Jinn

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

Commenters loaded up with other similar scams:

.. and a kinda funny one by kids..

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.

__________________
"I'm typing on a computer of science, which is being sent by science wires to a little science server where you can access it. I'm not typing on a computer of philosophy or religion or whatever other thing you think can be used to understand the universe because they're a poor substitute in the role of understanding the universe which exists independent from ourselves." - Willravel

LaLa1

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

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).

__________________
I can't read your signature. Sorry.

ZombieSquirrel

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.

__________________
Attack ZombieSquirrels

jewels

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.

Do I sound just slightly bitter?

__________________
We are always more anxious to be distinguished for a talent which we do not possess, than to be praised for the fifteen which we do possess.
Mark Twain

Xazy

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.

__________________
Now, a clever man would put the poison into his own goblet, because he would know that only a great fool would reach for what he was given. I am not a great fool, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But you must have known I was not a great fool, you would have counted on it, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.

The_Jazz

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.

__________________
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - B. Franklin
"There ought to be limits to freedom." - George W. Bush
"We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo

Plan9

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.

__________________
Whatever you can carry.

"You should not drink... and bake."

Fotzlid

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

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

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.

__________________
"I'm typing on a computer of science, which is being sent by science wires to a little science server where you can access it. I'm not typing on a computer of philosophy or religion or whatever other thing you think can be used to understand the universe because they're a poor substitute in the role of understanding the universe which exists independent from ourselves." - Willravel

StanT

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

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.

__________________
If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau

cj2112

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

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 I´m 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. We´re on a small alley that connects Calle de la Cruz to another street. That´s 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 I´m from and I reply New York. He says something to me about football, Real Madrid, and then he starts kicking between my legs like he´s trying to take the ball from me. A check here and a check there. He backs away. I say, "No, I don´t like football" and he comes back with something like karate or kung fu. I didn´t answer as I´m starting to become aware that something isn´t right as I see another man approach Skogafoss. It´s at that moment I realize my wallet isn´t in my backpocket anymore. I don´t 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. I´m 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 don´t keep important cash there, just emergency cash. As I´m looking through it he´s walking away saying "bromo"

So for the past couple of days, (I know it has only been two real days, but we´ve 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 haven´t the foggiest idea, but I am grateful that I did not have to spend a couple hours cancelling cards etc.

__________________
I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.

gacobacov

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

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

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?

__________________
Quiet, mild-mannered souls might just turn out to be roaring lions of two-fisted cool.

essayweb

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

rimshot

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

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.

__________________
"I need compassion, understanding and chocolate." - NJB

Radio Monk33

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..

__________________
"Punk rock had this cool, political personal message. It was a bit more cerebral than just stupid cock rock, you know"
-Kurt Cobain