The pigeon drop is revived to steal expensive jewelry

[00:00:04] This is Scams and Cons News with Jim Grinstead. Scammers are increasingly sending couriers to people's homes to collect money, and a New York man tried to scam an 82-year-old woman out of nearly a million dollars. But we begin with the scam in New York City, where con artists are playing good Samaritans in a pigeon drop scheme that has netted them nearly a half million dollars.

[00:00:33] NBC 10 in Philadelphia tells How It Goes Down. Watch this choreographed scam. The victim just withdrew cash from a Queen's bank when she stopped an intersection. See the guy on the corner? He uses a tool to puncture her rear tire while the car is still in motion. When the tire goes flat, another person pretends to help the driver but instead distracts her, while another thief grabs money from inside the car.

[00:00:59] They're throwing darts right where they want to hit bullseye, or most likely to hit bullseye, where they're going into areas with an influx of jewelry stores. So what they're looking for is any vehicle, whether it be a UPS vehicle, a personal vehicle. Same scam, different location. This time Manhattan watches this woman drops cash near a UPS truck. She tells the driver, Hey, can you help me? There's some money over here.

[00:01:24] When the driver moves to pick it up, her partner in crime sneaks into the back of the truck. And the packages are gone. Assistant Chief Jason Savino says detectives are actively searching for the man and woman involved. The alleged ringleader has been arrested, but released and suspected of still orchestrating scams. We actually made an arrest on a male 39, and this individual we feel is orchestrating these incidents.

[00:01:50] This individual has been arrested eight times, eight times since May of 2024. And this plays towards the recidivism we're talking about. Eight arrests in a matter of seven months. All felonies, all for predominantly the same thing. And he's out and about in the streets right now. Police say they can link this team to at least three incidents, making off with an eye-popping amount. Just shy of a half a million dollars, they like the good stuff.

[00:02:18] The Rolexes, the APs, the Tiffany jewelries. A Glenrock, New Jersey couple was scammed out of $100,000 after sharing their banking information with a fraudster who called them. Police say the couple reached out after discovering unauthorized transactions across three of their bank accounts. The couple initially received fake text messages warning of suspicious charges on credit accounts.

[00:02:44] Soon after, they received a call from someone claiming to be a bank representative who said there were fraudulent charges on their accounts and asked for their banking details to reverse the transactions. After providing their information, the couple later found unauthorized wire transfers totally more than $100,000. The Bergen County Prosecutor's Office, along with Glenrock Police, are working to stop payments and continue to investigate the case.

[00:03:14] In Chicago, a man convicted of scamming seniors in a reverse mortgage scheme has been sentenced. Mark Diamond was sentenced to 205 months in prison. That's just over 17 years. Diamond was also ordered to pay $2.7 million in restitution. The case was ordered to pay $10 million in the equity of their homes.

[00:03:42] Scammers in the Atlanta area have revived a funeral scam that preys on victims' families. Fox 5 tells how the original scam worked. Two families who were planning to bury loved ones on Saturday received calls from someone saying they were with Darby Funeral Home. The caller said they needed money or the funeral wouldn't happen. We need you to venerous $1,500 to proceed with the funeral. Darby says,

[00:04:08] Fortunately, both families were skeptical and did not send the $1,500. However, Darby says he sees where some people could fall for it. Their hearts are broken and they're not thinking clearly. Plus, many people just aren't used to planning funerals. It's just not something they do every day, so they don't really know the process. So that's why people could be an easy target. Darby says most funeral homes will discuss fees when the arrangements are made.

[00:04:37] He still can't get over the cruelness of this scam, and it makes him mad that the scammers dragged his name into it. It upsets me that somebody would use our hard-earned, honorable business, you know, to try to scam somebody. But it hurts me more that you would take advantage of somebody at the worst time of their life. That's just the lowest of the low in my opinion. The scam is back using the name of a different funeral home. This one in Decatur, Georgia.

[00:05:07] This is Scams and Cons News. Madison County, Mississippi continues to recover millions of dollars lost through a fraudulent vendor scam that took place early last year. County Administrator Greg Higginbotham shared the latest updates saying, quote, In the past couple of weeks, I've received an additional $500,000,

[00:05:36] bringing the total recovery to $2.1 million. He credited law enforcement efforts for the progress. The update comes nearly a year after the county was tricked into paying out nearly $2.7 million in taxpayer funds to a fake vendor posing as Jay Hemphill of Hemphill Construction Company. The scam began in January 2023 when fraudsters contacted the county to update banking information

[00:06:04] for the company, which was involved in the Reunion Parkway project. The fraudulent investor then requested payment for outstanding invoices. The county mistakenly sent two large payments, one for $129,000 and another for more than $1 million. A third payment of $1.54 million was made shortly after, all to the fake account.

[00:06:29] A Monroe, Connecticut family has fallen victim to a phone scam that led to the theft of $30,000 in cash. A woman told police her father received a call from someone posing as a lawyer, claiming to represent their nephew, who was allegedly in jail and needed a $30,000 bond for release. The scammer kept the victim on the phone while an associate drove to the house to pick up the cash. After handing over the money,

[00:06:57] the family realized it was a scam when the caller continued to ask for more. The family then contacted police. Police said the callers often create a sense of urgency and that no legitimate agency would send someone to a home to retrieve cash. A woman got a call from someone she thought was from Amazon trying to protect her account. It turned out to be a scammer. Listen to WTAT and what it has to say.

[00:07:26] Colleen depends on Amazon to do most of her shopping. When she received two identical $74 charges on her credit card recently, Colleen Googled what she believed was the customer service phone number for Amazon, but it wasn't. Instead, someone impersonating customer service started asking her questions. And then it led to them asking if I was trying to purchase a $350 Apple Watch. And I said no.

[00:07:54] And that led to them saying, hang on, I think your account might be compromised or red flagged. You were transferred to this guy. A man identifying himself as Agent John Davis from the Federal Trade Commission sent Colleen his credentials. It wasn't Davis. The image was likely stolen from social media. The man on the phone gave her disturbing information. He tells you that you were a victim of identity theft. And what did you have to do?

[00:08:23] And he said, you know, right now he said they could be trying to wire and get all of your money out of your account. She was sent this official-looking letter from the FTC. It claims there was fraudulent activity involving her social security number. And Davis said her bank account could be drained at any time. It was really important. If I could get ready really quick and get to the bank, we needed to get my money out of the bank and get it to a secure place.

[00:08:49] What happened next is tragic for Colleen as she went to her bank. I told him how much I had in there and he told me to withdraw everything but the $700. And so I told the lady that, you know, I needed to withdraw $19,000. And I said I needed it in cash. She was directed to this tobacco and vape shop in Fountain City because inside there is a Bitcoin ATM machine where she was directed by Davis to create an account.

[00:09:19] It asked for my social security number. So I put that in. And then he sent me a barcode and had me scan that into the machine and then had me put $15,000 in there. Next, Colleen went to this women's apparel shop in Knoxville to both locations. There, at Davis' direction,

[00:09:45] she purchased $4,000 in prepaid money cards and gave him the numbers on the cards. She was told not to say anything to anyone about the situation. He could tell I was frustrated because I was crying and I broke down and I said, this just doesn't feel right. And every time I questioned him, you know, he had an answer for me and, you know, it was trying to make me think that, you know, this is all legit. And I thought, this has got to be real because I was the one who called Amazon, you know,

[00:10:15] and they transferred me to him. Colleen was sent this receipt for $19,000 to ease her fears. Davis telling her she would be getting her money back once the investigation ended. There were so many red flags that I just didn't see because he just, you know, he had me worried and scared and then, you know, made me feel like I was protected and I was, you know, he was keeping me safe. The Real FTC says the suspicious charge on your Amazon account scam

[00:10:44] has snared thousands of victims across the country. The FTC warns if you were told to put your money in a secure account to protect it, that's a scam. If you were told to deposit cash at a Bitcoin ATM to protect your money, that's a scam. Never thought I would fall for anything like that. I just thought it was real because I called Amazon. You know, if they would have called me, I would have never entertained any of that. Now, key points to remember

[00:11:13] about this customer service scam. Amazon will never ask for your credit card number or bank account details over the phone. Be wary of urgency. Scammers often create a sense of panic to pressure you into acting quickly as they did to Colleen. A 19-year-old man pleaded guilty in Maryland District Court to defrauding an 82-year-old woman from Montgomery County out of $900,000 and attempting to steal an additional $2.5 million.

[00:11:43] The New York man faces up to 40 years in prison and potential fines of $55,000. He admitted to three theft-related charges, including conspiracy to commit theft and attempted theft. The scam began in April 2024 and continued until July 2024. Over this period, the victim converted $900,000 of her life savings into gold, which she then handed over to the man.

[00:12:13] Court documents say he used a series of false and manipulative stories to convince the elderly woman to give him her money. He allegedly told her that both the U.S. government and Russia were draining her bank accounts. Court records state that a caller, identifying himself as Jeff, pressured the victim to withdraw funds, claiming the money was needed to prevent the government from seizing her savings while she awaited a new Social Security number. While he admitted he attempted to scan the woman

[00:12:42] out of millions more, the victim eventually realized she'd been deceived and contacted police. This is Scams and Cons News.