Man gets prison for running Zelle donation scam on the Mag Mile

A Chicago Man Sentenced to Prison for Charity Scam

A man who posed as a charity solicitor and hijacked banking apps from unsuspecting donors outside the Nike store on the Magnificent Mile has been sentenced to more than three years in prison.

Lamar Smith, 25, pleaded guilty to two counts of felony theft by deception in a scheme that prosecutors say involved targeting people who agreed to make small donations—only to have hundreds or thousands of dollars transferred from their bank accounts via Zelle.

Prosecutors said Smith and a co-defendant, 22-year-old Kyri Walker, worked together to steal money from victims by taking control of their phones after they unlocked banking apps to donate. The duo operated outside the Nike store at 669 North Michigan Avenue in spring of last year, according to police and court records.

On March 20, 2024, a 20-year-old Gold Coast man told police that he was approached by two men outside the store. When he accessed his Chase app to donate, Smith blocked him from getting his phone back while Walker transferred $500 from his account, a Chicago police report said.

A couple of weeks later, on April 6, a 37-year-old Uptown man told police he agreed to give $5 after three men asked for donations in the same area. When he unlocked his Bank of America app, one of the men grabbed his phone and transferred $2,000 via Zelle to an account under a woman’s name, according to police. The man said he received “taunting” text messages from the offenders afterward.

Walker pleaded guilty to felony theft by deception in 2024 and received “second chance probation.”

But Smith received a harsher sentence when he recently pleaded guilty. Judge Shelley Sutker-Dermer sentenced him to 42 months in prison. With credit for good behavior, he’s expected to be released on January 12, records show.

Both men originally faced more serious robbery charges but reached plea agreements with prosecutors to plead to the lesser theft counts.