By Linda Taaffe

Mountain View

Mountain View police are warning residents about two con men who allegedly defrauded victims out of thousands of dollars near El Camino Real on two separate occasions recently.

The two men face grand theft charges for allegedly scamming $1,700 from a 38-year-old man Feb. 7 and $9,000 from a 29-year-old man March 22.

Police said the men allegedly use a well-planned charade to gain their victims’ trust before taking off with their money. The con men convinced the victims to drive them from one location to another, withdraw money from the victims’ personal accounts and give it to them.

The charade details differed slightly in both cases, but this is generally how the events unraveled, police said:

One man, who claims to be visiting from South America, approaches the victim, asking for assistance in locating a non-existing address. The con man gets into the victim’s car and the two begin looking for the address. The second con man, pretending not to know Con Man #1, comes into the picture later, offering to help the victim and Con Man #1 find the address.

Once the men are with the victim, Con Man #1 reveals that he is carrying around a large sum of cash. Con Man #2 tells him that it is not safe to carry around the money and he should deposit it in a bank. Con Man #1 refuses, saying he is distrustful of banks.

In an attempt to convince him that banks are trustworthy institutions, Con Man #2 pretends to go into a bank and withdraw money from his own account. He then convinces the victim to do the same.

Con Man #1 remains distrustful. Con Man #2 gives the money he has just withdrawn to the victim to hold onto and persuades Con Man #1 to leave with him for a short while to demonstrate that people are trustworthy and that the victim will be waiting with the money when they return.

After the men return, Con Man #2 convinces the victim to hand over his or her money to the two men, in order to further build Con Man #1’s trust. The con men take the victim’s money and don’t return.

Police said Con Man #1 is 40- to 50-years-old and 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 8 inches tall, 170 pounds, and speaks broken English, according to the victims. Con Man #2 is the same age, 5 feet 11 inches tall, 200 pounds, and speaks clear English.

Officer Jim Bennett said the men’s scheme is “very polished” and “very convincing. They put a lot of planning into this,” he said.

Anyone with information, should call the Mountain View Police Department at 903-6348.