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-   -   Street scammers and pickpockets - ever been taken? (https://thetfp.com/tfp/general-discussion/158112-street-scammers-pickpockets-ever-been-taken.html)

Jinn 11-11-2010 02:54 PM

Street scammers and pickpockets - ever been taken?
 
I saw this on the Consumerist today, and it's a bit terrifying because I'm the sort of person who would fall for this sort of thing - I have essentially 0 street smarts and have a difficulty being assertive to strangers who are trying to take advantage of me.

The "Dirt On Shirt" Scam - The Consumerist

Quote:

You are walking in a crowed street and suddenly you get something on your jacket. It can be anything from coffee to dog pooh. Faster than lightning a diverse group of friendly locals want to help, offering to clean your jacket with their very convenient napkins. Before you realize what is going on your wallet/money belt/camera/daypack is changing hands. The solution is to "be cool" when it happens, decline their service firmly and walk away fast. You can always check out the stains in a safer place later on. If you don't realize the scam before they are freeing you from your valuables, yell out and act aggressively. Trick thieves are rarely into attention and violence, but use your good judgement.
Commenters loaded up with other similar scams:

Quote:

I got hit in Chicago. Shoe shine scam. Guy offers to "show me what he can do" to my shoes, despite my weak protests that I don't need it. He does a half assed shine, and then proclaims that I owe him for the shine. A partner, larger and more intimidating, shows up to confirm his price. $8 he says...per shoe. For 4 minutes work. I got the feeling that I would be roughed up if I didn't pay, so I paid and got the hell out of there. They had the audacity to ask for a TIP as I left!
Quote:

A friend of mine got pickpocketed in Chicago on Michigan Ave. by a guy who kept bugging us to buy tickets to some random play. He kept asking, even though everyone in my group said no repeatedly. The next time she went to pay for something, she realized all her money was gone out of her pocket. She must have been so distracted by how annoying the guy was being that she didn't notice what happened at the time. He was probably just trying to keep her standing in one place for a minute or two and took off only when his accomplice got the cash.
Quote:

A more common version of this in Europe is when wandering shoe shine people "accidently" drop their brush. You're a good person, so you retrieve it or point this out to them. They motion that they want to thank you by giving you a shine and imply that its free, but don't say so explicitly. Then when its done, then demand a lot of money. You can't argue that it was free because they never explicitly said that.
Quote:

A few years ago, my college roommate and I had a 12+ hour layover in Amsterdam on our way to Norway, so we left the airport and decided to go out exploring the canal and Red Light districts (of course). We were just sightseeing and didn't utilize any of the district's services, but at one point some shady characters came around a corner, ran into us, acted like it was our fault, and then "accidentally" dropped their crack pipes on the ground.

This caused much consternation for them, as they were quite upset at the prospect of having to buy fresh crack. I thought about making a big scene or making a run for it, but there were no other people around and I didn't want to risk getting shanked. So I gave them €20 and that calmed them down enough for us to get out of there.
Quote:

In Barcelona at a shop the owner pointed outside to a pregnant lady waiting for the bus. She said the lady had pulled a scam there over several days where she would fake labor, have some tourists dive in to help, and her accomplice would relieve them of their wallets while they were distracted. The shopkeeper called the cops whenever she saw her but the scam was usually complete and the scammers gone by the time they arrived.
Quote:

Some guy tried to shake me down with the "dropped glasses" scam a few months back in Midtown NYC. I was just walking back from lunch and this large man casually bumps into me while holding his glasses in one hand. At which point the glasses fell to the ground and he starts making a bit of a scene about how their broken and they were expensive. He just kept going "What are you going to do about it?" I just told him he bumped into me, he dropped his glasses and then asked him how the one lense SHATTERED from being dropped from three feet up. He gave me the stink eye for a bit, asked one one time what I was going to do and then I just suggested we find a cop to help us.
Quote:

New Orleans has a good one. They'll come up and bet you that they can tell you where you got your shoes. If you're dumb enough to respond, they'll say "on your feet. Pay up." Then they'll usually point to some intimidating looking guy who will supposedly beat the hell out of you if you don't pay.
Quote:

Money changing by people on the street. Someone, often very nice and well spoken, will approach and have a seemingly reasonable excuse why they can't change money at a bank or kiosk, e.g., they had their passport stolen, and they'll give you a modestly good deal to change funds with you e.g., euros for your dollars. Once the transaction is complete, a confederate will appear and produce a badge, demand to see the bills and say they are counterfeit and begin to detain both parties for questioning. You're kind of freaking out and the guy you changed money with argues his case with the officer fluently in his native tongue and the end result is the officer "lets you off" by confiscating the bills and a fine.
.. and a kinda funny one by kids..

Quote:

In Morocco I got taken for a ride by a little kid. I got lost in the maze of souks (tightly packed and maze like stall markets) and wandered too far out. This CUTE little kid with his school uniform comes up and offers to show me the way back to the main town square. He starts taking me down allies and through side streets, after a couple minutes of this I got VERY concerned I was being led to an ambush. Once he thought we were sufficiently lost he started demanding money if I wanted to know the real way. I was so mad, I refused and walked the other direction. Thankfully I found a smaller square where someone else offered to show me "They way" I told them no and thankfully a mini-cab came along and he took me back to the main square.
Have you ever been 'taken' by a scam like this? Seen one take place? As I mentioned, I think I'd have fallen for all of these if I hadn't read about them first. I'm from a small city with very little foot traffic, and just recently moved to Seattle (which has a lot of foot traffic). The general lesson seems to be ignore anyone who asks for help or talks to you and keep your wallet in the front pocket (which I already do). Shame about having to ignore people who might legitimately need help, though.

LaLa1 11-11-2010 03:48 PM

I have one, it's really rather sad.

I use to work in downtown Seattle. While waiting for the bus one afternoon an older woman came up to me. She was probably in her late 60's, and her face was all beaten up and she had cuts on her face that were fresh. She told me she had been mugged and just needed another $5.00 to catch the Greyhound bus back to CleElum, which is on the other side of the mountain pass from Seattle. I felt horrible for her and of course gave her the money!

A few days later I was out on a smoke break talking to the building's postman. I told him the story and he said "Oh she got you to huh?" I was shocked! He told me that she lived down the street and that near the end of the month the younger boys who crash at her place will rough her up a bit and she goes out to panhandle. And this was all at her approval!

Totally crushed my giving spirit, which was probably to my benefit working downtown Seattle. I later saw her being arrested for smoking crack on the street. Which did help explain things a bit better.

Redlemon 11-11-2010 03:48 PM

I did once. Some guy at a gas station, something about his wife in a car being sick or something, I really don't remember the details. Since then, no. I've never been pickpocketed - I keep my wallet in my front pocket, and it takes a bit of effort for me to get it out, so it would probably be more challenging for a pickpocket (not to say that they couldn't do it, more that they'd pick someone easier).

ZombieSquirrel 11-11-2010 03:49 PM

In high school I was on a field trip with classmates to Chicago. A friend got taken by a "shoe shiner" outside of a restaurant we visited. My friend was wearing sneakers, and didn't need a shoe shine. There were 2 guys with this scam and one was quite scary and intimidating. The one just bent over and started shining my friend's shoes...didn't even ask if my friend wanted a shine. He then asked for money while the big scary guy just stared at my friend. My friend just sort of froze and the shiner was getting very loud demanding the money for his "hard" work. One of the chaperones paid them $20 to leave my friend alone. We all got a lecture on the bus about being street smart in the city. They purposefully targeted the group of naive touristy teenagers.

jewels 11-11-2010 04:12 PM

Never. I've seen it all and it's sadly turned me into a total skeptic.

I was in the car a couple of years ago with a male friend and he fell for the guy-at-the-gas-station-out-of-gas trick. Don't even try that with me. :no:

Do I sound just slightly bitter?

Xazy 11-12-2010 04:51 AM

This is going back to 1995.

I was in grocery store, in the produce section. A lady dropped knocked some items on the floor, I went to pick up some items a man bumped in to me when passing past and i got "Jostled" the legal term the police used, my wallet was lifted.

They actually knew when I described the people who they were, they are a known team. The store found my wallet in the garbage outside I lost $10, and a credit card. But my card was canceled before any purchase was made.

The_Jazz 11-12-2010 05:43 AM

I've seen the shoe shine scam. I've never seen it work, though, I guess because I've never seen it done on nerdy tourist teens. The last time I saw it, a bunch of us had just come out of a dinner where we'd had lots of wine. The guy went to work on 1 of the 6 or 7 of us without asking. Again, crappy job. When he asked to be paid, the guy with the shoe told him to "go fuck off". When the big guy came over, the shoe guy pulled a pen out of his shirt pocket and offered to put a hole in the big guy's neck.

Welcome to Chicago.

I've given the same guy "money for the bus/train" a couple dozen times. I recognize him, but he doesn't seem to recognize me. I also had a guy promise to "fix" some parking tickets for me for a fairly sizeable sum. I ended having to pay the tickets too.

Plan9 11-12-2010 05:53 AM

Turns out the decoy wallet is one of the smartest things you can have when traveling in urban areas.

While these types of scams rarely turn violent, this is one of the reasons I carry a concealed pistol.

Fotzlid 11-12-2010 06:32 AM

A few years ago out in Vegas, back when the slot machines still payed out in coins, the wife got targeted. She had a container that was nearly full of quarters when some guy sat next to her and dropped some coins on the floor. When she went to help him pick them up, he grabbed her change bucket and ran. (A completely full bucket would hold about $50, probably had about $40 in coins at the time)
This happened about 20' from a "security" booth who magically saw nothing and were not very interested in hearing what she had to say.

james t kirk 11-12-2010 07:50 AM

Paris France Aug 2010

Walking out of the Museum Dorsee with the GF, standing at the cross walk (Looking like Tourists to be sure.)

Guy beside me sticks out his hand with a gold wedding band in it and asks us if we just lost our ring and jestures as if he just found it on the sidewalk. We say no and thanks anyway, but he wants to know if we want the ring. We both say no, you found it, it's yours. (Plus I really have no interest in something like that or something that isn't mine.) But the guy persists. Tries to tell my GF to take it. But she doesn't want it. He puts it on his finger, but it's too small and again tries to give it to us. But neither of us want it. We walk off and the GF says, "something wierd about that, he was way too persistent" I check, my wallet is still in my pants, can't figure it out. Go back to the hotel and google "Paris Ring Scam" Bingo. Apparently it's a common gypsy scam (the guy was a gypsy) the ring is just a brass ring and worth nothing. They hope you take the ring, and then start in about "hey, how bout 25 Euros for me, or whatever" If you don't, then Boris comes out of nowhere claiming you stole the ring and most idiots don't want any trouble so they cough up some money.

Moral of the Story - don't take any brass rings from Gypsies in Paris.


Also in Paris - this happened twice - it seems like all kinds of people want you to sign one petition or another. They come up to you and thrust this petition in your face (again, they can tell you're a tourist and again, they are gypsies.) Usually it's for some noble cause like urging the gov't to spend more on AIDS or whatever. You sign, then they ask you for a donation to the cause - which goes right into their pocket. They can be pretty pushie with their petitions.

Didn't fall for that one either - thanks to me reading about the Ring Scam, I learned about the petition scam.

Jinn 11-12-2010 08:06 AM

Interesting - I was actually reading about that ring scam yesterday I saw that they actually manufacture tons of them in Paris and stamp things like "24K gold" into the band so that the potential mark will see it and think they really hit it big, and be more likely to give them some money. Naturally it's just an impression in the metal, not an actual indication of what it is.

The ring scam, though, I'm less likely to feel bad for the person. It's natural greed that got them burned (they were trying to make a profit on a 'found' ring, generally) instead of simple diversion and pickpocketing or threats of force, which makes me feel really bad for the people.

StanT 11-12-2010 08:09 AM

Seems I was in Europe at the same time that you were and saw exactly the same two scams.

Gypsy girl with a "diamond" ring in Paris and an anti-drug petition in Rome.

Told the guy in Rome that I was pro-drug and watched him stammer a bit.
Gypsy girl was very polished, I'd seen this scam before and was quite aware of it. Still, she was very good at it.

snowy 11-12-2010 09:06 AM

When my friend and I got off of the Thalys in Paris, we went to the Metro kiosk to figure out how to buy tickets to where we wanted to go. A homeless gentleman was standing nearby, and he offered to help us in broken English. I was very suspicious, as my dad and uncle had warned me up and down about pickpockets and scammers being prevalent in Europe, but everything on my person was pretty secure except for a few francs in my pocket (this is pre-euro). I shrugged and said sure. He came over, asked where we were going in Paris, we told him, and he showed us how to navigate the menus on the ticket kiosk. I put in the francs for our tickets, got them, and then slipped him a few of my remaining francs. We went on our merry way, although traveling on the Metro with our backpacks made me nervous. I kept expecting someone to sneak up behind me and get into my shit because the car was packed and we had to stand.

And james t kirk: I've seen the petition scam here in my own town. We live in a university town. There have been a couple people who have come by saying they're petitioning the UN or some government body for whatever reason, will you sign the petition, and donate to their cause? My husband was patiently listening to one guy give his spiel when I interrupted (after hearing him ask for a donation), said no thank you, and closed the door. My husband was like--thank you! He was also pretty sure the guy was a scammer once he'd asked for a donation, but he wasn't sure how to politely extricate himself from the situation. Fuck politeness in that kind of situation.

cj2112 11-12-2010 12:27 PM

Ya know, every single time I've been scammed it's been because I didn't listent to what my parents beat into my head when I was little. "Don't talk to strangers". That won't prevent many of the pickpocketing incidents, but it will prevent you from falling victim to 100% of the con games that take place on the street. I got mugged in Portland when I was 21, because I didn't follow that simple piece of advice.Dude offered to sell me some weed. I had weed, I didn't need weed, hell I wasn't even interested in buying any weed, but being a dumbass I had to stop and talk to him. By the time it was over two of his friends had shown up and dude had most of my weed and $10 of mine.

I don't even let people get the first sentence out anymore. I just interrupt them w/ a firm no and keep walking.

Cynthetiq 11-13-2010 06:06 AM

last year

Early Saturday morning in Madrid, we were waiting to check into our hostel. Never stayed in a hostel before, and they have been supposedly becoming a bit more upscale.

We left the bigger bags with the front desk and were to return around 12pm. We had about 3 hours to kill and it was already a long red-eye. I kept my backpack laptop bag as it had all the electronics. Passports were in another bag on my shoulder. It was tiring caring the bags, but Iīm quite used to them from all the years of traveling.

We are about 2 blocks from Puerto del Sol and about 1 block from our hostel. Weīre on a small alley that connects Calle de la Cruz to another street. Thatīs when a man walks up to me from the right and asks me to sit in the restaurant. I had adjusted my bag to somewhere I never do which is put my backpack on backwards. I was so tired that it was just easier to carry this way.

The man asks where Iīm from and I reply New York. He says something to me about football, Real Madrid, and then he starts kicking between my legs like heīs trying to take the ball from me. A check here and a check there. He backs away. I say, "No, I donīt like football" and he comes back with something like karate or kung fu. I didnīt answer as Iīm starting to become aware that something isnīt right as I see another man approach Skogafoss. Itīs at that moment I realize my wallet isnīt in my backpocket anymore. I donīt keep cash there, but still, it is a pain to cancel cards etc.

I look at Skogafoss and shout at her. "This man has my wallet." She looks at me. "Skogafoss, this man has my wallet." I look at the man, "You have my wallet, give it to me!"

I started to drop my bags and demanded my wallet again. Iīm watching these guys carefully keeping myself between them and Skogafoss. I ask for my wallet again.

Suddenly and quite unexpectedly the guy produces my wallet and says something to the effect of "solo bromo" only joking. Yeah, only joking my ass. I checked the wallet, no cards missing, the hidden cash still there. Hey I donīt keep important cash there, just emergency cash. As Iīm looking through it heīs walking away saying "bromo"

So for the past couple of days, (I know it has only been two real days, but weīve slept, woken up, gone out like 4 times, so it feels like 4 days have passed) we have been joking as to why he gave me my wallet back.

Did he think I was going to go South Bronx on his ass? Why did he not just run away? He had a lanky friend with him, was it just about an easy mark and move on? I havenīt the foggiest idea, but I am grateful that I did not have to spend a couple hours cancelling cards etc.

gacobacov 11-28-2010 11:11 AM

I just fell for the shoe-shining one in Chicago. I was street parking in a side street off of Michigan Ave. While standing in front of the pay device getting ready to pay for my parking, 2 or 3 African-American men showed up and one asked me if I wanted a shoe-shine. I said, no, but then he came closer, bent over and said something like, "Let me show you something, just don't kick me!" Then he squeezed some liquid detergent-looking goo on both of my sneakers, got a cloth out and started shining. I thought it was too late to do anything after that point, so I just let him go on. A half-assed job in less than 2 minutes and then he asked for $8 per shoe + tip. One of his friends was at a distance and none of them looked really intimidating, but still I didn't wanna risk one of them taking out a knife and stabbing me or something, so I gave him $10. He was protesting and said something about how he has to pay for his kid's school, but I said I didn't ask for the service and he walked away peacefully. They were still hanging around my car when I was leaving though, so I hope it is still there and not broken in when I go back there in a little bit...

james t kirk 11-30-2010 02:49 PM

Shining running shoes? Now that's a first.

I thought the idiots cleaning windshields were bad enough, but shining shoes? That's even worse.

Grancey 11-30-2010 10:18 PM

Most of you seem to have experience with intelligent and savvy scammers. Down here in the south we seem to have a lot of scams aimed at the elderly which usually ends with someone losing their savings or investments. But I did encounter an idiot in the parking lot of a supemarket. He walks up carrying a skateboard saying his car has broken down and asks if he can borrow a cell phone. I lie and say I don't have one, and he hops on his board and takes off. A few days later I read in the local newspaper that a woman had lost her phone during a similar situation. So, when in the south beware kids on skateboards?

essayweb 12-01-2010 02:22 AM

hope for the best
 
I must say hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

rimshot 12-04-2010 07:32 AM

Got stung at La Guardia Airport. Young fellow wearing sweater and tie stopped me and asked for help. He needed $3.78 to get his ticket home. He looked like any teenager, so I forked over $4.00. Several days later , I read in the paper, that this lad was making about $4,000 a day for about 2 hours work.

hunnychile 12-04-2010 11:12 AM

Over the last year, we've noticed that our final bill for dinner at three different restaurants had another dinner or extra beverages added in and the total due was incorrect.

When hub asks cute little waitress about the mistake, she bats her eyelashes and says "Ooops, so sorry! I goofed". I've mentioned this to some friends and we then compared notes regarding the "tally" due & found out that the places that had the math problems were two of the same resaurants we had dined at.

Pretty sad. (Yes, I know times are tough but this should be illegal.) So be sure to double check your check at lunch or dinner. ---- Esp. if you live in Ohio.

Radio Monk33 12-04-2010 04:18 PM

Ugh, there's some awful scammers and conmen out there. I've travelled through Europe and know to be wary of the gypsies. In Bangkok there's a few tuk tuk scams where people offer to take you on a cheap or free tour...but a long the way they take you to stores their friends own. In Cambodia the beggars and street kids are good sports...they'd like your business or handouts, but take No's well with a smile.

But hey, I'm a big city boy from Vancouver...after a few years living downtown and near the periphery of the 'ghetto', you get used to saying no firmly but politely. Never indulged the various 'need bus ticket/gas money' but will be right back. Sadly, if someone interrupts me to say something, the first thing that comes to mind is no, because I don't want your service, nor to give you cash..


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