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<strong>Irvine resident victim of $6,000 street scam</strong>
Man says he was duped in foreign currency ploy to give money to church. Police say another man was also victimized.
By ELYSSE JAMES
STAFF WRITER
A popular e-mail scam has been converted to a face-to-face con, where con artists accompany people to a bank and then walk off with their money.
The long-running e-mail scam goes like this: The sender of an e-mail claims he or she has come into millions of dollars in a foreign currency and needs help because the money cannot be transferred. This person needs someone to give them money until they can exchange the inheritance, at which point they will pay back all of the money that was lent.
Two Irvine residents have apparently fallen for the face-to-face version of this con game.
On Saturday, an Irvine resident was approached by a man in the Spectrum Center parking lot near Target. The man said he needed a ride to a church, where he intended to donate millions of dollars in foreign currency he had inherited, according to Police Lt. Rick Handfield.
The man reportedly said he would pay the resident $100 for driving him to the church. On the way, the two picked up a second man – supposedly just by chance – who provided some money as a sign of trust.
The Irvine resident took $6,000 from an account at Bank of America at 14222 Culver Drive, while the two men waited outside, supposedly to avoid the bank's security cameras.
The victim then drove the two men to Bethel Korean church on Harvard Avenue, where he said they walked off with his money.
In mid-October, an Irvine man lost jewelry he had taken from a safe-deposit box, and cash he had taken out of two or three banks, according to Handfield. He told police a similar story about being approached by a man at a grocery store in Northwood.
A third similar case happened in October in Westminster.
Both suspects from the incident Saturday are male. The first is described as black, 50 to 60 years old, about 5 feet 10 inches tall, thin and has a mustache. He was wearing a dark jacket and a T-shirt with dress slacks. The second man is black, about 5 feet 10 inches tall in his mid-30s. He was wearing a long, blue, collared shirt and dress pants.
Police are checking a cell phone left in the victim's car by one of the suspects containing an e-mail address and photos.
<strong>Irvine resident victim of $6,000 street scam</strong>
Man says he was duped in foreign currency ploy to give money to church. Police say another man was also victimized.
By ELYSSE JAMES
STAFF WRITER
A popular e-mail scam has been converted to a face-to-face con, where con artists accompany people to a bank and then walk off with their money.
The long-running e-mail scam goes like this: The sender of an e-mail claims he or she has come into millions of dollars in a foreign currency and needs help because the money cannot be transferred. This person needs someone to give them money until they can exchange the inheritance, at which point they will pay back all of the money that was lent.
Two Irvine residents have apparently fallen for the face-to-face version of this con game.
On Saturday, an Irvine resident was approached by a man in the Spectrum Center parking lot near Target. The man said he needed a ride to a church, where he intended to donate millions of dollars in foreign currency he had inherited, according to Police Lt. Rick Handfield.
The man reportedly said he would pay the resident $100 for driving him to the church. On the way, the two picked up a second man – supposedly just by chance – who provided some money as a sign of trust.
The Irvine resident took $6,000 from an account at Bank of America at 14222 Culver Drive, while the two men waited outside, supposedly to avoid the bank's security cameras.
The victim then drove the two men to Bethel Korean church on Harvard Avenue, where he said they walked off with his money.
In mid-October, an Irvine man lost jewelry he had taken from a safe-deposit box, and cash he had taken out of two or three banks, according to Handfield. He told police a similar story about being approached by a man at a grocery store in Northwood.
A third similar case happened in October in Westminster.
Both suspects from the incident Saturday are male. The first is described as black, 50 to 60 years old, about 5 feet 10 inches tall, thin and has a mustache. He was wearing a dark jacket and a T-shirt with dress slacks. The second man is black, about 5 feet 10 inches tall in his mid-30s. He was wearing a long, blue, collared shirt and dress pants.
Police are checking a cell phone left in the victim's car by one of the suspects containing an e-mail address and photos.
