Palos Park Cops Warn About Prison Pen Pal Scams

PALOS PARK, IL -- Palos Park police are warning residents to beware of a new scam in which prison inmates are procuring citizens’ information and then contacting them for a “little bit of money” to help ease their “miserable existence.” According to police, a Palos Park woman came to them on June 4, where she reported receiving several unsolicited letters from an Illinois Department of Corrections inmate.

Chief Joe Miller, of the Palos Park Police Department, said prisoners’ ploys to acquire and psychologically manipulate pen pals has become one of the most popular and lucrative of all prison “businesses.” Inmates obtain addresses from donated books or magazines, newspaper ads or scour the Internet in prison libraries.

“Understand these inmates are very resourceful and have nothing better to do than sit around thinking how to put their scams into action,” Miller said.

An inmate will obtain a person’s address and write claiming they are in jail or prison on trumped up charges or were wrongfully convicted and are innocent. As a result, their entire family has deserted them.

“They know that you are a kindly soul and they will shower you with praise,” Miller said. “They will then seek help with their ‘miserable existence’ by looking for friendship and your letters will be a godsend to them."

Inmates will continue to tell potential victims how their letters have made such a difference in their lives and over time, ask recipients to send a little money their way for supplies and paper to continue to write. While the inmates hate to ask, and debated about asking, your friendship means so much to them that they thought they should just ask you for money, Miller said.

“They are good con men and they seek out more susceptible victims, many times the elderly,” the chief added.

In the case of the Palos Park woman, Miller said she was contacted by a male inmate who was doing a "considerable amount of time" in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

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