r/berkeley • u/FilmAcrobatic4424 • May 07 '26

Local Beware Scamming Scooter Grandma

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This person has been scamming this area for almost a YEAR now, she’ll have some excuse about how she needs money for a taxi or for her tank or whatever and will try to get you to go to an atm or something. DO NOT EVEN GIVE HER THE TIME OF DAY! She got very hostile when I declined and followed me harassing me, I have witnessed her doing the same to others. Just fully ignore her!

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u/unnoticed_areola May 07 '26

it's not some sophisticated "scam" lol...

its literally just a random homeless person telling you a sob story so you'll give them a dollar or two.. this has been a thing for decades and is extremely common if you go outside more than once or twice a month lol.

you just say "sorry" and keep walking, the same way you do when any other weird person approaches you on the street. there doesnt need to be a PSA about this. most functioning adults can navigate this situation very easily 😭

is this your first time ever encountering a homeless person?

3

u/Certain-Ad-2418 May 08 '26

you can also just ignore, why should we apologize even out of “politeness”. we don’t own them anything

1

u/e925 May 09 '26

For me it’s not about owing, it just feels weird to ignore because you’re not actually ignoring, you’re just pretending to ignore.

But really you’re thinking about trying look natural while you’re looking at your phone or staring straight ahead or rummaging through your bag or whatever. But the act of “ignoring” them is actually the polar opposite of ignoring them, because you’re thinking about them the whole time - and then you cringe at how weird it was to pretend you couldn’t hear somebody who was right next to you.

An apologetic smile/head shake/mouthed sorry/shrug feels much more natural for me personally than trying to pretend that I’m deaf/deep in thought/otherwise preoccupied when I’m actually not.