77-Year-Old Man Swindled Out of $32K by Con Men

An 77-year-old man was bilked out of $32,000 by a pair of confidence men, one of whom said he was from South Africa and needed to find a “good person” to leave some money with, reports said.

Oak Lawn police went to the Hometown police station for a report of a robbery at 4453 Southwest Highway, Oak Lawn, around 4 p.m. July 24.

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The elderly man told police that he had just finished shopping at Costco, 7300 S. Cicero Ave., Chicago, and was in his car in the parking lot when he was approached by a black man in his 60s.

Police said the man asked for a ride up the street to Food 4 Less in Burbank. The elderly man agreed to drive him there, but the man asked that he make a detour to the Best Buy.

There, another black male in his 60s was waiting near the corner of the building. The first man got into the rear passenger seat, while the second man got into the front seat.

According to the report, the first man explained that he was from South Africa and had a sizable sum of money that he could not take out of the country. He apparently told the elderly gentleman that he was looking for a “good person,” who would give the money to charity and not keep it for themselves.

Before the “South African” man would give him the money, the elderly man had to prove that he had his own nest egg so he wouldn’t be tempted to keep the free money that was about to be given to him.

The trio then drove to a bank near 79th Street and Cicero Avenue. The man sitting in the front seat went inside and came out moments later. Police said the elderly man was not sure if the second man brought anything back with him from the bank.

From there, the elderly man drove his passengers to his home in the 4500 block of West 93rd Avenue. After parking his car in the garage, the elderly man went into his home. He returned a few moments later with a black bag containing $32,500 cash.

He gave the bag to the rear seat passenger, then drove the two northeast on Southwest Highway, until he was directed into the parking lot of a tire store. Both men got out of the car and walked away.

When the man pulled over to Kilbourn Avenue and Southwest Highway to look inside the bag, he found that his money had been replaced by a wad of newspaper wrapped in a black bandana. He drove on to Hometown to file a report.