Con artist tries to dupe student

A flim flam artist failed to dupe a student last Monday night using the same ploy that worked on several students in September, according to University Police. The student was approached at 39th and Chestnut streets about 6:45 p.m. by a man who said he was from South Africa, police said. The man showed the student a wad of money, and said he wanted to learn how people could take money "from a wall" – meaning he wanted the student to teach him how to use a MAC machine. The student then became suspicious, police said, because he had read an article in The Daily Pennsylvanian describing a similar scam. University Police Commissioner John Kuprevich said he would ask Victim Support and Special Services to post additional information about flim flams. "Education is the best piece of information," he said. "If it sounds too good to be true, it is." Kuprevich added there is a fine line between being suspicious of everyone and using common sense. He also urges students to report flim-flams to University Police. Toward the end of September, two students were conned out of $50 and a MAC card at 40th and Chestnut streets by a man who said he was from South Africa and his accomplice. That same week, a student was almost conned with the same story near 30th Street Station. And last month, a student was conned at 38th Street and Baltimore Avenue. In each situation, the scenario was the same. The first man, who claims to be from South Africa, says he is in trouble and needs help finding a place to stay and a place to keep his money. He asks the student to hold a wad of money that he says contains $5,000, and even offers to pay them for their troubles. Then, the accomplice – acting like an innocent bystander – shows up and tries to convince the student to help this foreigner. The flim flam team will also spend up to an hour working on their prey, and usually want to see a MAC card. "If students are alert to this type of scam, the actors may and hopefully will become discouraged at their lack of success and go elsewhere," University Police Sgt. Larry Salotti said in September.