i think i got hit by the "i need gas" scam

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I posted this about our encounter with the gas scam some time back.

[Luna Baby]

but what do i do if i need help? (i'm female)...if some guy offers to buy my SHIRT (no matter how suburban or wholesome they look), i might balk...i'd offer instead to help them in some other way (carry groceries out to car, babysit kids, whatever they needed) but stripping for money? not unless it's in a professional atmosphere...

If you were in desperate need so much so that you had to approach a vehicle to ask for money and it were my husband, he wouldn't ask for your shirt. Maybe something else material that you possessed. But the whole point was that if the person asking for money was truly in need, they'd give up something material for the money. That being said, hubby wouldn't really take the shirt or item, just a test to see if he was being scammed or if it was truly someone in need.

Just recently, there was a woman with a child on the side of the parkway. She flagged down a car and asked for help. The guy stopped I assume, because it was female with a child. She needed help with the car, her boyfriend then approached and said he needed a ride to go get water for the car. Turns out, Good Samaritan had water in his trunk. He was then robbed........ of cigs and pills (http://www.glasgowdailytimes.com/arc...157122328.html).

As a woman, I don't stop to help. I have children and have to think of them first. If it's an accident, I'll pull over and if I can see that noone is seriously injured, I'll phone in a 911 call and wait until they arrive. I also don't ask for help from strangers when I'm stranded. I call for help to the husband or other male family member or wait until the police arrive. Just last year, some truck lost a propane tank (fits on a generator or forklift truck) and it came barrelling at me. I had no choice but to hit the tank, thus making my car undriveable. I had a child with me and no way in Hell was I going to let anyone near me or her until I spotted the Sheriff pulling in. Even then, the guy that loaded my car and got it off the road wasn't allowed near me until the hubby got there. You just can't be too careful, with those "in need" or with "good samaritans".

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I have heard so much crapola by so many scammers. Male scammers, kid scammers, women scammers, women with kids scammers, oh dear LORD no wonder I can't help but view the world through horseshit colored glasses.

Seriously. Unless you are actually ON FIRE, with, oh, I dunno, an alligator hanging off your leg and your right arm up to the elbow in a rottweiller's mouth, don't come to me for help. I don't have the time to talk to you and will tell you to pound sand. If you tell me you are hungry, I will see you fed, but have only one time in my entire life been approached by a man who said he was hungry who was genuinly what he said he was. Once. That was the one time I have actually been thanked for my help, too. Imagine that.

[artifical sweetner]

im way too cheap and suspicious to help anyone out regardless of how sincere they may seem

[edible_hat]

At current prices in my area that would get a little me that 3/4 of a gallon. Even if you drive a van/SUV that will get you 10-15 miles, plenty to get somewhere safe or even home in my area.

Yesterday I had a customer buy $2.80 of petrol. An hour later he came back and got a full tank's worth (just over $70 in the car he was driving) and paid with the credit card he'd left at home earlier.

[Skeksin]

but what do i do if i need help? (i'm female)...if some guy offers to buy my SHIRT (no matter how suburban or wholesome they look), i might balk...i'd offer instead to help them in some other way (carry groceries out to car, babysit kids, whatever they needed) but stripping for money? not unless it's in a professional atmosphere...

<casts summon stripper pole complete with bouncer>

why? Because I find the idea funny.

[freeatlast]

Several years ago, a couple moved in next door to me. They were always fighting and the neighbors were usually calling the police because it would sound violent. They had a small child and then had a baby. One evening, the guy came to my front door and told me that their car was sitting by the side of the road a few miles away out of gas. They didn't have any money to buy gas for it because she was on unpaid maternity leave. I don't think he worked very regularly. He wanted to know if I could loan them some money for gas. I was pretty suspicious because I knew her parents and I knew that they would help them out if asked. So I told him that I never keep any cash around. I told one of my co-workers about it and then forgot about the whole thing. A couple of weeks later, that same co-worker told me that her in-laws had this guy show up at their door who said that he and his family had run out of gas and wanted to borrow some money. She gave me the description her mother-in-law gave, and it sounded suspiciously like my neighbor. A few weeks after that, there was something on the news about this guy going all around Indianapolis pulling this same thing. The description matched that of my neighbor. He ended up being arrested and it turned out to be - my neighbor. Sure am glad I didn't fall for his "borrow some money for gas" story.

[blas]

Count me in as well as one of those people who won't help.....it's not that I'd like to see someone stranded or stuck in a sticky spot....but even that poor, cute little blonde on the side of the road could be pulling a scam and have a gun.....

[Misanthropical]

But what about his poor children and pregnant wife in the care? HAVE YOU NO HEART?!

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Some guy tried that with us in our old neighborhood. He knocked on our door at 10 PM needing money for gas for his car up at the 7-11 (a couple of blocks from our house) his pregnant wife and children were waiting in the car. We told him no and shut the door. I think he knocked on everyone's door in the complex.

[WhiteRose]

I've recently thought about becoming a stripper (for economic reasons), even though that's at the very edge of my morality...I don't approve of prostitution and stripping's not much better...it's a corrupted form of bellydancing to me...i love bellydancing though. I do it for fun sometimes.

[Anakah]

Out here two bucks wouldn't have even gotten him anything. Our gas prices are going up again they're about 2.35 or so. I hate when people ask me for money... Usually I don't carry cash on me.

[Andara Bledin]

If you tell me you are hungry, I will see you fed, but have only one time in my entire life been approached by a man who said he was hungry who was genuinly what he said he was. Once. That was the one time I have actually been thanked for my help, too. Imagine that.

Several of the beggars around here are actually in need of food and stuff. I had one guy get all happy over half a tube of Ritz crackers. Another thanked me half a dozen times for the free sandwich coupon for Jack In The Box I handed him. The last almost went Golum over the Capri Sun juice pouch I gave him.

However, last week, we had the "I'm from out of town, stranded, and need a couple bucks for gas" guy. While he looked more like he needed help than the last gas scammer we can across, we still stuck with our "don't carry cash" story.

^-.-^

[boringscreenname]

I don't carry cash only my debit card. One time we were at a gas station and this dude asked for gas money. I told him I only had plastic and he'd have to ask my husband. Husband came out and told him no too, turns out he was a regular at the gas station, and husband had just seen him there days earlier.

[TOLady]

There are a few gentlemen in my immediate neighbourhood that I help out occassionally. I've actually made an effort to get to know them - their names, where they stay, what they're up to, etc - and they know that I'm good for a loonie or toonie once in a while. Makes me feel good, they know I actually care about them, and karma smiles on me more often than not sometimes it seems.

That being said, lately, there's been a young girl hanging around the subway entrance and she got me.

"Oh - someone just robbed me and took my wallet, can you give me enough money to get home?".

Sure enough I handed her a few bucks to get home. Then started seeing her around the area more and more often. Just a few weeks ago, my DH and I were sitting on the patio of our local and I saw her again. In the space of less than 2 hours, I saw at least 10 people reach into their wallets or purses and slip her money. She'd score, walk around the block and be back at her post again in a few minutes. I guess she was giving the marks some time to move on before she struck again. This a rather affluent area (although I'm not), so she wasn't getting chump change, either.

I finally had enough (okay - the tequila was giving me courage as well) and walked across the street just as she was hitting another woman up. As she was going into her spiel, I almost word-for-word copied her script. The other woman looked at me stunned and then thanked me. She had been going to give the little scammer a $10!

I politely (as polite as I was going to get after having been scammed myself by her) suggested that she move her business elsewhere. As an associate of our local BIA, I assured her that she wouldn't be receiving any more warnings in the future and that if she should choose to ignore it, I would call the local and have her picked up.

If looks could kill... But if I have seen her lately, she's walking fast the other way.

I should have known the first time. Who robs someone, but let's them keep their backpack?

One other thing... Her outfit is the school uniform of a very prestigious private school downtown. I was thinking if she did continue, I'd take a pic and forward it to the school. You can't just walk in and buy their particular uniform, and I don't think they'd take kindly to one of their students scamming.

[taxguykarl]

One other thing... Her outfit is the school uniform of a very prestigious private school downtown. I was thinking if she did continue, I'd take a pic and forward it to the school. You can't just walk in and buy their particular uniform, and I don't think they'd take kindly to one of their students scamming.

DO IT.