KS couple lose $45K in gold-coin scam involving the god Fray

This one's from Salina, courtesy of the Journal. Con artists tell a couple that gold coins are buried under their store. (For effect, they even have a "special machine" that beeps in the presence of the coins.) The couple agrees to let the con artists use a jackhammer to dig through concrete and into the soil.

The con artists then "find" a clay box with a cross on it and "1878" on the bottom. Inside? A letter saying that $70K in gold coins are buried just a few meters below the box.

But! The con artists warn them of bad luck that will haunt their family for four generations if they don't complete certain steps first. To wit:

• The couple can't tell anybody what's been dug up.
• They all had to say the rosary together for nine days.
• They have to build an altar to the god Fray.
• They have to put in money equal to the value of the gold coins. The couple puts in $45K. The cons put in $25K.

You can probably guess the rest. The con artists never show up again. The couple says the rosary every day. After nine days pass, they look in the box and see the money's gone, replaced with newspaper.

UPDATED: I talked to Deputy Chief Mike Marshall of Salina P.D. Investigators are still working on the case, but they do have a rough description of the suspects. They're two Hispanic men, probably Colombians, of undetermined age. They were last seen driving a newer Volkswagen Jetta, white with four doors.

I asked Marshall how the shopkeepers got taken in. He said the suspects were very polished, very smooth, and they played to the victims' beliefs.

Comments

[Searching]

Okaaay..
How can people fall for crap like this!?

[Vibiana]

"After nine days pass, they look in the box and see the money's gone, replaced with newspaper."

Unfortunately, they neglected to realize that their brains are gone, too -- obviously replaced with sawdust.

[T-Bone]

Holy Sh**... sounds like something out of one of the "Scary Movies"...

What freakin morons...

[JUNGLE JIM]

The first tip off should have been 9 days. Everybody knows at takes 40 days and 40 nights when the Lord is involved.

[aqua]

James, the article doesn't say when the couple moved to Salina from Missouri.

[aqua]

The God Fray?

Like Chevy Chase in Fletch:

Receptionist: May I help you Dr...?
Fletch: Oh, it's me, Dr. Rosenpenis. I'm just here to check out Alan Stanwyk's file.
Receptionist: Dr. who?
Fletch: Dr. Rosenrosen, I'm here to get to the records room.
Receptionist: What was that name again?
Fletch: It's Dr. Rosen, I want to check the records room.
Receptionist: Dr. who?
Fletch: Dr. Rosen. Where's the records room?

[Searching]

Not the lord.. the god fray He is 9 days tops

[JUNGLE JIM]

Well, I guess their God is faster than my God. I should have use my conversion tables.

[JUNGLE JIM]

When they first heard this story they should have just said "I'm a frayed not!"

[Scott]

Pretty elaborate. Couldn't they just have asked Saundra McFadden-Weaver or Katherine Shields for a home loan?

[JUNGLE JIM]

I
D-rink
I-n
O-thers
T-ales
S-uckers

[Searching]

faster is not better!

[Chris]

Fray? Who's Fray? I've heard of Freyr (sometimes Frey), but no Fray...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freyr

[Searching]

It;s a scam chris... doesnt have to exist.

[bob]

oh how I miss my hometown!

[ajh]

God a love a good true life Grifter story.

[rusty_shackleford]

this shouldn't be a crime, if people are this stupid they deserve what happens to them... now i am off to buy a metal detector and drive to salina.

[The_Golfer]

Anyone notice the name of the business?

El Azteca De Oro - The Gold Aztec

[Joe]

This story is a good CSI (completely stupid individuals).

Anything for a quick buck!

[Steve in KC]

How many millions have people spent on stupidology...ahem...scientology only to be told that they are related to space aliens and the only way to 'detox' themselves from negative energy is to pay HARD COLD CASH while grabbing on to one of those things that makes your hair stand up from static electricity.

The depth of human stupidity has yet to be fully measured.

[The_Golfer]

Yet there are those who claim it made their career after starting in LRonHubbardCashFlow - ie Scientology. Tom Cruise and John Revolting, I mean Travolta come to mind.

[in2ropin]

OK, it's Friday and I'm reading terribly fast to get out of here, but I'm confused. They used a machine to detect gold down there and gained permission for jack hammers and such and they actually found a box with a letter in it. Now how the hell did that box get there if they had to use jack hammers to get to it? Maybe dug a tunnnel in from the side of the building?

[JUNGLE JIM]

Martians buy movie tickets at a much higher percentage rate than Earthlings do.

[Stinky B.]

this is what happens when you take jesus out of salinians.

[Runaway_Scholar]

I was all groovy with it until it got to the "altar to the god Fray" part. WTH?

[Alfredo Gutierrez]

Isn't amazing how people are willing to compromise their beliefs and switch from what ever god they worship to the god of materialisim.

[Wonton]

That stupid Die-Tech commercial on TV keeps saying "People are Smart". Yeah, sure! It's people like this who get taken every day by scam artists. These sub-par mortgage lenders like Die-Tech are what's killing the housing market, increasing foreclosures and causing the stock market to be shaky. Maybe "people are smart" should be replaced by "Dumb as a pile of rocks"...

[Alfredo Gutierrez]

Someone is using my name. I did not post that comment about Die-Tech. I posted the one before that and my name did not show up on that one. I would never make a derogatory comment like that one.

[Alfredo Gutierrez]

Your blog is not appling the names correctly, they are being switched around.

[James Hart]

Actually, Alfredo, the blog is working correctly. When you post a comment, your name appears under what you've written.

[deadhead]

bob, I call it SALIVA.

[NoMoreMrNiceGuy]

I bet they are illegals.

[ann]

Alfredo, were you being sarcastic? Surely you could figure that one out on your own.
I agree--that I have always had to give mounds of paperwork for mortgages--how do they get by? The answer is easy. The people sitting behind the desk (i.e. these gals in the pics) decide if there is enough information to check that box that approves it. There you have it...if there is enough kickback--it is going to get approved.
Finally, to whoever thinks they recycle ss numbers....No...That number stays with you through life and death. One example of this is that you can do family research through the social security death index....tracing family members through social security numbers...that would never work if they go recycled.

[Quad Kings]

Aqua, now THAT'S funny!

in2ropin, it is exatctly your mindset that allows this confidence scam to work. They didn't tunnel in. They put the box in the hole when they dug it. Ever see the movie The Sting? Watch it...it's a classic!

[Sheut]

P.T. Barnum sure was right.

[don]

typical kansas dumbass'es

[Quad Kings]

"typical kansas dumbass'es"

Posted by: don | Saturday, August 18, 2007 at 10:12 PM

Don's punctuation mistake sheds copious light on his perspective.

[NoMoreMrNiceGuy]

Wow! This sounds like the same type of pitch we got for our Social Security ponzi scheme.

[Bohica]

I wonder if it's the same Mexicans that scammed a Wichita woman out of $15k for a brass brick, which they told her it was a gold bar!!

[Bohica]

Errr... it was $10k for the brass bar...

Here's the link:

http://www.kansas.com/news/local/story/148424.html

[Hector]

They had 45k to put in a hole? To get more?
Greed.

They put 45k in a hole?
Stupidity.

I wonder if they still worship Fray.

[Doug]

Never underestimate the power of stupid people in any size of group, large or small.

[Steve]

Aww man... that happend to me twice last month!!! It's NOT funny!
hah hah hah, belch!

[Cranky Media Guy]

"How can people fall for crap like this!?"

People all over the world fall for ridiculous irrational nonsense designed to bilk them out of their money every single day. It's called "religion."

[grytpype]

Christians are really easy to con.

[Bret]

Is it really that surprising, this is Kansas we're talking about. The same people who can't figure out all the science behind evolution. I'm sure the people who got duped did not evolve, they were intelligently designed by an omnipotent god.

[PAPPY]

WELL HELL, Our GOVERNMENT just bought two washers for $987,247.38...What the hell does that tell you?

Wonder how much of that was my tax money?

[SSJPunk]

I heard there's some rich Nigerian guy that died and needs someone to claim his money. How can I sign up?

[frankly]

actually the scam at the start of 'The Sting' is more believable than most 'switch' cons. Usually the con puts his money in a bag/hanky/safe then pretends he doesn't feel safe unless you put your money in too. He then leaves you with the bag/hanky/safe.

The skill is in making the mark believe such a stupid story. In 'Sting' there is a reason for the mark to want to hide his money but they usually don't have a good reason.

[K. Tyson]

The same person who is going to say the rosary is going to set up an altar to the God Fray, an unknown entity??