When you’re desperate for cash but don’t have a scary weapon to rob a bank, you make due with what you have. For an elderly woman in Colorado, that was a piece of paper and a life-threatening disease.

Last Thursday, the unidentified woman, aged somewhere between 55 and 75, walked up to a Wells Fargo teller in a Safeway grocery store wearing a conductor hat and gray sweatshirt. There, she handed the teller a note.

The note indicated she had AIDS and that she’d transmit the disease to the teller if she didn’t cooperate. Taking no chances, the teller handed over a heap of cash (the full amount remains undisclosed) and the woman fled the scene.

According to the police reports, the woman in question coughed frequently into a blue bandana, which was either a part of her act or proof that she was actually sick.

FBI and police have yet to identify the suspect, though they do have photographs and video of her.

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