A well-dressed woman comes out of the blue with a large amount of money that she has just found.

It’s the start of a scheme that can see the victim taken for thousands of dollars and Rome police are telling elderly people to know that it could happen to them. Authorities remind you if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.

This specific one is called a "pigeon drop" scam and it reportedly happens once or twice a year in Rome. The victim is known as the pigeon.

Last Friday saw a Rome woman lose $6,700 in such a scam  when she gave a professional looking woman the money as part of a buy-in to split a bag of money she had found that she said could contain as much as $100,000.

The suspect was described as a white female, perhaps in her late 20s, with short blonde hair, a brown mini-skirt and light colored top.

Quite often the perpetrator tells victims the money will be used to pay a lawyer for filing fees to make it legally acceptable for them to split the money.

Police say the victim of Friday’s incident said the suspect talked very fast and seemed to know exactly what to do and why they shouldn’t involve the authorities.

The Rome police say that if a person locates any money they should call 911 and turn it into the proper authorities while they attempt to locate the owner.

If the owner is not found after 90 days the person who found the money can request a hearing with the chief of police that will determine if they can keep the money.