Denver police are sounding the alarm after an old-school con left a far northeast Denver resident out $18,000, all in the span of a few bank runs. Investigators say a classic “pigeon drop” scam convinced the victim to pull cash from two different banks before the suspects vanished along with the money.
According to officers, the scammers claimed a pouch they were carrying held about $100,000 and pushed the resident to cough up their own cash as a show of “good faith.” Once they had the money, the suspects disappeared.
What Denver Police Say
According to the Denver Police Department, officers responded last Friday to a reported fraud at a home in far northeast Denver. The post explains that suspects steered the victim to multiple bank branches, had them withdraw $18,000, and then never showed up again after taking the cash.
Police emphasized the telltale red flags the scammers used: pressure to act quickly, an urgent timeline, and instructions to keep the whole thing secret, all meant to rush the victim into handing over money without stopping to double-check the story.
How the Pigeon Drop Works
The pigeon drop is a long-running confidence trick. Con artists pretend they have stumbled on a large stash of money and then persuade a target to put up their own “good faith” cash in return for a promised cut of the supposed windfall…