Police: 3 charged after conning woman out of $47,000

Three out-of-state men are being held on $500,000 bail after police said they conned a Waukegan woman into sending them $47,000 needed to import a safe full of cash from Africa.

The men first told the Waukegan woman they needed the money to purchase a certain chemical agent and for transportation to the U.S., according to Waukegan police.

The two men who first contacted the victim said the money was locked in a safe which they had in Liberia, and in order to clear U.S. Customs, they needed to bleach the bills to make them look like regular paper, police said.

After giving the suspects $40,000 to help with the chemical reaction, the suspects contacted the woman again and said they needed an additional $7,000, which she sent, police said.

When the suspects contacted the woman yet again, this time asking for $15,000, she called the Waukegan Police Department, and later agreed to meet them at the Lake Forest Oasis on Nov. 14 for a sting operation.

Adam Bility, 23, of Milwaukee, Wis., and Malcom Yancy, 28, of Minneapolis, Minn., were arrested without incident and charged with theft by deception, police said.

A third man with the men on their final trip for the cash, George Bility, 23, of Milwaukee, Wis., was charged with attempted theft by deception, police said.

Police delayed the release of this information while they attempted to link the suspects to further confidence scams. Police did not link the men to other scams.