San Diego
Police are searching for a man posing as a Federal Express employee who has tricked several San Diego businesses out of hundreds of dollars.
Police spokesman Bill Robinson said that, since Feb. 1, police have received about 25 calls from small businesses that have paid the man $18.50 per delivery.
The thief, wearing either a brown or blue Federal Express uniform bearing the company’s emblem, delivers envelopes stuffed with blank Internal Revenue Service forms. He also leaves receipts with return addresses from nonexistent state agencies.
At noon Wednesday, the thief entered a barber shop in the 6100 block of University Avenue with a delivery from the state Board of Barbers, Robinson said. When the shop’s employee became suspicious and refused to pay, the thief told him he had other deliveries to make and would return later.
The man is described as white, in his 40s, about 6-foot-3 and weighing 160 to 170 pounds. He had brown, collar-length hair and was wearing clear, wire-rimmed glasses.
Robinson said similar operations have been reported in Sacramento, Fresno, Orange County and Los Angeles.
Anyone with information on the scam should call police at 696-1655.
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