(jikatu)
It was a horrible story. A man approached Liza on the street and said that he needed $6 because his mother had just had a stroke behind the wheel of a car and he was short on cash to pay for the tow truck while she was taken to the hospital. It was also a lie.
Liza’s story is posted on the New York Times City Room blog:
“Excuse me,” he said, turning around.“Yes?”
“I — I just moved to the neighborhood,” he said, naming an address on Underhill. “Do you know if there’s a tow truck place around here?”
I opened my mouth to direct him to Bergen Street, which is lined with car repair places, about to say, “They would know.” Before I could get the thought out, he spoke again.
“My mother had a stroke behind the wheel. An ambulance took her. I’m trying to get a tow truck. All I need is $6.”
Six dollars. The words “mother” and “stroke” were all I had to hear to get me reaching for my wallet. As I opened it, I thought of how here I was, alone on a dark stretch of block, with a man who could easily pull out a knife and tell me to give him all my money, my phone, even my dog. I didn’t have $6. I had a twenty. I gave it to him.
“I’ll pay you back,” he said.
“Don’t worry about it.”
The woman turned back after walking away and noticed that the man was leisurely strolling down the boulevard, looking not at all like someone who was in an emergency. Online, she found stories of a person matching the description of the man she gave money to. They took place in the same neighborhood and he had been telling the same story for years. One of the sightings said that they same him eating oysters and drinking martinis at a nice local restaurant. That post was from six years ago.
We all want to do good in this world but it’s important to not be taken advantage of. A sob-story with a pitch for cash on the street is probably fake. If you want to give your money to the less fortunate, charitynavigator.org is a good site to evaluate which charities are worth it.
Complaint Box | The Sympathy Sham [cityroom.blogs.nytimes]
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One time I had a guy with a gas can ask me for gas money because he had run out and his pregnant wife and 3 kids were waiting in the car (in 110o heat). Instead of giving him money, I told him I would use my card to pay for him to fill up his gas can. His response was “F*CK YOU!!!
I use to attend University of Baltimore. Yes there were lots of panhandlers and because it was college it seemed like there were more. One night I got the sob story and told the guy, sorry no funds. A week later the same guy, same story, I called him on it. He was not a happy camper. Yes every class started with don’t leave a GPS on your window, the guy who hobbles around is a panhandler, yada yada yada.
And because I use to live in Baltimore
One Easter Sunday, there is this guy walking up and down the street with “the sign” and I am watching him. He looks beaten up, rough, rail thin. I go to in-laws and on the way back see the same guy. I watch him walk across the street and he does something strange, he bends down by a car, and pulls out these absolutely white high end sneakers. I was stunned.
Call me Jaded.
The only “sympathy on the street” scam that ever worked on me involved a frail-looking, shabbily-dressed young woman, who approached me in a parking lot asking for money to buy groceries to feed her hungry children. I was on my first date with a very attractive woman, who I naturally wanted to impress with my kindness and generosity. So I opened my wallet and immediately handed the panhandler a wad of cash. I probably wouldn’t have given her a dime, had it not been for my intense desire to score with my date later that night, and the feeling that my donation might help my cause. It didn’t. But I suspect the panhandler might have tried this scheme before — approaching “vulnerable” guys on their way to upscale restaurants, who are accompanied by dates they need to impress. If only I’d been dating an Ann-Coulter-type, instead of a liberal. Perhaps I could have just given the panhandler a lecture about the virtues self-reliance, and saved a few bucks.
I hope you scored a 2nd date out of that move. I personally would’ve thought you were naive, but I’m a hardass.
I look at my date or a clue on what they want, cause if you have over you cash you are a pushover and of you don’t your heartless.
I think everyone needs to be the victim of one of these scams at least once. It’d be nice if we could learn the easy way, but sometimes learning the hard way is the best way to learn.
My husband is a truck driver. He gets hit up all the time with “hey bud, I need a few dollars for a sandwich”. He always says, OK, I’ll buy you a sandwich…what do you want? Once in a blue moon will the person accept the sandwich. Most of the time, they just want money for drugs or alcohol. It’s sad, because when someone truly needs help, and they ask, so many scammers have ruined things before them.
Years ago, San Francisco offered a scrip program where people could buy scrip and give it to the homeless in lieu of money. The scrip could not be used on alcohol or cigarettes. My father, who is a generous man, bought some and tried to give it to people begging for money. He was taken aback when the first few he tried to give it to chewed him out, because how dare he dictate what they did with the money he gave them. I don’t believe that particular program was long for the world.
The more eventful the story, the more likely it’s a scam. My favorite was someone at night begging for $20 for cab fare so he could get to (insert nearby city) because (insert unfortunate event). As a user of the bus at the time (who also drove), I pointed out he could get there on the bus, and that the buses were still running every 15 minutes at a street less than a 20 minute walk away (no, he wasn’t handicapped, except perhaps mentally).
For some reason he wasn’t interested in a free bus ticket (had those in my wallet, too). Nope, just $20 for a cab. I wonder if some fool fell for it.
I’d offer to sit in the car this person needs towed so we can use my CAA card for a “free” tow (the year’s nearly over and a still have 5 remaining, so no skin off my back), assuming he can prove ownership of it.
Somewhere in there I realized I’m $50,000 in student loan and credit card debt, which is likely way more in debt than the person asking for spare change. I politely say “not today” and move along, not bothering to listen to the whole (lying) story.
Also, perhaps I’m a little too trusting, but I’ve given a couple of people a ride that asked for it. During the second such time, the guy jumped into the whole “I need $20″ bit. As soon as he realized he wasn’t going to get any money from me, he asked to be let out of the car.
He was blind, so I thought it was a little strange since he would have no way of knowing where he was, but I had to oblige.
As far as the coat thing, if you really do need a coat there are handout places around here, so if I see someone relatively close to one of these places then I know its a scam because if they really needed a coat and were homeless in the freezing weather then they would go to one of these places to get one. I know for sure there is at least one church here that will give coats to needy people and every winter there is a coat drive here for the needy. There is help here for basically any kind of need if you are truly needy so its obvious to recognize scams. It would be great if someone started referring people asking for things to these organizations instead of actually giving them handouts immediately.
Panhandling is not a problem here but it has been in the past, it just depends on when someone comes into town or not and tries it. A few years ago there was a panhandler here and my mom was stopped by the same guy a couple times, both in store parking lots, she never gave him any money but she recognized him by the second time. The good thing about store parking lots is you can just go into the store and report it, and in most cases the store will try to get the person removed since having a panhandler there is bad for business.
Its also illegal here and the police will enforce it since we do not see panhandlers all that often like a big city does. In a big city its a very big problem since there are so many panhandlers and its almost impossible to get them all while still focusing on crimes that may be of more importance.
I really can’t believe people still fall for this crap.
What tow truck costs $6?
I’m not even from a big city, and I know better than to stop or even slow down for these sob stories.
I’m from a small town and had to get educated on the scams by a coworker when we started working on a project in Baltimore. Where I’m from, we do help people because the chances are that they really need it. In Baltimore I always felt guilty walking by so I finally kept a stash of power bars with me to hand out (to people asking for money for food) instead.
Give care not cash is my motto.
I live in downtown SF, scammers are a norm here. Never give out cash. I will give out food. I once had a guy as for money for food. I asked if he wanted an apple? He said he was diabetic! mmmmm, pretty sure diabetics can eat apples!
I’m from San Francisco, and one time a homeless man came up to my friend asking for money so he can buy food. My friend offered to buy him a sandwich, which the homeless man accepted. They walked over to the nearest McDonalds, and my friend orders him a Big Mac or something. He pulled out a $5 bill from his wallet, and right as he was about to hand it to the cashier, the homeless guy reached out, grabs the $5, and booked it out of there. My friend doesn’t offer to buy food for homeless people anymore.
Boy, I wish I had posted this story earlier. Oh well.
Used to manage a Domino’s Pizza in Seattle, in an area frequented by panhandlers. They’d come in all the time with a sad story and ask for free pizza. This store was always shorthanded, and it was the ’80′s back when you didn’t have to get a person’s DNA sample to hire them. So I’d offer to hire them. They could clean up in back, put on a spare uniform I kept, and then work the phones or even just take walk-in orders for me, and I’d pay them cash.
Not one took me up on it.
This is usually the case. My coworker’s husband has his own truck repair business. He was out on a job working on a truck at the breakdown site, and a man asked him for $100. So, business guy said you can work for me today and I’ll give you $100 in cash. Guy’s response? Oh no, I can’t do that…and walked away.
Several years ago, a guy approached us in Old Town Alexandria saying that he hat just been released from prison, they put him on a bus and dropped him off here, he just needed a few dollars to get home to see his kid that he had not seen for a couple of years.
Me: Yeah, that sucks that they put you on a bus and dropped you off in one of the most exclusive parts of the DC Metro area, what are the odds of that, you, a convict, being dropped off in an exclusive tourist area. Sorry
There’s a woman who trolls the parking lot at the local gourmet market. She comes on Fridays and Saturdays and says she needs gas money to get home. Last time, my husband was right there and I yelled, “Hey honey, that lady that was here last time ran out of gas AGAIN. What awful luck she has.” She hauled ass and drove off. I was lol so hard.
Here’s what I’ve heard over the years:
Need X number of dollars to get a bus/train/light rail ticket to (insert city name here)
Need X number of dollars to get the boot off my car (Really? That works for you?)
Need X number of dollars because I ran out of gas and I have a job interview in (insert City name here)
A simple “Sorry, can’t help” typically works.
at least she has the sense to ask for 6.00 dollars. when my parents were visiting me in wisconsin a van with me and all my inlaws dropped them off at their hotel. we were backing out fo the space, when we saw a guy approached my dad with –
“my car broke down, I’m not from here, can i borrow 200 dollars? I’m really in a bad place.” PLUS- “I can pay you back, you can just give me your address to send the money to.”
my mother in law slammed on the horn sending the guy running. (since witnesses are bad.)
but yeah. if you are a scammer. have the decency to ask for a reasonable amount.
I’ve been running into the same guy for years who claims he ran out of gas and his kids are with him and all he needs is a few bucks for a gallon of gas to get back home.
Never give anyone cash. They are always lying. Always. I have offered to give material assistance numerous times (Buying food or gas for them). They never seem interested in that form of help, even if that is precisely what they claim to want the money for.
I feel for her, even though I think that was pretty dumb. There’s nothing wrong with you if your first instinct is to be nice. But you have to be smart about it and protect yourself. Someone approached me the other day asking for money for the bus fare. I offered to buy her a bus pass and she looked really offended. I heard her giving people the same story the next day. I’ll offer to by someone a sandwich or a drink before I’d ever give them the change in my pocket, even though the sandwich is more expensive. If it’s a “charity,” tell them you’re in a hurry, but you’d be willing to write a check for a tax-exempt donation and ask for a card. I grew up in DC and there are legit organizations that are out on street corners petitioning, etc. This usually makes the fakers back off. Once the sun starts setting, even Jesus gets the brush-off.
The first words out of your mouth in this sort of situation should be “Oh, I’m so sorry! I’ll call the police for you!” Better yet, be more careful and make sure you’re never in a position to be stopped. If someone’s heading for you, give them a WIDE berth.
OK, which is more annoying?
The scam/bums with stories or the flippers in Vegas?
No competition! The Mexicans in Vegas.
Flliiipppp, Fllliiippp, Fliiipppp
Take a card? 3,000,000 nude women photos littering the street.
When I was 14 and in Vegas for the first time, the flippers were my favorite part of the whole vacation. FOR GOD’S SAKE, LEAVE THE FLIPPERS ALONE! THINK OF THE 14-YEAR-OLDS!
A few years ago, a reported in Salt Lake watched a panhandler for a while. She had her routine down perfectly. She was young and people wanted to help her get home. Mike Headrick followed her home and pretty much tattled on her. But her mother knew what she was doing.
She made about $50 an hour and had no other responsibilities. I wonder what she spent all of her hard earned money on.
Here’s a link to the story: http://www.truckstopusa.com/forums/showthread.php?21218-Panhandler-caught
I’m guessing that most people either have a $5 or a $10. If he needs $6, how many people would give him a $10 and tell him not to worry about the $4 in change?
My wife just dropped me off at work here and I left my briefcase in the trunk, with my phone and access badge. I need $2 for the bus back home.
First time I got hit up was in a book store in the suburbs. An older gentleman with a cane was trying to tell me his story about how he had been writing a book, traveling the country, and yadda yadda yadda. He needed money to get his stuff released from a locker at a hostel downtown. It then clicked on me. I had heard that same scam many many years ago as a kid on either Adam-12 or Dragnet reruns.
I had a panhandler come up to me one time and try to bum cigarettes. I had just left a store after purchasing a carton of cigarettes. He comes up and says, “You have any extra cigarettes?” I said, “No.” He gave me an incredulous look and said, “You have a whole carton!” and I said “Yes, but none of those are extras. I intend to smoke every single one of them” and continued on my way to my car.
/I don’t smoke any more so please don’t get on the whole “You shouldn’t smoke anyways!” bandwagon!
You shouldn’t smo- oh.
I make my own cigarettes at home!!
I actually got stopped at a fast food place one night in downtown Kansas City. After I got the pitch I offered to buy the dude a sandwich and he just left. Either he didn’t need the money, wasn’t hungry, or wasn’t beneath turning down fast food. Who knows.
I’m about as gullible as they come, and I do give money to the charities I support, but I *never* give money to anyone on the street. Having said that, I have bought food for people who said they needed money to buy food. Sometimes when I offer food they’re not interested and probably just scammers, but not always. On another note, this story reminded me of one from way, way back when I was a Peace Corps volunteer. There was a woman begging with her young child every day, and a group of volunteers wanted to help her so they found a job for her. She wasn’t interested; she made much more money begging.
I act like I don’t hear them, and move on. Problem solved.
I’m from San Francisco, and one time a homeless man came up to my friend asking for money so he can buy food. My friend offered to buy him a sandwich, which the homeless man accepted. They walked over to the nearest McDonalds, and my friend orders him a Big Mac or something. He pulled out a $5 bill from his wallet, and right as he was about to hand it to the cashier, the homeless guy reached out, grabs the $5, and booked it out of there. My friend doesn’t offer to buy food for homeless people anymore.
Oops. This was supposed to be in response to @lilspooky
i’ve seen this happen before…more of the give you the note to read types which usually ask for money since they don’t speak english and they need money for the train. Sometimes it’s a woman, other times its a father and son tag team.
I learned this kind of stuff a long time ago. If I want to give I volunteer time. It is the only way to make sure. I never give anything no matter what the story is. The con man is using street smarts and so must you. My favorite is I say I never carry cash and I don’t. Also learn some self defense.
I’m so sorry but hasn’t this women left her house in the last decade? Has anyone not been exposed to one of these scams yet? I honestly feel that if someone is walking around with cash in their wallet and clueless enough to fall for this, they deserve to get scammed! Maybe the next time a stranger walks up with a sob story she will at least pause to think before opening up her wallet.
Depending on my mood (and location/time of day), I either ignore the person or say sorry (or shake my head) but I continue walking at a brisk pace. I’ve had a couple of beggars (wait, is that an antiquated term?) tell me not to be sorry.
Having lived near Los Angeles for most of my life, I think I always “knew”, even as a little kid, not to believe someone’s sob story. And I’ve watched too many Criminal Minds, Without a Trace, etc, episodes to know not to talk to strangers!
For what it’s worth, I do feel bad (sometimes) for these people who are out there panhandling. Maybe some of them are just deadbeats who don’t want to earn a living, but for others, they may have mental illnesses or other issues that prevent them from being able to move off the streets. But I can’t help them – I mean, I could give them food (like if we have leftovers from a meeting) but who do I give them to? Do I just leave it on the bus bench and hope I don’t get ticketed for littering? My whole contribution to the homeless is that I generally don’t pick up coins off the floor – I figure I’ll leave it for someone who needs it more. (I know – it’s not much of a charitable gesture).
I remember one winter day, seeing this nicely dressed college student, digging around the trashcans. I couldn’t understand what a college student would be doing scrounging for food – until I realized that she was LEAVING burritos wrapped in aluminum foil around the rim of the trash can.
A friend of mine that lives in DC has met a man that claims he needs money to get to a bail hearing, this man has updated papers with current dates every couple of days.
This is definently a case of “Been there, done that.” If you want a textbook example of a true scammer that lurked our streets about 9 years ago, I suggest Googling “shaky lady.” When I read this post, it immediately reminded me of our Shaky Lady. Who knows where she’s pulling off this scam now, but before the media got wind of it, she was raking serious coin around here.
I was just about to post that very sentence. Despite our government’s best efforts to force-feed French on we non-Quebecker Canadians, it has had little effect. Hardly anyone in Toronto speaks the language, despite the many cable channels en français you’re forced to have around here. many of which paid for by our tax dollars.
In the San Francisco Bay are their is a person called “Randi Banks” that rides the local BART train system, she rolls in in a wheel chair and declare she need money for her medication co-pay.
she has been at this for years and it is reported she has no need for the wheel chair.
google “Randi Banks BART” for her info.
I had a guy come up to me at a gas station asking me to fill up a small tank, I told him I only had credit but i’d put a gallon in his tank for him, he got mad and walked off to ask someone else for cash.
Another time A guy in his 30′s said he was a coach for a teens traveling soccer team and he missed the team bus that went to the airport, and needed a few bucks to get a bus to the airport. This was at 12 (when no busses were running) at night in the downtown club district of Fort Lauderdale. I said…The airport is like….2 miles down that road, your a soccer coach, you can walk it.
I busted a guy who asked me twice in two weeks for the same amount of money for the same reason. He went so low as to bring his two young children along – said he ran out of gas trying to get them to his wife’s house for her visitation rights. The second time he came around I said, “You’re the same guy as last week. Don’t tell me you’re stupid enough to run out of gas a second time!” Before I finished my sentence, he turned around and hurried off with the kids. I never saw him there again.
I ran into something similar like this in dallas. Man, woman, and child combo. They were asking me for gas and he brought up his daughter. I immediately said no to this. The attendant inside asked me if i was tricked by them, i told her no, and she said good, they’ve gotten 10 others today.
I never give money to beggars for this very reason.
I got cussed out by a hooker in Detroit one time while waiting for my limo customers who were at a football game. She just needed $2.00 for something to eat. I reached over on the seat and grabbed my just-purchased bag of White Castles and offered to share with her. I was a dirty no-good so-and-so, etc. I threw it in drive and flipped her off as I squealed the tires leaving.
I once had a guy at Grand Central station ask me for a couple dollars to buy a bus ticket. He was a little short. I told him sure, we’ll just go to the ticket window and you can give the man your money and I will pay the difference.
Oddly, he wasn’t so interested in going anywhere after that.
I once had a guy at Grand Central station ask me for a couple dollars to buy a bus ticket. He was a little short. I told him sure, we’ll just go to the ticket window and you can give the man your money and I will pay the difference.
Oddly, he wasn’t so interested in going anywhere after that.
Well, there’s always this tactic:
http://theidlestate.com/?webcomic_post=13-compassion
We once got, “I am a Knicks season ticket holder and need 20 dollars for gas. I will mail you two tickets if you can help me.” When we said no and rolled up the windows, he walked off cursing at us and saying how NYC sucks, blah, blah
Sometimes you just have to laugh and figure you’ve learned something. Early on in my city days, I had a guy hit me up for like $3-4 with some ridiculous story…when I ran across him again a couple weeks later, the same “emergency” was still happening. No money that time, and no more money for people asking for it on the street, ever. That first dude has saved me a bundle.
Holy crap, is this post even necessary? These scams have been going on for years. I can’t believe its not public knowledge at this point.
I have also been scammed by someone that needed help “because his truck broke down”. I chalked it up to my own good nature. BUT, I have also bought gas for a motorist stranded at the gas station, and she was genuinely appreciative. It’s really hard to tell the difference sometimes, but it made me more willing to help buy food or gas or whatever if the person needs it. I think it’s a bit of a shame that people feel like everyone is lying, or that no one that is asking for help genuinely needs it.
Okay guys and gals, be careful. Pull out your wallet, and bam, there goes all your money, credit cards etc. I really just need $1 is really, thanks sucker.
Pull out your cell phone to give a snarky, okay, I’ll call the police for you. Wham, there goes your cell phone.
Buy them a sandwich is super nice, but also saving them $5 for drugs. You are still enabling them.
I quite like the guy above who said that he just replies, Sorry…. until they leave. I prefer the “I don’t carry cash” option because I don’t.
I see nothing wrong with what those crooks did. They are no different than the Occupy Wall Street goons. They have no jobs. They have no interest in getting a job. They hate everyone who does have a job and earns more than them. They just want a handout from the government, which in turn uses its police powers to take it from the hard-working people with income. These crooks just cut out the middleman and shook down the OP themselves.