McDonalds. Agree?
By Mark
February 11, 2009 2:38 PM | Link to this
Thinkwell
You don’t.
By The Conservative
February 12, 2009 9:49 AM | Link to this
A review of Jim Wooten’s Column Part duh
Good Job, Wooten! It had everything but the carrier deck. The 15,000 dollar doleout spears a data point about the new conservative platform: incentives, not socialism. Incentives! Wooten recklessly begins to campaign on a derivative of an economic panacea based on a crude understanding of Bottoms in the Bizarro World. ” Incentives? That sounds like it matches personal responsibility! We think, liberals feel! A stimulus package should be used to encourage the umbrella of trust that banks rely on! Somebody get Pain on the phone. :”
A dead cat doesn’t bounce. It flips.
By Fred
February 12, 2009 8:37 PM | Link to this
Yo, The Conservative? If you are so stupid that you don’t know what blog you are replying to, what makes you think anyone gives a flying heck what you say? Or are you trying the bait scam Steve wrote about?
personally, I think you are just dumber than dog squeeze and should be put down like a rabid dog.
By The Moose of Steel
February 13, 2009 8:45 AM | Link to this
Hey PoFo/Thinkwell/The Conservative:
You really need to get a life…or at the very least a job.
Well?