There’s a Small Fee for That, and to Prove It’s Legit, Here’s My ID

“It was a great con,” said Los Angeles Deputy Dist. Atty. Mark Vezzani, “until he did something stupid.”

Vezzani was referring to a crook who would phone small businesses in L.A. and tell them he worked nearby and was expecting a package to be delivered. But, the scammer would add, he was stuck in traffic and would the business please accept it for him?

The package would arrive and a uniformed delivery man would tell the good Samaritan that a small sum of, say, $30, was due. The owner would pay, thinking that the recipient of the package would reimburse him.

Trouble was, the delivery man in uniform was actually the crook, who would pocket the cash and never return.

But he made one mistake. At one shop, he was asked to show his driver’s license. Incredibly, he did.

The shop owner copied down the license information. And when she later discovered she’d been victimized, she contacted police, who delivered the crook to the hoosegow. No one knows how many times he worked this scheme.

GUTTY SMILE: I want to thank Kate Yarbrough of Santa Barbara for the ad she forwarded to me. Nothing cheers me up more than seeing a happy colon (see accompanying).

WELCOME TO LOS ANAHEIM: A faux pas by the rock group KISS at the Arrowhead Pond the other night was reminiscent of the TV commercial in which a performer tells the cheering crowd how much he loves Detroit, whereupon the arena falls silent. “Detroit was last night,” another band member whispers to him. The commercial is for an airline that is appealing to people who suddenly want to get away from it all.

Well, when KISS finished up in the Anaheim arena, a sign behind the stage flashed, “KISS Thanks You Los Angeles!”

Difficult to imagine KISS being embarrassed about anything, though.

Besides, Anaheim Stadium used to be the home of a football team that called itself the Los Angeles Rams.

*

BACK IN MY DAY: I liked the line on the TV comedy “Malcolm in the Middle” the other night in which the family is facing hardships and the parents try to calm the children by recalling past financial crises they’ve endured. Such as the time “we were saving for Disneyland.”

Steve Harvey can be reached at steve.harvey@latimes.com.