Aug 6, 2008 8:39 pm US/Eastern
Couple Scams Local Man Out Of Thousands Of Dollars
MCDONALD (KDKA) ―
Police say a fast-talking couple swindled a local elderly man out of thousands of dollars.
Robert Allen, 71, wants to get the word out so no one else goes through the scam that could have cost him $14,000.
Allen tells KDKA he encountered a black woman with a gold headdress at the Lowe's in Robinson Township. She told him she was awarded a $300,000 court judgement but couldn't take it back to her homeland in Africa.
"She couldn't take it back to Africa because it would get in the wrong hands and it would help the fight that's going on over there," Allen said.
So the woman convinced Allen to take her in his SUV to a bank and she promised to give him half of the $300,000, but she wanted $20,000 from him. To make it even more convincing, they hooked up with the woman's partner.
He gave her $20,000 and she handed over what looked like $150,000.
"Doesn't seem real. There's just now way someone just come out ... of a building and somebody's going to hand me $150,000 - I just couldn't believe it but then .. God does miracle things so," Allen said.
Allen withdrew $10,000 from his bank and it gets worse. He brought the couple to his house and got more money - $4,000.
The couple took off with the $14,000 when Allen realized it was a scam. He screamed and an off-duty policeman who lives nearby gave chase.
The couple dropped the $10,000 but got away with the $4,000 from his house.
McDonald Police Officer Austin Thase says Allen made a number of bad judgements.
"He gave her a ride, took them to his house, brought them inside his house, even went to the bank and withdrew money - there are a lot of things that should not have happened," he said.
"I learned the hard way," says Allen, "and I hope someone gets a message from that."
The getaway car was a silver Hyundai Sonata with a partial license plate number G 5344.
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