A growing number of tourists and locals are falling for a scam that’s been around for years, but apparently making a major comeback.

Here’s how it works. You’re approached by someone in a parking lot who says they’re down on their luck, and willing to sell you some jewelry for pennies on the dollar because they need quick cash. The victim takes the offer, thinking they can turn a quick profit on the jewelry at a pawn shop, only to find out it’s junk.

“Yeah, that’s brass. That’s brass,” said Gold & Silver Pawn general manager Andy Zimmerman as he drops a ring on the counter. The ring was pulled from a small pile of jewelry moments earlier which Zimmerman says brought in by scam victims hoping to sell it for a profit. They left it behind, he says, after learning it was practically worthless.

Zimmerman says it’s a scam he wouldn’t see very often. Now, he’s talking on a regular basis with people who’ve been ripped off for hundreds of dollars.

“Last week, somebody came in - they gave somebody $500. $500!” Zimmerman said. “And what's happened is, where we would see one person every three or four months, now we're seeing it four or five times a week.”

And, he says the scammers aren’t targeting tourists exclusively anymore.

“At first, it's been the tourists along the Strip, down on Fremont Street,” he said. “Now, what's happening is, we're noticing that it's expanding out to the neighborhoods so gas stations, strip malls, shopping centers where they're coming up to people.”

And, the scammers know how to tug on their victim’s heartstrings. “Even now, it’s getting worse. They’ll have kids around them and they'll beg and say, oh please help me out, and people are conflicted cause they see the kids,” said Zimmerman.

Caitlyn Miller, who was shopping Wednesday afternoon at Gold & Silver Pawn, says the emotional plea could make the scam difficult to resist. “Honestly, it would be pretty hard,” she said. “I think your good nature would like to help other people, so of course you're gonna sit there and wonder, do they need help? it's kind of like a moral struggle.”

Zimmerman says it’s a moral struggle that more people are wrestling with, and falling for. “Over the weekend, four people came in just to our shop, so if they're coming in to our shop, just think around the valley what's happening.”