June 30, 2011
Brandon Haught
Public Information Office

LOOK OUT FOR “PIGEON DROP” SCAM

Be wary of anyone who claims to have found a large amount of cash and offers to share it. The catch is that you have to produce some of your own personal cash in order to get the found cash. Where things go wrong is that the personal cash is handed over to someone for supposed verification or deposit purposes, but that person instead disappears with it. It’s known as the Pigeon Drop scam, and victims in Central Florida have lost thousands of dollars to it in recent months.

There are countless variations of the scam, but the basic setup involves one scammer with a large amount of supposedly found cash and another scammer who acts like he or she doesn’t know the first person but who is actually a partner. The first scammer approaches the victim, usually in a business parking lot, shows a wallet or bag full of cash and claims to have found it. The scammer smoothly engages the victim in a conversation about the money and the second scammer then approaches the pair and pretends to become engaged in the conversation, too. The main theme becomes: What do we do with the money? One of the scammers offers to consult with a knowledgeable friend, associate or employer. This is done either on a cell phone or a scammer leaves to go talk to the consultant while the victim and other scammer wait. In reality, there is likely no actual consultant.

Finally, the solution is presented. The money can be claimed, but only after waiting for a period of time, such as a month. For each person to stake their claim, they all have to physically show they have a sizable amount of personal money in cash. Sometimes this personal cash is meant to be a deposit that will be returned later along with the share of the found money, or is only to be shown to an authority to prove the victim has enough money to live off of until the found money can be distributed. Coincidentally, both scammers happen to have a few thousand dollars on them to fulfill their parts of the bargain. However, the victim usually must visit the bank in order to make a withdrawal, and the scammers tag along. The victim hands over the personal cash to a scammer who takes it to show the consultant by going into a business building of some type while the victim waits outside. It’s a long wait, though, since the scammers never return. Eventually, the victim realizes that the scammers have fled with the cash 

Sometimes there is a very real physical danger to the victims of this scam. If the victim uses an ATM to withdrawal money, the scammers may choose to force the victim to withdrawal more cash or hand over the bank card and reveal its PIN. The scammers may do this at gunpoint or threaten harm in some other way.

If you are the victim of a robbery with threat of physical harm, comply with the robbers’ demands and then as soon as you are able, call 911. If you are the victim of any scam, including the Pigeon Drop, immediately contact your local law enforcement agency to report it. There is no reason to feel ashamed of being tricked. These criminals are experts at what they do. But if you report it, the chances of them getting caught greatly increases. There are other variations to this scheme, but the crooks’ basic objective is to appeal to the victim’s desire to get something for nothing. The bottom line here is to be extremely wary of anything that seems too good to be true. Never give a large sum of cash to anyone you barely know, no matter how friendly or sincere that person seems.