CHICAGO — You may remember James Lyons, the 37-year-old who’s accused of transferring money to himself after commandeering a victim’s phone in Wrigleyville.
Lyons is sitting in the county jail today, accused of doing the exact same thing in Wrigleyville while on pretrial release in the pending case. Today, a judge will decide whether to keep Lyons in jail or send him home to await his trial(s).
The ruse Lyons is accused of running is one of the hottest scams in Chicago: Schemers pretending to collect money for a charity or a sickly relative agree to take a small donation via a victim’s banking app. When the target takes out their phone, the scammer takes control of the device and transfers as much money as possible to their own account without permission.
The ruse has been widespread in Lakeview and Lincoln Park. There have also been several recent reports of men running the same in the Loop:
- At about 5:30 p.m. on January 25, a guy took a man’s phone at Block 37, 108 North State, and transferred $2,500 to himself.
- Around 6 p.m. on January 31, a 911 caller reported that a man asked him for a dollar in the first block of South Wabash. When he handed the man his phone, the guy transferred out $2,000 instead.
But back to James Lyons.
As the Wrigleyville bars were preparing to close early one morning last February, a 22-year-old man surrendered his phone to Lyons “under false pretenses and by deception” in the 3500 block of North Clark, according to a CPD arrest report. According to the report, Lyons tried to transfer $1,000 and $500 from the Vernon Hills man’s CashApp account without the victim’s knowledge.
The report said police seized two “bucket boys” flyers when they arrested Lyons. Bucket boys are the guys who bang on plastic tubs on the street, hoping to earn tips from passersby.
Prosecutors charged Lyons with identity theft, wire fraud, computer fraud, and defrauding a financial institution.
Less than five months later, on the Fourth of July, Lyons allegedly stole more money from a man in the 1000 block of West Addison, directly across the street from Wrigley Field.
Cops investigated the incident and arrested Lyons when he recently appeared at the Skokie Courthouse for the case from last February.
Judge Deidre Dyer ordered Lyons to go onto electronic monitoring for the new charge, but she kept him in jail for violating pretrial release in the earlier case. The judge handling the February 2024 matter will decide today whether Lyons should stay in jail or go home.
