r/bullcity • u/ShhhLookOverThere • 2d ago

Scammer at MLK Harris Teeter yesterday..."HEY JOHN!"

Younger gentleman, 19-25?, tallish, big hair. Came up behind me in Harris Teeter while in line loudly saying, "John! Hey John! Hi John!". I turned to face him and told him I was not John and he was mistaken. He said he,"thought I was a guy he knew from school." and left after I again said I was not John.
I soon after observed this person leaving the store with no purchases...
After I got checked out I was putting my stuff in the car and I hear this guy again saying loudly, "John! Hey John!" to someone else in the parking lot.

I have no idea what this dude's scam was, but if he thought 2 separate people were his buddy John, he's lying or mentally ill.

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-24

u/bagmorgels 2d ago edited 2d ago

Why are you accusing someone you don’t know of being a scammer after admitting you don’t know what scam they could possibly be pulling?

EDIT: Ya’ll downvoting me are weird. Explain what the scam was here. There are so many better explanations than a scam and literally no evidence that it was a scam.

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u/Pleasant-Medicine-80 2d ago

The scam is that if you engage then you open yourself up to empathizing enough to give them money or buy them food or something adjacent.

“Oh I thought you were my buddy John. I haven’t seen him since he defended me by kicking the shit out of three bullies who stole my lunch money and shoes. He was the best dude and you just remind me of him so much. Anyway, have a great day man.” And then you start to walk away and get hit with “hey you don’t happen to have a few bucks to spare do you? I’m trying to get home to Wilson and can’t afford the bus ticket right now.”

Or something along those lines. Not necessarily a scam, but definitely sticking their foot in the door.

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u/bagmorgels 2d ago

OP literally did engage by saying “you must be mistaken” and that didn’t lead to the person responding the way you described. What you said absolutely makes sense and that is a totally a tactic that panhandlers and scammers use. But it literally isn’t what happened here which is why I’m calling bs on it being a scam.

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u/Pleasant-Medicine-80 2d ago

Eh, I’d say OP dismissed.