Dozens of St. Louis area restaurants report serial scammer on loose

ST. LOUIS -- (KTVI) -- On Thursday, dozens of St. Louis area bars and restaurants were reporting a serial scammer on the loose.

Tom Halaska of Demun Oyster Bar said he's warned the restaurant and bar community about a man who pretends to be a customer before resorting to his scamming tricks.

"He said that he left his wallet here on Friday night and that he's a pilot for United Airlines," Halaska said.

Halaska said that the restaurant checked for the supposed wallet but nothing turned up.

"Then he asked one of my staff members if he could buy a Corona, sign a $100 tip, and she would keep $35, he would get $65 of it,” he said.

Halaska said that the man promised flight vouchers in order to get cash from the bar.

"He had a card on him, but didn't have any ID or anything else on him," Halaska said. "We have a policy not to give cash back on tips."

Halaska said that the man then proceeded to leave contact information: writing down a name, a phone number, along with listing contents of what he claimed was in the wallet.

Halaska said that something didn't seem right, so he took it to social media.