A man shopping at the Pine City Flea Market walked away with a handful of worthless costume jewelry after a man and woman approached him about buying rings, then swapped his real ones for fakes. The Pine County Sheriff's Office says the pair were not legitimate vendors at the market, and deputies are now asking the public for help identifying them.
According to a Pine County Sheriff's Office Facebook post titled “Scam Alert!,” the suspects were described as a black male and black female who spoke with heavy accents and are believed to have been driving a black Volkswagen Atlas. Investigators say the pair appear to target victims in large crowds, and they're asking anyone with information about the suspects or their vehicle to call the sheriff's office at 320-629-8380.
The scam played out at a market that draws a steady crowd every week. The Pine City Flea Market runs every Wednesday from April through October at the Pine County Fairgrounds, pulling in roughly 100 outdoor vendors each week at a site just off Interstate 35 between Minneapolis and Duluth. The fairgrounds, located at 707 1st Ave NW, also host the county's five-day summer fair and other large community gatherings, according to Explore Minnesota.
A Familiar Scheme Across Minnesota
The tactic described by deputies mirrors a pattern that has surfaced repeatedly across the state in recent years. In May 2023, Rochester police warned residents after a victim lost $20,000 in a parking lot scam involving a large black SUV, where perpetrators offered fake gold chains and rings under the pretense of needing emergency travel cash, as reported by KROC News. Police at the time noted that scammers often try to place counterfeit jewelry directly onto a victim while quietly pocketing the real piece.
More recently, in June 2026, Rochester police and Olmsted County prosecutors filed felony theft-by-swindle charges against two men after a sting operation that used fake gold bars rigged with GPS trackers, stemming from a case in which a victim was defrauded of $30,000, KROC News reported. The defendants in that case faced $25,000 conditional bail. Similar warnings have popped up in smaller Minnesota towns too — the Staples Police Department cautioned residents in October 2025 about people approaching them in parking lots to sell counterfeit gold rings and chains while claiming they needed gas money.
What the Law Says About Theft by Swindle
The Better Business Bureau has flagged this style of fraud as a national trend, issuing alerts in 2022 and 2023 about traveling crews who target crowded public spaces with worthless costume jewelry stamped “14K” or “18K,” often paired with urgent sob stories about travel money or a missing wallet. Under Minnesota law, obtaining property through this kind of trickery is classified as theft by swindle. Per Minnesota Statutes § 609.52, as outlined by Keil Defense, stolen property valued at $500 or less is a misdemeanor, while amounts exceeding $1,000 can bring a felony charge carrying up to five years in prison; thefts topping $35,000 can carry penalties as steep as 20 years.
It remains unclear how much the victim's stolen rings were actually worth, and the sheriff's office has not said whether other flea market visitors have come forward as additional victims. It's also unknown whether the suspects are connected to the broader distraction-theft rings that have surfaced elsewhere in the region.
Sheriff's Office in Transition
The investigation falls to the Pine County Sheriff's Office, which covers roughly 1,411 square miles and serves about 30,000 residents and visitors from its headquarters on Northridge Drive NW in Pine City. The office is currently led by Sheriff Jeff Nelson, who announced in March that he would not seek a fourth term, according to WCMP Radio. Pine County itself has been recorded among the state's faster-growing counties, with a 2025 estimated population of 30,472, per U.S. Census Bureau data via FRED.
Deputies are urging flea market visitors and shoppers at other crowded public events to be wary of unsolicited jewelry offers and to decline sales from anyone who isn't a recognized vendor. Anyone with information about the black Volkswagen Atlas or the two suspects is asked to contact the Pine County Sheriff's Office.
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