Would-Be Swindler Escapes From Crowd of Angry Women

A well-dressed con man’s scheme to pass himself off as a recruiter for airline flight attendants crash landed Saturday.

The would-be swindler, dressed in a three-piece, pinstripe suit, tried to bilk about 100 women out of $20 each Saturday, but his scheme unraveled when several women became suspicious and demanded to see his identification, according to San Diego police.

“The last anyone saw of him he was heading out to the airport in a pickup truck,” said a police spokesman, noting that some of the angry women were able to jot down the truck’s license number.

The scheme resulted in about 100 women responding to a newspaper ad announcing that interviews for flight attendants would be conducted at the Embarcadero Holiday Inn.

There they met a man who identified himself as both Nick Wolpert and Rick Star, a recruiter for World Airlines. Applications were filled out, resumes were taken and then he attempted to charge them $20 apiece.

But a few of the first women to be interviewed became suspicious and demanded to see the man’s identification. Meanwhile, other women went to call the airline and police.

The man then made a quick exit, hotly pursued by some of the women to the parking lot.