Maryland authorities arrested three people from Alabama and one from Tennessee after they say the group conned an older woman out of tens of thousands of dollars. Police in Prince George's County, adjoining Washington, D.C., arrested the suspects "moments after" they were approached "their next potential victim" in a shopping center parking lot on Oct. 24, police said. Police became aware of the group on Oct. 22 after a woman called 911 and reported being scammed, USA Today reports. Police say the group used a "pigeon drop" scam, which involves suspects "convincing a victim to give them a large amount of cash as collateral with the hope of sharing a sum of money." In this case, two suspects encountered the woman outside a business, told her they had found a bag of money and asked if it belonged to her.
The suspects convinced the woman to donate the money to charity instead of turning it into the police. They persuaded the woman to withdraw money from her bank account to exchange those bills with the found cash so no one could trace the donation. Over two days, the woman withdrew nearly $40,000 from her account, which the suspects stole. Upon realizing that she was being scammed, the woman called the police, who described her as "elderly." The suspects are James Davis, 77; Connie Williams, 64; Mary Daniel, 59, and Kenneth Gooden, 36.
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