Greg's Corner

Beware the parking lot stranger with a bag of cash

By Greg Collier

Recently, we came across a news article about a man who was arrested in the Washington, D.C. area for allegedly taking part in pigeon drop scams. We had never heard of the pigeon drop scam before, so we were intrigued. The articles we read about this man’s arrest didn’t go into great detail on how the scam worked, other than the man was said to have been in possession of $20,000 in counterfeit money and a letter from a phony law firm that said the man had inherited over $700,000.

After doing some more research, we found out the pigeon drop scam is one of the older scams going on. The term “pigeon drop” comes from the world of con artists and scamming, specifically referencing the act of tricking or “dropping” a pigeon, which is slang for an easy target or a naive person. Also, from the context of the news article, this is how we think the suspect was allegedly stealing from his victims.

One of the more popular versions of the pigeon drop scam is when the scammer approaches their victim in public. This encounter usually takes place in a parking lot. The scammer tells the victim he’s from another country, but recently inherited a great deal of money. A letter from a law office is shown to the victim, which shows the amount supposedly inherited. Except, for whatever reason, the scammer can’t take the money back to his country. So, instead, he needs help donating the money to charity.

‘Coincidentally’, another person walks by whom the scammer tells the same story to. However, this is no random person. It’s actually the scammer’s accomplice. If the victim is willing to help the scammer, the accomplice will act as if they want to help too. But here’s the catch. The scammer requires proof that the two people won’t just run off with the money, so the two people need to withdraw money from their own accounts as collateral. The pair will go to a bank or ATM together to get their collateral. Once they’ve done that, the scammer places both people’s collateral in a bag. It could be a duffle bag, a purse, a briefcase, what have you.

Now that the victim has the scammer’s ‘trust’, the scammer gives the bag of money, which is also supposed to contain the victim’s collateral. When the victim opens the bag after the scammer has left, the victim typically finds bundles of newspaper cut up to resemble stacks of dollar bills. However, since movie prop money is so easy to come by these days, that has replaced newspaper. Plus, it makes the scam seem more legitimate.

Another version of this scam is when the scammer approaches a victim, asking them if they dropped a wallet or purse containing a large amount of money.

So if a stranger approaches you in a parking lot talking about inheritances or lost wallets, just tell them you’re sorry, but you’re in a hurry. Remember, no one is going to give you more money for less money.