A Stewartville man is out $20,000 after a theft by swindle Monday, May 29, 2023.
The 79-year-old man was walking to his car in the Menards South parking lot when a black Ford SUV pulled up next to him, Rochester Police Capt. Casey Moilanen said. A man was driving and a woman and child were in the back.
The driver pulled out two gold rings and a gold necklace and told the Stewartville man the jewelry “is from my family to your family,” Moilanen said.
The man said he was trying to get his family back to Dubai, and he needed cash.
“The victim asked how much money he needed, and the guy responded, ‘How much do you have?'” Moilanen said.
The Stewartville man cashed a check worth $20,000 and gave the cash to the man in exchange for the gold items. He later went to a pawn shop and found out the gold jewelry was fake, Moilanen said.
“Don’t accept any jewelry from anybody,” Moilanen said. “Don’t let them put it on you. Just be respectful and say no thanks, and walk away. Because, in every single case, the jewelry has been fake.”