To help a scam victim conned out of $900 his first evening in Santa Barbara, a Montecito social group donated a full reimbursement to the student, which he then redirected to charity, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office.
The 23-year-old student was in town to take English classes, and had only arrived three hours earlier before being tricked out of $900 cash by a couple offering to buy him an iPhone 4 for a discounted price on August 11.
After learning about the crime from media reports, a local group, called the San Ysidro Pharmacy Breakfast Boys, collected the full amount as a donation for the victim. But “in the spirit of giving,” the student passed along the donation to the American Red Cross, according to the release.
Police are still investigating the crime, and working to identify the couple in the surveillance camera images released September 1, whom they believe to be responsible for the crime.