Butcher Meats - John Norman Scammed out of $4000 buying meat from the back of a pickup truck Senior Citizen Ripoff Spring Hill Florida

This just happened July 26, 2007 to an elderly woman that I know. She was home, like she is most of the time, taking care of her husband who is also elderly and has advanced Parkinson's disease.

Two men came to her door asking if she wanted to buy meat. They drove a black pickup truck with a sign on it, Butcher Meats. They had a terrific deal for her! Even though she really wasn't interested, she listened to the one man tell her that he just needs the sale so he could win a trip to Hawaii for him, his wife and 7 children. It would be the only chance he will ever have to take his family on such a wonderful vacation.

He was very convincing. He also told her that he would not cash the check, but would return it to her after he got the order in and thus would get credit for the sale. She gave him a check for $895.00. He said not to fill out the "Payable to" section of the check as his company prefers to use a company stamp. She complied.

The man came back the next day and said he needed another check for $3,100. In exchange, he would bring her a new freezer chest filled with all the meat she ordered. Same scenario with leaving the "Payable to" section blank. Again, she complied. (Remember, he wasn't going to cash the checks, just wanted to win the trip to Hawaii!)

He returned once again with an old, used freezer full of meat and placed it in her garage. Then he left. My other friend, went to visit the elderly woman and she told her about the meat. Immediately, my other friend told her it sounded like she was the victim of a scam. The victim called the police and went down to the police station to file a report (Hernando County, Florida)

I went to the victim's house the day she returned from the police dept and I saw the copies of the 2 checks the scammer cashed. They were both hand-written out payable to John Norman and cashed at two different Sun Trust banks in another closeby town (not the victim's branch). He cashed them both on the same day. The day she gave him the 2nd check, July 26, 2007.

Both Sun Trust Banks made a copy of his driver's license and wrote the license # and his date of birth on the checks. This is now in the hands of the police. Hopefully the banks will have his picture on their surveilence cameras and catch the culprit. I hope and pray that my friend gets her money back. Scammed out of $4,000!!!

Linda
Spring Hill, Florida
U.S.A.