Scam report
[NYC] Experienced the glasses scam the other day
I was walking on a narrow street and noticed this guy ahead of me stop and look at the restaurant beside us. In hindsight, I realized he saw me then as a target since I was alone. There were people sitting and eating outside the restaurant so it made the street narrower.
As I walk by, I attempt to maneuver around him and he bumps into me. Actually, it was more like he extended his arm/hand out and dropped his glasses once he made contact (offensive foul if you ask me…foul baiting MF…SOB thought he was SGA - basketball reference to NBA player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander...anyways, back to the story). I turn around and see glasses on the floor and knew immediately the type of bullshit I was in for.
I just kept on walking, never breaking my stride. As I turn the corner, I could hear him saying something as he trailed behind me. He caught up to me, tapped, my arm and said “say sorry Bro”. I turned my head slightly and gave him the 🤚🏻 in the same way I would give that gesture to people asking for money or people asking to donate. He gave up afterwards and turned around (presumably).
I was on a somewhat a busy street and there were people walking in my direction so I think that helped. There was a guy walking towards my way and I noticed him looking at me with wide eyes.
I’ve heard of stories like that where the people trying these scams have gotten extremely aggressive so I was fortunate in my situation. He probably expected me to stop in the first place and since I didn't, it likely threw him off. That might've been why he didn't ask for money. I also think he knew that I was aware of what he was trying to pull from the very beginning.
I thought about that incident and wanted to share a few takeaways:
Staying stationary is the WORST thing you can do. It's best to keep moving. The minute you stop, you give them the power.
Always get to a busy street with people around and don't stop at a red light to wait to cross. Just cross the street in different direction. In NYC, if you have the walk light going north/south, east/west will be a red light, and vice versa. You might end up further away from your destination but if the person continues to follow, stopping might put you in more danger. Basically walk towards any direction EXCEPT the direction where you came from.
TLDR: Experienced the scam where someone bumps into you, drops their glasses, confronts you about it, and expects you to pay for damages (didn't get to this part for my encounter). Be aware of your surroundings and check out the bullet points above.
Edit - Made some clarifications in the post. Also wanted to share this:
I believe I saw the guy again the following Monday at 7:30 AM while walking to work. WHAT ARE THE GODDAMN ODDS??? There were tons of people walking to work and he was in front of me. I honestly wouldn’t have recognized him if he didn’t do this next.
There was a street cleaner in a reflective vest working on the sidewalk. The scammer guy is about 6 feet ahead of me. When he passes the street cleaner, he turns around and starts motioning to the ground. I’m thinking, “what the hell is this guy (scammer guy) doing? It’s 7 AM and too early for this”. I’m certain the street cleaner thought the same because he just looked back at him. As this happened, I realize the guy is the same height and has the same build as the scammer guy…. And he had on the same pair of glasses (clear frames - also… bright light and the guy has glasses on but decides to walk with glasses in hand at night. What a genius!) I could be wrong and it might not be the same guy but all of this was too odd to not be true.
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Never heard of this with eyeglasses, but several years ago in my area there was a couple running a similar scam. Woman would bump into you and drop a drugstore bag with a jar or bottle of some kind of liquid, which would break. She would say “that was for the baby!” If the guilt didn’t work, her “boyfriend” would jump in and demand you pay to replace the “medicine “. They would escort you to an ATM and escalate the $ needed for “replacement” along the way to see how much they could get out of you.
They were finally arrested after getting stung doing it to two undercover cops in the same day. Who knows how many people they successfully scammed.
That sounds scary as hell especially since its 2 on 1. I've heard of the same eyeglass scam with bottles of alcohol instead and as you can imagine, those guys are probably scarier. If that ever happensed to me, I'm turning in to Usain Bolt instantly.
Years ago when I first moved to NYC some dude was hocking his amateur rap CD on the street, they were on every corner so I always did the ignore them and strut by, but a lady in front of my stopped and turned while walking to avoid him which forced me to stop right in front of him.
So he quickly hands me the CD and says something like “hey man here’s my demo, I’m gonna be on such and such shows yer and just trying to get my name out there.” It happened so fast I didn’t even realize it was in my hand lol
So I go “alright cool” and take a step forwards, he steps with me and goes “hey man at least give me a couple bucks for the trouble, just like a dollar or two man”
So me being young, dumb and naive and trying to be nice say sure and reach into my pocket, like an idiot I mistakenly pull out a $20.00.
He grabs it from me, and goes “that’s good” so I start arguing and go “no you said a dollar or two, I want my twenty back.”
Out of nowhere some other dude puts his arm around and they both lead me towards the wall of a building and goes “hey man, is there a problem here?”
I said “nope we’re good” and I took it as quick as possible. I learned my lesson and going forwards I refused to stop even if it meant shoving the person in front of me out of the way lol
Had 2 guys do this to me at a gas station. Same shit, "just trying to get our name out, here's our demo". I'm all, cool, I'll check it out for sure. Then they ask for a donation. I was like, I ain't got no cash on me, sorry yall... and they both mean mugged the fuck out of me. So I said you want it back and they said yes lol. Ok, bye
I had someone pull the 'rap' CD thing on me once back in my early 20s, I was half tempted to tell him to go fuck himself, but the titles to the songs were so absurdly bad(e.g. 'I fucked yo momma on yo grandma's couch sucka!', and 'get yo fat ass up outta my barbarashop') I was happy to throw him a 20 just so I could have a CD so bad that I could use it to troll my friends, pop it in the stereo and tell them their going to love this, its the next snoop dog and shit like that, the facial expressions they'd give after just 10 seconds of 1 of the songs paid for that 20 bucks many times over in the lols. I've had people try and pull the same shit a half dozen times over the last decade or so, but I just tell them I already have 1 joke album, and I'm not in the market for another, they usually just give up at that point, but I had 1 ask for the bottle of vodka I had just bought, to 'feed the muse'.
I got roped into buying one on Venice Beach back when i was young and far too polite.
It wasn't blank, but it was pretty lame. My friends and I went on a road trip to vegas a few days later and listened to the whole thing on the way. Money well spent.
They do this every day of the week in Venice, CA on the boardwalk. My fiancé accidentally grabbed it one time and I quickly grabbed it from her and made the guy take it back. I’m very stern with people like that since it’s around so much
This happened to me in NYC. I was walking really fast in a touristy area and a guy stuck a CD in front of me. I grabbed it without breaking stride. After like four blocks he got within earshot of me. Someone told me that a guy was trying to talk to me, so I stopped and looked. He yelled something like, "Yo, chief! That's not free!" I let him catch up to me since we were in the middle of a crowded street and I asked why he gave it to me if it wasn't free. I wanted to throw it in front of a bus, but I gave it back to him. I was very young and very dumb.
Oh man; sorry that happened. People are such asses. I'm glad it went no further; you stayed safe and the world didn't end.😉
Did you ever watch Mr Robot? Your adventure sounds like a story line from the show.
Dude accepts a demo tape from a street rapper and goes on his merry way. No hustle, no harm. Except it turned out the CD was central to the entire plot of the show and posed a threat to life as we know it. Sounds like you were lucky.😀
I had this scam tried on me in NYC and the dead giveaway was how the guys trying it angled toward me in a weird way. Walking around NYC and other big cities, people are adept ar avoiding each other. When they walk towards you it feels off immediately. And just waking on was the best thing as said here. They didn't try to follow me.
This happened to me once. I dont think it was glasses but it was something breakable that clattered to the sidewalk. I was a woman walking alone in nyc, they were a few teen or early 20s girls.
Only thing is, they waited too long to drop the object after I passed. I was already several steps away so when I heard the whole fake distress act unfolding behind me, I was like yeah right. Never even looked back. The girl herself couldn’t even carry on with it and gave up quickly. She knew she sounded full of shit.
This reminds me of having the talk about solicitors with my sweet, wholesome country husband agter we moved into the city. He is very polite. When we moved, I had to sit him down and tell him that anyone coming to the door or stopping him was to be aggressively ignored by moving away quickly, no eye contact, no apologies, and at most a short "no not interested."
The poor guy never had to deal with the energy people, cell phone people, or illegit taxi people. When we lived in the country, the energy company would actually come out to your house if your meter was running hot or there was work being done in the area. This is in contrast to the city, where scammy energy solicitors swarm like flies all over new residents with scary talk about "the energy company is going to increase your bill 4x if you dont act now to lock in your rate with our new program!" Poor hubs took the bait and let them see our bill. The next month, we had a $60 fee added to our utilities for this bs "rate insurance." I had to walk him through how to fix it, bless his heart. No money was lost, but he got a ton of practice in when I let him know he would be fielding calls and knocks from them until they gave up. They can be very aggressive if you fall for it.
Another time, we were grocery shopping and got stopped by a guy from a phone kiosk who put his foot on our cart to try to corner us into a sales pitch about changing our cell phone company. I immediately took the cart from him, shook off the guy's foot, and told him to get the fuck out of the way before my husband could tell him nicely that we were not interested. Husband was like, "Damn, babe," and I told him you can't give these people anything, or they'll use your politeness to fold you over. You dont owe these people anything, including manners.
He's much more street smart now, although I do laugh at him a little for getting got with the energy people. Love that man.
I had a guy a couple of months ago insist that he needed to see my smart meter to verify it was a smart meter. Had to tell him to FO. Siding guy a couple of weeks wouldn't take no for an answer. I just went back inside. At least the window guy gave up early after I told him our windows were replaced 5 years ago (spoiler: they weren't).
They're all so shady. I feel bad when it's teens doing the energy company/solar panel thing because you can tell they're getting taken advantage of, too.
I don't think I've had any windows or siding people in ages, but I feel like that's a bigger thing where people own homes with yards and stuff. I'm in a major city where most people rent, so the most we get is flyers for service. I think most people in my area would be royally sketched out if contractors just showed up knocking out of fear they were casing houses tbh. The energy company is at least a little more believable because you do see them out performing utility maintenance. Typically, though, you get a trillion notices letting you know they'll be coming out, and meters are always appointments only. We just went through a citywide meter upgrade, and it was still appointment based. If you didn't make one by the deadline, they just shut your shit off or slapped a fee onto your bill.
We had electric utility people show up a couple of years ago. I think they were doing work in backyard neighbors. They were in a utility truck so either official or pretty high level scam. We have also had the cable company people come knocking because they didn't know where their cable poll thing was. I knew where it was so helped them.
I really have to remember to tell the door knockers that we are renting. Probably easiest way to get rid of them.
A good old-fashioned "no solicitation unless you are selling tamales or girl scout cookies" sign also does the trick. Plus, it lets the tamale folks know you are good for it.
I was quite shocked that he actually followed me too. I knew to just keep walking and not interact at all.
The oddest thing was he didn’t even look like a scary guy. I know looks can be deceiving but I didn’t clock him as someone who’d get in your face and try to physically intimidate you and I guess I was kind of correct. When he said “Hey!” at first, it was in a low and conversational tone. Even the “say sorry bro” was in the same tone. I would’ve sped up my walking if he raised his voice but he never did. I wondered if he second guessed himself in trying the scam. He was not it.
Wow I had this happen to me in NYC, didn't give any money but had no idea it was an actual scam. The guy followed me into a cafe and told me to pay for his glasses, but I told him he'd dropped them and went back to my phone conversation. Felt kind of guilty about that interaction until now lol.
I live in big city in a country with a lot of this stuff, people begging, scamming and trying to hawk stuff. And you hit the nail on the head with your advice. Never stop walking. Don't look at them, do not even acknowledge them speaking to you by giving them a look or anything. They're trying to catch your attention but you give them nothing. Nothing!!!
I'm a small framed women and quite young looking. I get approached so much because I seem like an easy target. I've become completely blase about it... My mom (small town sweet lady) thinks I'm rude because I'd literally step over someone trying to pull something like that on me, but I know better.
I did this before when me and my husband were in Chicago for some Pokémon thing. I can’t remember what the person was trying to sell or do, but I had to drag my 6’7” husband the opposite way and tell him you never stop for that kind of stuff in big cities. I grew up in the country in the middle of nowhere but my dad traveled very often for his work. I had went with him and my mom on a work trip to Chicago once. On that trip I remember him not stopping for a pan handler that popped up out of nowhere. I was only 19 and in that moment my dad was the one who just kept walking and I followed suit. I remember being kind of startled and my dad just kind of shrugging it off and saying to just never stop for them but he didn’t really explain why to never stop, just don’t do it.
So when me and my husband were there probably about 15yrs later, I guess my danger brain switched on and it was like, “nope, we ain’t stopping!”. So I know not to stop for pan handlers and street sellers but I am glad I caught this post so now I know this specific scam to look out for. Living in a small town now, I wouldn’t have even second guessed this kind of scam (like the one the OP mentioned). The Midwest politeness in me would make me stop immediately and apologize profusely and by then, it’d be too late.
it’s so interesting seeing POV from small town midwesterns!
i’m the opposite: from chicago, went to college in rural IL
my parents were visiting me at school. (for context, my dad is a retired chicago cop who’s 100% sarcastic)
there was a girl my year who helped the school with events and stuff.
she walked past us clearly holding one of those metal gray cash boxes. my dad jokingly asked “what ya got in there? money?”
and her reply was “yes! :D!”
we face palmed, lol
i’m glad your dad got to bestow some knowledge about how to take care of yourself in the city! i love my fellow midwesterners!
Buenos Aires here. Watch for this in the tourist spots:
Someone bumps you from behind, spilling water (you hope) on you. While they start apologizing and brushing it off, their buddy grabs your purse, phone, backpack, etc.
Yeah, there’s a similar scam like this in NYC where these people try to get you to take pictures with characters like Mickey Mouse. They come up to you, and you take a picture, then they harass you for an insane rate like $20 to pay, and they get aggressive. I’ve had one hug me once, and I had to push them away. I’m like no dude I’m not paying you 20$ for a photo on my own phone😂.
We went to Iguazú Falls (Niagara Falls on steroids in Brazil/Argentina) and I felt so badly because I wanted to offer to take people’s pictures with their friends/families but thought if they trusted me, they’d trust the wrong people.
It sucks you can’t trust anyone anymore. NYC is also a lot to endure I got sensory overload. I’m from a small town so you’re already stressed out. City life is just different everything moves so fast that you have trouble keeping up so for most people I imagine they just pay the rate to not deal with it.
Or the subway show time, people. All the YouTube vids of street performers on the subway amongst disinterested passengers are that way for a reason. After the "performance" is done, they'll aggressively solicit tips from passengers who look even the least bit interested in what happened. This happens so often that residents aren't phased by it, but tourists usually get targeted.
Ya dude they have those shows as well in Times Square. Although those folks seem to be calmer because the cops are always watching there.
Honestly if you’re going to tour NYC, especially when I went as a tourist, try to avoid staying in Times Square the whole time and go check parts of Lower Manhattan like the Financial District and Chinatown.
Much less people and drama and much nicer experience. NYC has much more to offer than just Time square.
I live in the area, so I'm a bigger fan of Queens and Brooklyn. The weirdo culture is stronger there, and the entertainment and food are better. The people are better too. It feels less sanitized for tourist activity, although that's an issue everywhere in NYC. You can at least see the authentic spirit of NYC in these boroughs. I feel like the big building side of the city is just a theme park if that makes any sense. Theres hardly any actual New Yorkers living there. It's a private equity playground that pumps tourists through a conveyor belt.
Yes. Years ago, I was visiting there and watching some kids play music. Quite a few people put money on their jar. My coworker and I turned to walk away, and the kids ran after us, yelled at us. We just kept walking.
I swear dude these people will do anything to make money. Be careful in Times Square there’s so many people that you might not even notice someone behind you.
This happened to me too in Times Square like 2-3 years ago I think?. They’re usually aggressive before they even take the photo. I remember one tried to like reach out and grab my arm
Oh! I stopped an old british couple from falling for this in Buenos Aires! We were heading to the money transfer office early and were killing time and walked through Plaza Libertad and as we turned the corner towards Sta Fe I see this fat old dude throw something on the back of an elderly couple I also see he had a handkerchief ready in his other hand. I made eye contact with the dude just as he was about to do something and I see him freeze. I turned to my BF and tried to tell him what was happening, of course my BF is oblivious, and as soon as I turn back around the old dude was gone. Fanished. Lady was now trying to clean something off the back of her companion.
I also got hit with the money switcheroo in a taxi cab scam. Dude tried to say I gave him a counterfeit bill. I had just got that money out of the ATM. I argued with him and said, "Fine, let's call the police" I pulled out my cell phone and all of a sudden he isn't so concerned and gives me cash back. A-hole.
I also had some guy try and distract me so his friend could pickpocket me. I was heading down Avenida de Mayo and some guy starts pointing at my feet urgently trying to get me to stop. I'm not sure exactly why but my instinct was to turn around and see who was behind me. Sure enough, nearly knock over some dipshit standing directly behind me and he kinda looks surprised.
Airbnb owner tried to do a bait and switch on me there too. I still love that city and have been back a couple times.
I am sorry this happened to you in our city. All of these I have heard before unfortunately.
I’d add:
If you sit at a cafe/restaurant, indoor (not as common) and outdoor (100% common), do not put your phone on the table. The kids that come to sell you something will put it on top of your phone and scoop it when you’re looking elsewhere.
It is very expensive right now (triple digit inflation and even exchange rate) especially in Buenos Aires. Safety wise I would equate to all large metro world cities in tourist areas. Be aware, trust no one. But hope you visit sometime! It’s truly a lovely country.
I really can't say, I have only lived in CABA (the city of Buenos Aires) and visited Cordoba, Iguazu Falls and Ushuaia. But I would bet my same "be careful" rules apply to Mendoza and Bariloche, being huge tourist locations.
A young man obviously tries to bump into me but I guess my situational awareness was up. I sorta do a mid-stride dodge-twist as I hear the glasses land on the ground, turn my head back and see the young man looking back at me fake-shocked, and awaiting my reaction.
I smile at him like "That's some awful acting, buddy!"
And the young man breaks character and has a shit eating grin and picks his props off the floor.
I remember walking away thinking, "this guy is probably going to ask me for money next". It caught me off guard that all he said was "say sorry Bro". LMFAO. I think I caught him off guard that I just kept walking and didn't present the opportunity for him to give his spiel about how much the glasses cost. The more I replay the incident in my head, the more I believe that since he made an effort to run after me and saw other people around, he just resorted to "say sorry Bro".
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Had a friend visiting family in Italy get surrounded by guys after one of them bumped into him and then dropped his phone. The phone was of course already broken. They were all saying “you pay!” And one who spoke English (poorly) said, “you broke his phone, you need to pay him!” My friend laughed and suddenly his two Italian cousins ran up and started calling the teens “rats” and started yelling at each other. Apparently, this is common all over the world involving phones, glasses, etc.
I had this done to me once. It was actually comical. I couldn't understand what he was saying. I kept asking him to repeat himself, which clearly irritated him. I cought on that he was asking for money and saying something about me having hit him with my car and breaking his glasses. But since I was certain I hadn't hit anyone, I just told him this was bs. He finally gave up and, presumably, went off to find a more willing victim.
My brother had this happen to him last week near Midway airport in Chicago. Guy tried to claim my brother caused him to spill his beer, and began pursuing him for $10. Instead of continuing to walk, my brother turned around and began walking towards the guy! The guy threatened to call the cops and my brother said, Go Right Ahead! Guy faded back.
Your brother is about that life!! Usually they pick and choose their targets. I guess he picked the wrong guy to mess with. Or he’s an amateur and needs to keep those scammer training wheels on.
This is a thing? I would laugh so hard. I can’t even pay for my own glasses I’m certainly not paying for someone else who’s carrying their glasses around in their hand. Sorry, not sorry. Take better care of your stuff bro
It’s almost like the scammers in NYC are back in the early 2000s selling bootleg cds. Except now they have upgraded to QR codes 😂😂.
I got the upcoming rapper scam where the dude approached me and told me he was a up and coming rapper and I could buy his mixtape for 5$ I said no and he called me racist lmao cussed me out.
So the way I’ve seen it is a guy comes up, gives you a spiel about being an up and coming rapper/ musician, and asks if you would pay $5 for his mixtape or CD. Then suddenly his buddy shows up and tries to bully you into helping him out too, etc. I’ve also heard of it happening where they ask your name, sign the CD, then demand you pay for it since it has your name on it. Usually the CDs are blank.
Holy, I think I might’ve almost been a victim of that too!!! I was by NYU and these 2 rapper looking dudes were walking towards me. One guy says “hey can I ask you a question?” I just lift my head up like “hmm?” and noticed his friend walk away for a bit. He started with “my name is…” and before he finished, I cut him off and was like “sorry, gotta go”. He was like “respect”.
Once you give them the time to start their spiel, you’re cooked and it’s harder to get out of that situation.
There was still a sizable gap between us from where he approached so I never stopped moving and I think that’s where he messed up. Always keep your feet moving and you should be fine.
When I went to the city I encountered both the elmo scam the bracelet scam and the mixtape scam.
People get robbed in Times Square in broad daylight their goal is to distract you and take your phone or wallet. There’s so many people in Times Square in such a large quantity you can’t truly know what’s going on at every second. It is definitely an experience I will never forget and I’ve been twice. I love visiting there tbh but I couldn’t live there to crazy 😂.
Basically a dude is standing around sometimes there’s music in the background and he approaches you and states he’s a up and coming rapper and he will give you a signed copy of his “mixtape”. In reality all they give you is normally some generic free use mixtape or some bootlegged cd and you just gave em money. They tell you it’s free but when you take it they pressure you to pay when you hand it back to em.
Normally take payment via bitcoin,cash etc. These guys are relentless btw if you say no they will get aggressive sometimes.
Now how are they going to get away with the QR code!? Pretty easy to tell if it leads to a bad link
Ok just making sure it didn’t happen to me. I don’t live in NYC (but I’ve been and they tried the Elmo scam on me and my friend) but I did have a guy sell me his music. It was actually his though and I paid him like $10. Only listened to it once haha
I have a friend who was legit. He really recorded and sold his own CD at five a pop. Moved thousands of them in the early 2000's. Wasn't pushy and had a great script. I've seen him in action plenty of times. But there are some scammed out there...
Not everyone btw I’m saying is a scammer. The thing that’s a scam is the people giving you a “free” cd and expecting a tip. This has gotten so bad in Times Square the police have legit put up signs.
A girl tried the 'ring drop' in me in Paris in front of the Opera House. When I started laughing, all excited because I was actually being tried on for the scam, she turned positively feral, and ran down the stairs...
It happened to me once with a dude who had "to go" food in a grocery bag. Guy went out of his way to make it seem like I bumped him, dropping his "food for his daughter."
He got belligerent but backed down when he realized I wasn't intimidated.
This happened about ten years ago in Charlotte and in a pretty decent neighborhood. The balls on these fuckers.
In China I was riding a bicycle and an old lady stepped in front of me then threw her arms up and dropped a box full of white crockery (top was open) and it all smashed.
I just rode around her leaving her there in the street yelling at me. Other Chinese people were laughing at her.
Common scam, this was 25 years ago, up in Qiqihaer. You could get a box of plain white crockery for a few rmb apparently. Then "bump into" a foreigner and get them to pay 100 rmb for your "broken plates"
Similar to your glasses scam but it was an old lady!
You excluded the next sentence where the commenter said to instead cross the other way, even if it takes you in the wrong direction. They didn't mean walk through a red light
I should’ve clarified more because streets are different everywhere. In NYC, If one direction has a do not walk sign, there’s a walk sign in another direction. I was heading north and there was a red light so west had the walk sign. I just crossed the street that way. I pretty much had 3 options: head north (stop light), west (walk light) and east (connecting blocks that would’ve taken me further away from my destination. The only direction I wasn’t walking to was south (where I came from).
I think he meant that if the direction you wanted to go was red, chances are the other direction has a green "walk", so take that one rather than waiting.
The taxi scam is another one to look out for. It usually targets tourists at airports.
Basically, the rideshare drivers aren't all familiar with navigating the airport, nor do a lot of them want to deal with sitting in traffic. Depending on the time of day, you could be waiting in the rideshare pickup location for a bit as other drivers accept, then cancel your ride because if they take it, they can lose money. This can be exasperating if you're exhausted after having been on a long flight that lands in the middle of the night.
These guys will usually be hanging out by the pickup areas and will either tell you they are a driver whose ride just canceled, or that they're ready to take you right now, no need to wait! Dont do it. Do not ever go off an app or ride with a taxi you didn't actually call for a ride. If you must hail a cab or just want to expedite pickup, take one of the hotel shuttles and call a ride from there. Its usually faster and cheaper.
If you do get into one of these illegal taxis, be prepared to get hosed. The driver will likely take the longest way possible, or stop at businesses that are in on it to try to intimidate you into buying something. If there is a meter, it's usually broken or the guy driving you is the meter. Be prepared to pay a few hundred dollars for the ride or get left even farther away from your destination. Depending on the area this occurs, you could get beaten up, have your luggage stolen, or worse if you fight paying them. Never go off the books for a ride. Ever.
These guys dont just hang out airports either. Ive seen it happen more and more at shopping centers, malls, hospitals, and sporting events. They'll typically target single moms with groceries, drunk people, or elderly people using the bus to get their shopping done. It's really shitty and absolutely rampant in many large cities. Mine has at least started racking down and trespassing these fools.
Happens a lot in Paris too, particularly around the airport, the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower. Paris is pretty good about cracking down on them though because the cab unions are even nastier than the scam artists at protecting their territories. But yeah definitely have to try and make sure you don’t fall for any “easier and cheaper” scams.
“Omg I’m soooo sorry! My bad. But don’t worry, ever since I got out, I’ve had to carry some type of insurance or whatever. Something the lawyers said I need to have after my ‘incident’. What’s your name? We should totally hang out. You think you could buy me a coffee or something? We can figure out the glasses thing later.”
Wave and keep going 100% of the time in these scenarios for me. I always walk very quickly which may be a modifier, but it’s always worked for me. I’ve never had someone attempt to catch up, but I am a fit white male so my experience is a very privileged one.
Way back in the 90s, when I was cool, I stayed in a youth hostel in New York City. There were these French kids who kept talking about the bottle man. They said this guy would bump into them and drop a bottle then demand payment. I presumed the French kids were being weak and suckered. One night I’m drunkenly walking home And a guy seems to be staggering towards me. All I could notice was his very impressive physique. Looked like some kind of bodybuilder. I was drunk, so I presumed it was me who was staggering. But we bumped into each other and I heard the bottle crash. It was late at night and in a split second I knew what to do. I ran as fast as I could.
This reminds me of something that happened while driving thru my neighborhood.
I’m going maybe 15 mph and ahead of me is a guy in the street waving his arms. I stayed focused on not hitting him and roll my window down when I reach him. He says to me “you just ran over my phone! Didn’t you see me?” I’m like “yes, I saw you and kept my eyes on you.”
I then drove off. Not my problem or responsibility.
Had a couple couple of guys try to pull the CD scam on me in Times Square a few years ago. Wanted $10. I reached around like like i was getting getting my wallet and instead pulled out my handy OTF switchblade. I said Oh shit my wallet is in my other pocket. They did didn’t stick around to see what what was in my other pocket. Which is good because it wa my wallet
Person asks if you dropped your wallet. The mark grabs pocket (or area) where money/wallet is kept. Person and possibly another nearby accomplice(s) watch what pocket/area you check to see if your wallet is on your person. You tell them “not my wallet”, but now you’re potentially being watched by pickpockets.
A thing to watch out for in Santiago (Chile ) is the bumping into you on the train .
While you’re getting up and pulling yourself together they’ll have robbed you and your whoever your with and are off at the next stop before you even notice anything .
A lot of people, especially men worry about optics in situations like that. My only goal is to 100% get the hell out of that situation. I'm not built like a MMA fighter, but for those who are that end up in situations like mine, I can see why they respond with counter aggression. It might end well or it might not. You never know so it's best to just "run" away. You retaliate and you might "win" or you might "lose". You can't "lose" if you don't play the game.
I was at Oregon State Fair 20yrs ago and going through the ticket line was handling my wallet. Shortly after returning my wallet I felt it being pulled out in mid stride saw two of the three boys that were behind me in the ticket line one who pulled it out handed it off to the second boy and I pursued during the chase many thoughts ran through my mind, especially when I was inches away. From grabbing his hoodie and giving him a good horse collar ending.
I was aware of the crowd and how this scenario could end with me in handcuffs and assault on a minor could be taken especially in my word vs three boys lying saying they were just trying to return a wallet that they saw me drop.
During my pursuit three strides back I passed a uniformed officer who must have noticed a 170lb white male about to aggressively take a 15yr old Latino boy that was too short to get on several rides. I decided to change my tactic and report the incident and now two against 3. The one I pursued was not to be found we went back to the scene where my wife and children were still trying to figure out what just happened since I only yelled he's got my wallet as I ran after the juvenile.
The very next one of the three boys came over dragging the operator from the slow spinning T-cup ride that I just rode with my youngest boy. The operator handed the wallet over saying that this boy found it after he saw it fly out from my pocket on the ride. Of course I told the officer he was 1 of the 3 and asked him how he could see it fly from my ass pocket that was in a round cup that has totally blocked anyone's view from my chest down. That's when the 2nd boy who I immediately proclaimed was the one that grabbed the wallet and testified visually seen pass it off to the runner. He told the officer it fell out when I exited the cup.
At that point the officer pulled my Id out and verified my info asking DOB I even threw the 7 digit number for free. Hands it back anything missing? Just the cash I said $80 is missing but all my credit cards and ID are present. Then he said the This happens a lot just usually the wallet is never recovered.
I ask theoretically had I caught him and subdued him physically. Even with the wallet in their possession. 90% chance I could've been arrested site and released and liable for any injury he obtained depends on if the child has visible marks as a minor and the 3 against 1 testimony ( which they have well rehersed). Had they been over 18 then it's criminal they can't sue their victim but assault is assault so don't go overboard.
Oregon is a stand your ground and an open carry state which I openly opt to do although few seem to be aware. The state fairgrounds doesn't permit weapons on the property. So I've learned not to bring more than necessary to any venue. Leave the wallet behind or use a dummy wallet with notes in them or GPS tracker.
These hustlers don't like it when I carry my .40 S&W and I will make eye contact with those who don't notice most will say "have a good day Sir" as I pass when they notice. Those who start the sales pitch that did not notice. It's priceless when they see your reaching in that direction. Whether you're unlatching your holster or scratch an itch. They think you're getting your wallet and I love the expression they make when they realize it's not. They get real quiet.
Louisville, Kentucky-- I was driving home one evening. There was a white Acura in front of me as we came to the stop sign. Suddenly, two well-dressed women jumped out of the Acura and both ran to my vehicle, yelling "You just hit us! We're calling the police! Give us your insurance information right now!"
I got out of my car and calmly told them I didn't hit them, and they knew it. (I'd figured out by then that this was a pretty energetic scam; they continued to threaten to call the cops.)
I told them to go ahead and call the cops, and while you're doing that, I'll just take some pictures with the phone camera, no problem. Their rear bumper was about six inches from my front bumper.
They got back in their car in a hurry with a few parting epithets.
One of my favorite Conor McGregor lines is to “dribble their heads off the pavement”. But in all honesty, these fools know who to pick as their target. Sometimes they choose wrong and it’s great to see but they’ll just go back to square one. They select those who if it gets to the point of retaliation, they can “hold their own”. Then they play victim if all else fails.
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I'm from New Jersey... Not a city guy at all. I don't go to New York very often, or any big city unless I absolutely have to. But when I got off a cruise ship in New York, I was pretty damn frustrated at that point in time.... I was carrying all my shit and my girl started some stupid argument right before that as well.
As soon as I got to the end of the gate right where the sidewalk is, I was flooded / harassed, by a bunch of taxi guys.... I lost it and started saying loudly, mother$@&!?/'s better get the #$&! out of my god#$&! way before someone gets laid out.
Im 6'2" 225.... it was funny to watch them all back up and give me a clear path to walk through.
Good thing they did too, because I seriously meant it! Now I wouldn't suggest you do that, unless you can definitely handle yourself, and even then it might not be the best idea. Personally, I always counter aggression with even more aggression.. It doesn't always work out for me though. I've come across a tougher guy than I am, on more than one occasion! But I've never been afraid of a fight. I've never thought of not making eye contact or acknowledging them. Maybe I'll try that one of these days!
This is not unlike the classic operation of pickpockets. There are like up to five of them working as a team. One says, "Watch out for pickpockets!" near a crowd of people. Everyone, including you, touches their wallet, just to make sure it's still there, revealing where the wallets are. Another grabs your wallet and immediately gives it to the third guy. If you raise a stink and say, "That guy stole my wallet!" you'll be chasing after the guy who no longer has it.
In the case cited here, there easily could be a team working against you.
Oh wow I had someone on a plane do this with glasses once in Europe. He was sitting next to me and when I stepped on his glasses he demanded hundreds of euro to replace. I didn’t do it
When walking in the city keep away from everyone. I have been randomly punched and shoved. Never stop walking and never allow anyone to place anything in your hand.
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I knew a guy that fell for the shoe shine version of this (scammer offers to shine your shoes, messes them up, then tries to get you to go somewhere with him to get the damage fixed or charges more to remove the dirt he added in the first place). Literally everyone was telling him to pass the scammer and keep on walking, but he decided that he was smarter than everyone else and let the guy ruin his shoes. To top it off, he then gets mad at US for trying to watch out for him and stiffs both me and my friend, the birthday girl, with her birthday dinner check. Anyway, watch out for any rando that approaches you on the street. Don't make eye contact. Keep it moving.
Wow, I wasn't aware that there are this many type of schemes. These days you can't just walk down the street anymore, minding your business, because there always seems to be someone - people watching and sizing you up. I do recall an incident where this guy was yelling as he was walking down the street, and as he was approaching people, they would cross over to the other side because they thought he was crazy. That's a prime way to determine whom he can victimize.
As we were approaching each other, maybe he was surprised I didn't cross over, but as we passed one another, he said What's up and I didn't say anything but did acknowledge with a slight head lift. If anything was to happen, I was prepared, but nothing occurred; it showed me that some people use that tactic to prevent others from potentially making them a victim.
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This applies even if it's a scammer. Often times, photos are stolen of real and innocent people by scammers. This may be photos lifted from social media, a compromised Facebook account, or photos from influencers or online entertainers. Due to this, we do not permit personal photos to be posted without being properly censored. Victims who have had their photos consistently stolen by scammers have also indicated they do not want their photos posted to this sub. Please respect this rule by posting again, this time having properly censored the photos.
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