Scam artists

[Time2]

I think I got scammed for $5 of gas in a Walmart parking lot. It has a hospital next door and he had a good story about his wife in there. I''l never know but I think I got scammed. We have a local Nextdoor Group, their is a women that keeps having the need for money, people help her and then then shortly after she has another problem. Group regulars keep pointing out her previous history and how she is likely scamming the group, but her pleas seem to be fruitful as she continues posting for money.

 

[Sarah S]

There is a man is Boston who poses as a verizon executive, dresses in a suit and asks for 20 for fixa flat for a tire. He can get quote aggressive if people refuse and if they say no cash he offers to accompany the person to an atm. I think he has been doing this for at least twenty years.
A more usual thing is asking for trainfare at the station. Their destination is always the most expensive one They of course have no interest in you buying the ticket for them

 

[folivier]

Sounds like the same scheme that "Kevin" uses. It apparently works since he's out there every day with the same story. There are some that say he is an addict, others say he's mentally ill, maybe gambles, who knows?

 

[Venturer]

I''l never know but I think I got scammed. We have a local Nextdoor Group, their is a women that keeps having the need for money, people help her and then then shortly after she has another problem. Group regulars keep pointing out her previous history and how she is likely scamming the group, but her pleas seem to be fruitful as she continues posting for money.

There is a gal on the local Nextdoor group here that does the same thing at least every week or so. "I'm about to have my power turned off , or My baby is sick and my check is lost in the mail so no medicine." some excuse one after the other.

 

[Jimmie]

We've had lots of FB posts in our local city FB group for people having to move and needing to sell their household goods at really low prices. The catch was people had to put down a deposit "to hold the item(s)" before you could pick up. The poster also disabled comments and said for anyone interested to DM them for details on where to send the $. Local news started reporting people complaining of getting ghosted after sending $s via paypal or venmo. First thing that went through my mind when I read the post was "scam alert". Whenever I see a similar post now, I just report it to the FB group admin.

 

[mystang52]

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.

Some 30 years ago, DW was with a friend walking to the car in a mall parking lot. A guy started to approach them "Excuse me ladies...." Without missing a beat in their walk, DW simply said " There is nothing you can say that we are possibly interested in." Her friend thought she was rude, but I think DW did the right thing.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

The only time I encountered this I told the guy to tell the cop who was just inside the store and he’d get him some help. He didn’t appreciate my advice.

 

[Jerry1]

Some 30 years ago, DW was with a friend walking to the car in a mall parking lot. A guy started to approach them "Excuse me ladies...." Without missing a beat in their walk, DW simply said " There is nothing you can say that we are possibly interested in." Her friend thought she was rude, but I think DW did the right thing.

That’s my basic tactic. Before anything is even said, I’m saying “I’m not interested.” I’ve seen situations where I think it would have been better to have helped someone out, but the risk of getting scammed is too great for me to get involved. Worse, the risk of getting robbed or hurt is enough to feel that my policy is best, for me. It’s a shame that the world has come to this, but here we are.

 

[Koolau]

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!

Yeah, I love that story.

 

[Sojourner]

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.

+1

This is my standard response to anyone who approaches me asking for money for any obviously sketchy reason. I typically say "Sorry, I don't have any cash on me right now, just a credit card."

 

[Sojourner]

There is a gal on the local Nextdoor group here that does the same thing at least every week or so. "I'm about to have my power turned off , or My baby is sick and my check is lost in the mail so no medicine." some excuse one after the other.

I've seen LOTS of these kinds of posts recently on Nextdoor. The comments on these posts lead me to believe that the OPs are serial beggars who post every few months asking for "contributions" via GoGetFunding, GoFundMe, etc.

 

[misanman]

A few years back, BIL was about to pull out of a gas station when he was approached by a guy with a sad story about needed $$ for gas to get home to his family. BIL gave him $20 but when he left the gas station he pulled over out of sight but where he could watch the guy. They guy didn't get gas but left the gas station and entered the nearby liquor store. BIL followed him into the store as the guy was about to purchase beer/liquor with the $20. BIL lit into him verbally. Probably not a recommended course of action but BIL felt better after reading him the riot act.

 

[sengsational]

That’s my basic tactic. Before anything is even said, I’m saying “I’m not interested.” I’ve seen situations where I think it would have been better to have helped someone out, but the risk of getting scammed is too great for me to get involved. Worse, the risk of getting robbed or hurt is enough to feel that my policy is best, for me. It’s a shame that the world has come to this, but here we are.

It would be nice if we lived in a region where you could help people in this way, but it's just not that kind of region. The good news is that in this region, they probably aren't going to die of exposure or starvation or any other cause, whereas if you want to, and can afford it, you can actually save real lives in other (less affluent) regions.



But my basic tactic, again, my dad trained me, is no matter what, don't stop...keep moving. And do the exact opposite if they try to order you around ("slow down", I speed up, "don't yell", I yell, "don't run", I run ).

 

[razztazz]

That’s my basic tactic. Before anything is even said, I’m saying “I’m not interested.” I’ve seen situations where I think it would have been better to have helped someone out, but the risk of getting scammed is too great for me to get involved. Worse, the risk of getting robbed or hurt is enough to feel that my policy is best, for me. It’s a shame that the world has come to this, but here we are.

The World can be quite a dehumanizing place sometimes. Over time we all become what we have beheld to some extent. And usually not in a good way but we are left no choice.

 

[frances]

I had a guy come up to me at a fast food place years ago asking for money. I was meeting my husband and a bunch of male Scout leaders for lunch there, so I told they guy "no, won't give you money, but you can join us for lunch". So he and I went in, I bought lunch, and he ate with us.
He thanked me and left.
After he was gone, everyone said "who's that?" I said "I don't know, someone who said he was hungry", and husband said "she does that". They all thought I was nuts.
I will buy someone food but I won't give them money.

 

[Reach]

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.

Exactly ~ similar experience about a guy who got stuck for some valid reason many years ago in Baltimore when I was younger and out for nightlife. I balked since I was from there, but I think my friend gave him $10 or so... then we saw him again later with the same story in the same place. Called him on it when scamming others.

 

[SecondAttempt]

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 .

I don't see anything wrong with helping someone having a problem. Honestly I've been there myself long ago, before cell phones, when my car broke down late at night. I needed to call my wife to pick me up. Pay phones were 25 cents. This was around 2 AM and I made it to a big grocery store that had closed for the night a few minutes earlier. I had money but the smallest bill I had was $10. I approached a few people in the parking lot and offered them $10 to buy a quarter. They all thought it was some sort of scam and brushed me off. It was kind of humiliating and I ended up calling my wife collect from the pay phone.

Ever since that experience 30 years ago I have been sympathetic to people in distress and have offered to help several times but in every instance they were not interested in any solution that did not involve me handing them cash so I walked away.

 

[jim584672]

I walk a lot and notice people who come up to people in cars in the parking lots and ask for money. These are professional panhandlers and scammers.

 

[Koolau]

I had a guy come up to me at a fast food place years ago asking for money. I was meeting my husband and a bunch of male Scout leaders for lunch there, so I told they guy "no, won't give you money, but you can join us for lunch". So he and I went in, I bought lunch, and he ate with us.
He thanked me and left.
After he was gone, everyone said "who's that?" I said "I don't know, someone who said he was hungry", and husband said "she does that". They all thought I was nuts.
I will buy someone food but I won't give them money.

I like this story. You did a good thing. You did it safely. You set a good example to people you knew. Good on you.

 

[indiajust]

The Nigerian prince scam is over 100 years old. Back to Pony express times. Cons are confidence artists. Eminently human. Structuring a narrative to yield a specific outcome. Give a con a nice suit and a sanctioned credential, put them in marketing firm, and you can convince a city to build a stadium for a billionaire. Too much of a good thing, gone bad. Preachers and politicians in extremis end up in this same territory.

Living with getting scammed occasionally is worth the joy of the truly grateful situation.

I suspect most folks learn that lesson by contact with reality. They make a mistake and need help from a stranger to get back on their feet. I did. So I go a bit out of my way to help folks when automotive chaos arrives.

There will always be a few that learn the wrong lesson, learn not to plan or just to scam. Its self regulating.

 

[BooBoo]

I was in the Netherlands a few years ago with DW. I saw an edlerly hustler coming and quickly crossed the street to avoid the hustle. All is good or so I assumed. Wife went into the store and I waited. The hustler approached me and wanted money. I told him I had no cash which was true. He said he only wanted a beer and I could see he needed one badly. We went into the small grocery store across the street and he went to the back to get a beer from the cooler. The women running the store got all excited and chased him out of the store. Apparently he shoplifts frequently and lives at the nearby shelter. I asked her want kind of beer he wanted and she picked out his preferred high alcohol brand. I purchased one for him and me with a credit card. I came out of the store and he was relieved. I went back to the hotel and enjoyed my beverage as well.

 

[athena53]

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.

I'm ashamed to say I've fallen for this 3 times in my life. One was a woman who ran up to me in a parking lot, didn't have any money, had left an abusive husband (and I was living with a nasty one myself). I gave her $20 and later saw her buying out-of-season tomatoes at the grocery store. Still later I saw her running up to a couple- undoubtedly the same sob story. I yelled, "It's a scam!".

I like the idea of the "no cash" rule. It does limit what I can do as a single woman traveling alone but I donate generously to charities that help the poor and homeless and trust them to determine genuine need. Maybe that's enough.

We have plenty of intersections where someone with a grocery cart (where did they get a grocery cart?) full of stuff has a sign, always the same. "Homeless veteran. Anything helps. God bless." Like they're trying to push every button. I ignore them but I still feel guilty.

 

[Sunset]

I had a guy come up to me at a fast food place years ago asking for money. I was meeting my husband and a bunch of male Scout leaders for lunch there, so I told they guy "no, won't give you money, but you can join us for lunch". So he and I went in, I bought lunch, and he ate with us.
He thanked me and left.
After he was gone, everyone said "who's that?" I said "I don't know, someone who said he was hungry", and husband said "she does that". They all thought I was nuts.
I will buy someone food but I won't give them money.

Almost similar story some decades ago.
Fellow asks for money for food, we offer to buy him lunch at McD's
As we walk towards the McD's he continuously said; he didn't want to be a bother, the cash would be fine, didn't want to take up our time, etc etc..

As we got to the entrance and he could see we were really going to buy lunch, he cursed us a lot and walked off..

Guess he lost his appetite

 

[MatatuPuncher]

My sister gave $100 to a guy wearing a suit in the parking garage at LAX because he said he lost his wallet and phone on the airplane. He gave her his address, phone number, e-mail and promised to pay her back the same day. I'm like "you know you got scammed right?" "oh, no way, he'll pay me back." The next day the dude starts texting her dick pics. I never laughed so hard in my life.

 

[SecondAttempt]

My sister gave $100 to a guy wearing a suit in the parking garage at LAX because he said he lost his wallet and phone on the airplane. He gave her his address, phone number, e-mail and promised to pay her back the same day. I'm like "you know you got scammed right?" "oh, no way, he'll pay me back." The next day the dude starts texting her dick pics. I never laughed so hard in my life.

Maybe that was his way of paying her back.