Nice guys finish last in local 'flim-flam' scams

He was just trying to give the poor guy a hand. So said the College junior, whose attempt to be a good samaritan cost him $590 -- not to mention his pride and dignity -- when he fell victim to a "flim-flam" scam on the night of Saturday, October 17. He was the third person during a three-week period to fall victim to such a scheme, according to University Police reports. The student's loss was small by comparison: a female University senior lost $1,100 on October 7, and an employee of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia was out a whopping $12,500 nine days earlier. Police are investigating the incidents. The junior was cheated out of the money by a con artist claiming to be from South Africa. He told the student he was worried about being robbed and asked him to hold his money while he returned to the train station to pick up his luggage. To prove he would take care of it, the student put his own money and his ATM card in a bandanna with the scammer's money. While they were praying together at the request of the "South African," the con artist apparently switched the bandanna with another one. "I'm an idiot," said the student, who asked not to be identified on account of his embarrassment. "I felt like I should have had a little more sense, but apparently I didn't." "Too Embarrassed" Flim-flams, as they are called, are frauds usually perpetrated in one of two main ways, according to police. One of the schemes -- called the South African or Jamaican switch, depending on where the scammer claims to be from -- is what the junior encountered. In the other method, known as the "pigeon drop," a person claims to have found a large amount of money lying on the street. After asking the soon-to-be-victim if it belongs to him or her, the con artist offers to split it with the victim. But first, the con artist asks for money to show that his prey is serious. The victim is promised the cash back, along with a share of the found money. A few hours later, the victim usually finds himself waiting at a bank for someone to give him his share, which of course never arrives. Or, like in the South African switch, the victim leaves with a bag of what he thinks is his share of the cash, but, in reality, is just shredded newspapers. According to Philadelphia Police Officer Lou Sgro, who investigates flim-flams in the department's major crimes division, there are 15 to 20 flim-flams reported in the city each year. "It's probably more," he said. "But some don't get reported because people are too embarrassed." Guard Down Looking back at it, the College junior said in a recent interview, he was "an absolute idiot," and still can't believe that he fell for the fraud. The scam started while he was walking toward his girlfriend's house on Sansom Street at around 8 p.m. A black man with a heavy accent approached him claiming to have just arrived in Philadelphia from South Africa. The con artist said he was robbed on his way to University City from the train station, and was looking for a place to stay. "He made himself out to be real innocent, real naive," the student said. "So I said, 'Yeah, I'll help this guy.' It seemed like he needed it." Since the scammer said he did still have some cash on him, the junior walked him toward the Sheraton University City hotel. The man related how he "doesn't know about the civilized world, how he was a victim of Apartheid [and] doesn't understand the liberties we have." But on the way, the man claimed to suddenly realize he needed to return to the train station to pick up his luggage from a locker. Not wanting to get robbed again, he asked the student if he would hold his cash for him until he returned. In exchange, the man said, he'd give the student $250. By this time, the student said, while there was some doubt in his mind about the man's veracity, he had done an excellent job of "getting my guard down." "It occurred to me [that it was a scam], but I didn't act on it," he said. So he thought nothing of it when the man said he wanted to know that the student had money of his own and wouldn't need to steal his. He thought nothing of it when they went to an ATM machine and he withdrew $60 as proof that he had money of his own. And he also thought nothing of it when the man told him to put his money and the money access card inside the bandanna that held the man's cash. It sounded like a reasonable enough request. "His excuse was that if I had all my stuff with his stuff, I'd protect it more," the junior said. "And being an idiot, I was like, 'No problem.' " Finally, before they parted ways, the con artist asked if they could pray together. So they sat down on the street and quickly said a prayer. During this time, the man apparently switched the bandanna with the money and MAC card with one that contained some old newspapers. Hours later, while the student was bragging to a friend that he was about to earn $250, the student realized he had been had. He called his bank and found that the man had already withdrawn $530 from the account. Apparently, while professing his amazement at the wonder of "money coming out of a wall," he was actually looking over the student's shoulder to find out his personal identification number. A Profitable Scheme The scammers, Sgro said, are "really good." And it's profitable for them too --Efor just a few hours' worth of work, they can earn several hundred dollars. And people are usually all too eager to fall into the trap. "It's a combination of wanting to help somebody and make a few dollars at the same time," Sgro said. The two other incidents on campus were of the pigeon-drop variety, according to police reports. The CHOP employee who lost $12,000 was approached by two women as she left the ATM machine near 39th and Walnut streets. They claimed to have found a wallet with $100,000 nearby. They first asked if it belonged to her, and then offered to split it. To prove their trustworthiness, all three of them were required to put up cash of their own before getting their share. The 25-year-old woman withdrew $3,500 from her bank account and took out a $9,000 advance on her credit card. She gave the cash to a third person who was in on the scam. The con artists told her to wait in a bank and the manager -- who just happened to be a friend of theirs -- would count the money and give her her share. The third incident involved a similar scheme and cost the victim, a College senior, $1,100. Sgro said people need to think logically when encountering situations like that. "You have to ask yourself if you found $100,000, why would you split it with anybody?"

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