NEWBURY PARK : Con Men Take $350 From Scam Victim

A Newbury Park gas station attendant was duped out of $350 by two con men using a fake-ring scam, Ventura County sheriff’s deputies reported Monday.

The attendant at the Mobil service station on Wendy Drive received a call Sunday from a man claiming to be a doctor who dropped his ring at the gas station earlier in the day.

The caller told the attendant, who was not identified, that the diamond ring was worth $3,000 and offered a $700 reward to anyone finding it, deputies reported. While the attendant was still on the phone with the man, another man approached and said he had just found an expensive ring, officials said.

After a few minutes of negotiation, the attendant agreed to give the customer $350--half of the reward--in return for the ring, officials said. The caller agreed to give the attendant the full $700 reward in cash when he retrieved the ring, deputies said.

When the customer left and the caller never showed up, the attendant became suspicious, authorities said. He called the gas station’s owner and then called police, deputies said.