Scam artists

[folivier]

Didn't want to post this on the thread about acts of kindness.
But just be careful when helping unfortunate people. In my current city there is a facebook page dedicated to a local scam artist named "Kevin." This guy is out there every day scamming good people out of money. He is clean cut and dressed nicely and seemingly has the same story each day. He is a "medical salesman" and lost his wallet and needs $30 for gas to get home.
He is known in the area and is actually banned from some business parking lots because of his actions.
Just be careful when wanting to help others.

 

[Fermion]

Does anyone still fall for these gas can scammers?

 

[folivier]

Well from what I've heard this guy is out there every day, lives in a nice house, drives a Cadillac, well dressed, so there are enough people out there who give him money to keep up his lifestyle.

 

[braumeister]

Does anyone still fall for these gas can scammers?

It seems much too obvious, but I guess it works enough of the time.

First couple of times I encountered it, I offered to follow them to the nearest gas station, half a block away, and buy them some gas. The offer was immediately refused and they walked away, so I quit trying.

 

[Spock]

I used to be on the board of a homeless shelter.
The bottom line (for me) is if you want to help people you have to risk being scammed. There are filters to weed out the obvious. A cynical, suspicious mindset (myself) will always find a reason to say no. But if somebody visibly in distress I'll risk it.
Never, ever, give out cash.

 

[folivier]

On the facebook page there are pictures of him talking to people and actually getting into their car to drive him somewhere. That is scary. I'd never let someone in my car that I don't know.
I'm not against helping those less fortunate, just pointing this out to be careful.

 

[REWahoo]

Does anyone still fall for these gas can scammers?

It seems much too obvious, but I guess it works enough of the time.

I'm almost ashamed to admit that a few years ago I fell victim to a scammer with a similar story. Nicely dressed, clean-cut, well-spoken and highly skilled, he walked up to me as I was getting out of my car at a restaurant.

Immediately after he drove away it dawned on me I'd been had. Thought I was too smart to fall for something like this - obviously not.

I tell myself I spent the $20 I gave him on a refresher course in scam avoidance.

 

[easysurfer]

Didn't want to post this on the thread about acts of kindness.
But just be careful when helping unfortunate people. In my current city there is a facebook page dedicated to a local scam artist named "Kevin." This guy is out there every day scamming good people out of money. He is clean cut and dressed nicely and seemingly has the same story each day. He is a "medical salesman" and lost his wallet and needs $30 for gas to get home.
He is known in the area and is actually banned from some business parking lots because of his actions.
Just be careful when wanting to help others.

Often times the FB scammers don't use real pictures of themselves. Instead they take pictures of "successful" looking people as a ruse. I've set my FB so that only I can see my FB friends as the friends list is fertile hunting ground for the scammers. The world we live in .

 

[Aerides]

In these days when less ppl carry cash though, it must be less effective than it used to.

And... $30 for gas is a long way from home.

eta: As a woman, also, the last thing I want to do is get remotely close to any strange dude, no matter how well presented. So perhaps that natural tendency towards not wanting to being murdered helps me avoid this particular kind of approach.

 

[ncbill]

Didn't want to post this on the thread about acts of kindness.
But just be careful when helping unfortunate people. In my current city there is a facebook page dedicated to a local scam artist named "Kevin." This guy is out there every day scamming good people out of money. He is clean cut and dressed nicely and seemingly has the same story each day. He is a "medical salesman" and lost his wallet and needs $30 for gas to get home.
He is known in the area and is actually banned from some business parking lots because of his actions.
Just be careful when wanting to help others.

I got the above from a purported college student who needed 'gas money to get back to campus.'

I didn't ask for their college ID but instead asked to see their permit.

Which my city requires to solicit, no matter the story they use...and the permit is free.

 

[Jeffman52]

Man I fell for that 35 years ago in downtown Atlanta (I used to work on copiers so worked downtown a lot). The guy gave me a story about running out of gas and having to get to the Navy base to keep from being AWOL..... So I actually drove to an ATM and took out $20 and handed it to him. Drove back to where I was and dropped him off. I never felt uncomfortable, but I saw him again a few days later, scamming others. Lesson learned and it never happened again even though I have heard that story many times and in many iterations.



I think back on that and that could have been a tragic story in the AJC and a headline of what never to do.

 

[folivier]

But we as a group are probably much more skeptical than the average person. We've been there and done that and we have more time to discuss these issues. But there are so many people out there that haven't even heard of social media. Especially younger working people with families. Those are their targets. And there are many of them.

 

[1242Vintage]

Years ago was superintendent on construction job out on the Interstate. Guy at one of the few gas stations in the area was pulling this scam. He came over with an empty gas can and a sad story about wife and kids stuck out on the freeway out of gas and asked for money.

Sorry can’t give you money but can radio Highway Patrol to go check on his family to make sure they are safe and to figure out how to get them off the freeway. All he needs to do is give me his name, location of wife and kids and make/model of vehicle. He walked away.

He worked the gas station for a few days. He never asked me again.

 

[HarveyS]

About 10 years ago I ran into a fellow in the bank parking lot. It was after-hours, the bank was closed. He told me he was in a jam, blah-blah-blah. I don't even recall the story. He needed $20 for something or another. Promised he'd pay it back, blah-blah-blah. Insisted I give him my business card so he could send a check. Fine, I say, Here's $20 and my card.

About 2 weeks later I get a thank you card in the mail from him. And a check for $100.

 

[5Miler]

In May 1981 when I first left the Air Force, I started work as a Field Tech repairing computers in the Chicago Loop area. All the techs in my office, 8 of us, walked back and forth from our office on Wacker Drive to our customer locations all day, every day. We got to know every panhandler and con artist that made their living off people visiting downtown Chicago. We knew their primary stories they told and where each of them usually hung out looking for handouts.

We heard the same stories about some of them actually having nice homes and luxury cars but I think that is urban legend as it never appeared they made that much money. Mostly it was tourists and visitors they targeted as people like me who worked downtown everyday recognized what was going on and mostly ignored them. Walking along State Street in the 80's, especially during the holidays really took an effort to get around all of the panhandlers.

 

[ncbill]

In May 1981 when I first left the Air Force, I started work as a Field Tech repairing computers in the Chicago Loop area. All the techs in my office, 8 of us, walked back and forth from our office on Wacker Drive to our customer locations all day, every day. We got to know every panhandler and con artist that made their living off people visiting downtown Chicago. We knew their primary stories they told and where each of them usually hung out looking for handouts.

We heard the same stories about some of them actually having nice homes and luxury cars but I think that is urban legend as it never appeared they made that much money. Mostly it was tourists and visitors they targeted as people like me who worked downtown everyday recognized what was going on and mostly ignored them. Walking along State Street in the 80's, especially during the holidays really took an effort to get around all of the panhandlers.

This guy did it, but not by begging:

Joe Ades

 

[braumeister]

About 10 years ago I ran into a fellow in the bank parking lot. It was after-hours, the bank was closed. He told me he was in a jam, blah-blah-blah. I don't even recall the story. He needed $20 for something or another. Promised he'd pay it back, blah-blah-blah. Insisted I give him my business card so he could send a check. Fine, I say, Here's $20 and my card.

About 2 weeks later I get a thank you card in the mail from him. And a check for $100.

That has got to be a one-in-a-million occurrence!

 

[Walt34]

In these days when less ppl carry cash though, it must be less effective than it used to.

I've only been approached once with the "I'm out of gas" story and that was the reason I gave: "I don't carry cash anymore". He shrugged and walked away.

 

[Koolau]

There are places (in the shade of the Freeway overpass) that guys hang out with worn cardboard signs "WILL W*RK FOR FOOD." Of course, no one actually "w*rks" - they just take what folks will stop and give them. A couple of guys have been there for months in a row.

 

[jollystomper]

If someone approaches me with an "out of gas" story, I offer to buy them a tank of gas. The vast majority turn away. The ones that do not are grateful, and most of them insist on taking less than a full tank.

My favorite situation was many years ago, a similar story to the one HarveyS described earlier in this thread. I was approached by a young woman who seemed nervous, she told me she was trying to get home and had lost her wallet. I filled her tank. She was on the verge of tears and asked for my contact info to repay me. I gave her my work business card. I forgot about until about a month letter, when I received a letter with a check for more than twice what I had paid for the gas. It was from the woman and her father. He wrote in his part how it was the first time she had driven home from college 8 hours away, and the possible thought of her getting in trouble on the way worried him. He was so thankful that she ran into a kind person, and hoped the check would make up for any trouble.

I agree that if you offer to help you could be scammed... I try to be discerning, but ultimately I figure if I am scammed, they will have to live with it, and not me. Besides, one situation like the one above makes it worth it .

 

[Koolau]

If someone approaches me with an "out of gas" story, I offer to buy them a tank of gas. The vast majority turn away. The ones that do not are grateful, and most of them insist on taking less than a full tank.

My favorite situation was many years ago, a similar story to the one HarveyS described earlier in this thread. I was approached by a young woman who seemed nervous, she told me she was trying to get home and had lost her wallet. I filled her tank. She was on the verge of tears and asked for my contact info to repay me. I gave her my work business card. I forgot about until about a month letter, when I received a letter with a check for more than twice what I had paid for the gas. It was from the woman and her father. He wrote in his part how it was the first time she had driven home from college 8 hours away, and the possible thought of her getting in trouble on the way worried him. He was so thankful that she ran into a kind person, and hoped the check would make up for any trouble.

I agree that if you offer to help you could be scammed... I try to be discerning, but ultimately I figure if I am scammed, they will have to live with it, and not me. Besides, one situation like the one above makes it worth it .

Great story with a happy ending. Renews my faith.

 

[folivier]

"This guy did it, but not by begging:

Joe Ades"


Interesting story but this guy was a street vendor and not a scammer.

 

[Venturer]

Early in my career I was assitant manager of a tire store. I had a lady come in looking for a tire for her car. She said it had blown out about 2 miles down the road from us. She had a little girl with her and no way to change the tire and only $20.00 to get he back home to Knoxville Tn. I told my MGR. I was going to see what I could do to help her. He laughed and said ok sucker go ahead. When we got to her car she had the flat and 3 more almost bald tires. I took the one flat off and went back to the store. I found 4 used takes offs that would fit her car, mounted one and went back to her car. Put on the one and had her follow me back to store where I put the other 3 on, gave her $40.00 and told her to get them some food and gas. She was crying and thanking me for helping her. Almost 2 years later she came into my store that I had moved to as manager with her husband and little girl. They had stopped in my old store to see me and they told her the town I had gone to which was about 30 miles south of it. They were on the way to Fla. and she came to thank me again and offered to repay me. I would not let her and just told her I was glad she had made it home safe and found a better life. This was in the mid 70's. It was a very differant world back then.

 

[Lewis Clark]

Early in my career I was assitant manager of a tire store. I had a lady come in looking for a tire for her car. She said it had blown out about 2 miles down the road from us. She had a little girl with her and no way to change the tire and only $20.00 to get he back home to Knoxville Tn. I told my MGR. I was going to see what I could do to help her. He laughed and said ok sucker go ahead. When we got to her car she had the flat and 3 more almost bald tires. I took the one flat off and went back to the store. I found 4 used takes offs that would fit her car, mounted one and went back to her car. Put on the one and had her follow me back to store where I put the other 3 on, gave her $40.00 and told her to get them some food and gas. She was crying and thanking me for helping her. Almost 2 years later she came into my store that I had moved to as manager with her husband and little girl. They had stopped in my old store to see me and they told her the town I had gone to which was about 30 miles south of it. They were on the way to Fla. and she came to thank me again and offered to repay me. I would not let her and just told her I was glad she had made it home safe and found a better life. This was in the mid 70's. It was a very differant world back then.

What a great story. Thanks for sharing!

 

[ERD50]

A "tale as old as time" (from the Sherlock Holmes story)...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_with_the_Twisted_Lip

Mr. St. Clair has been leading a double life, as a respectable businessman, and as a beggar. In his youth, he had been an actor before becoming a newspaper reporter. In order to research an article, he had disguised himself as a beggar for a short time, and was able to collect a surprising amount of money due to a skillset uncommon to beggars; his actor's skills enabled him to emulate a more sympathetic character with make-up, as well as provide a repertoire of witty dialogue with which to entertain passers-by to offer coins—he was as much a street performer as a beggar. Later, he was saddled with a large debt, and returned to the street to beg for several days to pay it off. His newspaper salary was meagre and, tempted by the much larger returns of begging, he eventually became a "professional" beggar. His takings were large enough that he was able to establish himself as a country gentleman, marry well, and begin a respectable family.

ERD50