BOSTON -- Police on the South Shore are hoping surveillance video can help them stop a television scam that cost one man $4,000.

Braintree police sad a North Smithfield, R.I., man was contacted by a man calling himself Jim who claimed he was a UPS driver and had some LCD flat-screen TVs that he wanted to sell, the Patriot Ledger said.

The victim agreed to meet the man on Saturday to buy five TVs for a total of $4,000.

When the victim and a friend met Jim at the mall, the man took the victim's money and said he was going into Sears to pick up the TVs. The man never returned.

Police said Saturday's incident is part of a larger scam that has been going on for years. The scammers find their victims by cold-calling people and making the offer, police said.

On Feb. 26, a 29-year-old East Providence man lost the $2,400 he thought would buy three flat-screen TVs with stands and wall mounts, police said.