Elderly women scammed in Arlington Hts.

Arlington Heights police are investigating two recent scams that deprived older Arlington Heights residents of thousands of dollars.

A woman who was approached in the parking lot of a grocery store at 440 E. Rand Road last Friday lost $10,000 in cash she was talked into withdrawing from her bank. And another woman lost $1,200 in Green Dot Money Pak cards she bought at Walmart thinking she was participating in a survey project for an online research company. The check she received to participate in the survey was counterfeit, she learned last week.

The first victim was approached by a messy and disheveled looking white female, 50 years old, 5-foot-5, heavy build, brown hair, with a distinct red spot the size of a quarter over her right eye, wearing a long black jacket, black sweater and black pants. The woman said she had found a bag of money with no identification of where it came from.

The victim was drawn into conversation with that woman and another woman, described as a white female in her late 60s with short black hair, 5-foot-6, medium build, glasses and wearing a blue winter jacket. The two women, acting like they didn't know each other, talked the victim into a plan where she would put up cash and hold the bag full of a much larger sum of money until the three could meet up later and divide it, police said. The money in the bag was fake.