In the year before the pandemic, about 250 Angelenos each month were falling victim to street scams, con games or other “bunco” crimes. The incidents included everything from fake gold jewelry sales to someone knocking on the door of a home and persuading the resident to hand over cash for a repair that would never be made.
Not surprisingly, reports tumbled with people unwilling to come face to face with strangers. But although many Angelenos are back to their pre-COVID life, bunco incidents occur far less frequently than they did before the coronavirus.
According to publicly available Los Angeles Police Department data, the highest monthly count since February 2020 was the 175 bunco reports recorded in both July and August of 2022. In November, there were 138 incidents.
This is a major reversal. From 2010–2019, bunco crimes increased every year, rising to 3,065 reports.
Through Nov. 30, 2022, the LAPD fielded 1,707 reports of bunco crime. Although that is a 0.7% increase from the number of incidents reported in all of 2021, it is a 44.6% decrease from 2019.
Using trickery
Bunco crimes occur when trickery is used to persuade a victim to give up money or property. LAPD reports commonly refer to these as con games or swindles.
In a typical bunco scenario, a criminal gains the victim’s confidence by telling a believable…
