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Con artist preys on sympathy
By SHEILA MULLANE ESTRADA
© St. Petersburg Times, TREASURE ISLAND -- "He was just so plausible," a Treasure Island resident said after he lost $40 last week to a con artist. Don Wray and his wife, Sue, sat down to lunch after a morning of tennis and exercise when a young man knocked at their Treasure Island Yacht and Tennis Club condominium door and asked for help. "He said he was the grandson of neighbors on my floor. He was clean-cut and very pleasant. He said his grandparents were not home and he needed to cash a check to pay a $38 car towing bill," Wray said. The man seemed to know the names of other neighbors and apologized that he had left his checkbook in the car. "I gave him $40 and told him to bring the check back up," Wray said. After nearly 30 minutes, Wray and his wife realized something was wrong. He called the neighbors, who said they had no grandchildren. Then he called the police. "As I started to tell my story, the police officer just burst out laughing. He said I'd been had," Wray said, adding that this was his first such experience. "My wife is planning to buy me a T-shirt with a big lollypop on it." The Wrays are not the only neighbors to be fooled in a similar manner. An unidentified con artist has approached at least three or four residents in the past week, according to Treasure Island police Detective Kathy Lovelace. The Police Department e-mailed an alert to area hotels Thursday. The scam artist is a white man 25 to 35 years old with brown or dark hair and a mustache, about 5 feet 10 inches tall and of average weight. Another story he uses, police said, involves "asking for gas money using a story that he needs money to help a relative." Lovelace said a rash of similar scams were reported last year.
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From the Times South Pinellas desks |
