Men wanted in Durham 'pigeon drop' scam

Charles Henry Arms, 73, and Ramee Shabazz, 57, both of Charlotte, were released from jail after posting bond on charges related to the scam, and investigators have since added more charges.

Police said the first incident happened Sept. 27 at Walmart on Glenn School Road. A man claiming to be an African refugee approached a woman and told her he had inherited $150,000 but couldn’t take it back to his country because he would be killed. He told her a dead relative wanted him to donate the money to a church, and he needed her help. A second man then came up to offer assistance.

The woman was told she needed to put up $10,000 in good faith before she could get the full amount. She made the exchange and later discovered she had been given paper instead of cash.

On Oct. 21, a woman reported she had been scammed out of $790 by two men who approached her at the same Walmart. The men claimed they found a wallet with $60,000 in the parking lot and would share it with her if she paid the taxes on it. The woman gave them cash and later discovered she received paper instead on money.

Following tips, investigators found the men last week at a Walmart on Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and arrested them. Police said the men were in the company of an elderly woman who said they approached her about a bag of money they had found in the parking lot.

Arms was charged with two counts of felony conspiracy and two counts of obtaining property by false pretense. Shabazz was charged with felony conspiracy and obtaining property by false pretense.

Since posting bond, both men have been charged with an additional count of felony conspiracy and obtaining property by false pretense.