Beware of scams - Norwood's Leonard Burns got burned

Leonard Burns, a 72 year old Norwood man, was scammed out of thousands of dollars when he agreed to help a stranger give money to the poor. Mr. Burns was approached at the Dollar General Store on Montgomery Road. The suspect said he was going back to Africa and wanted to give away two rolls of $50,000 worth of money to the poor since he could not return to Africa with the money. Mr. Burns was asked to withdraw several thousands of dollars from his own bank account to prove that he was not poor and would indeed give the money to charity and not keep it for himself. Mr. Burns handed over his money, but instead of two $50,000 bank rolls, he received shredded paper. Another woman was also taken by the scam.