Scams Involving Asian Victims - Community Advisory

*Taken from Montgomery County Police Department's Crime Analysis Unit*

There have been two recent confidence game scams involving Asian victims with suspect descriptions that are almost identical. Both involved two black male suspects who ‘find’ a wallet with a large amount of cash and offer to ‘share’ it with the victim. It should be noted that while there have been two reported to MCPD, there is also possibly a third victim of a similar incident that occurred in December. Officials from the Japanese embassy contacted the 1st District to advise of an additional victim. They were asked to have the victim contact the police but as of January 13, that victim has not done so.

* November 28, 2011, Monday, 9:50 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. - Federal Plaza The victim was loading her groceries when the first suspect came up to her and advised he found a wallet with money in it. Both suspects got into the vehicle and the victim drove them to an unknown ATM to withdraw money. She then drove the suspects back to the Federal Plaza shopping center where the second suspect left the vehicle. The other suspect got the victim to drive to her home in Bethesda where she obtained more cash. She then went into the Bank of America on Rockville Pike while the suspect stayed in the vehicle. When the victim looked back at the vehicle, she saw he had left. Note: she originally reported this as a robbery but it was later determined to be a scam.
Suspect: Black male, 40-50 yrs. old, 5’5"-5’7", beard, white shirt with thin dark stripes, dark blue striped tie, black pants, gold ring on his right hand
Suspect: Black male, 50-60 yrs. old, 6’-6’2", heavy build, beard, white dress shirt

* January 11, 2012, Wednesday, 3:20 p.m. – 4:50 p.m. - Loehmann’s Plaza The 80-year-old victim was approached by the first suspect who said he found a wallet with a large amount of cash inside. The second suspect then came up and joined the conversation. The victim drove both suspects to the Capitol One Bank, on Rockville Pike, where she withdrew a large amount of cash in ‘good faith’ money and gave it to the first suspect who promised to give her an even larger amount of cash back from the ‘found’ money. The first suspect left on foot and she drove the second suspect back to the Safeway parking lot so he could use the restroom. She waited an hour and neither suspect reappeared.
Suspect: ‘Joseph’, black male, 40-50 yrs. old, 6’/220 lbs., mustache, black ¾-length jacket, black pants and black shoes
Suspect: Black male, 40-50 yrs. old, 5’2"/160 lbs., black jacket, shoes & pants, claimed to be a realtor

It is unknown if these suspects are specifically targeting Asian victims or if they are just targeting victims who may not have a good command of the English language. At this time there does not appear to be any other reported victims. Officers are asked to keep these cases in mind in case other calls are received.