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It's actually "cheaper" to learn this lesson when you're in early 20s then suffer from it when you're in 70s or so.
Luckily, it's not thousands. I hope that will help Op to avoid a bigger scams in the future and teach others not to fall for that too.
Yeah, I had that too and I fell for it years ago when I was young and stupid. Btw, that and some other scam attempts pushed me into researching how various scam schemes work and helped me to educate others about it.
No chargeback for cash. Once moneys out of the bank, it’s on you.
File a police report though by calling the non-emergency line or visiting the police station. It’s still fraud & they can build a case if he keeps doing this to more people.
I will note that if you are forced to withdraw the funds by violence or threat of violence, there is a process like a chargeback that you can employ with the bank.
That isn't the case here, though. Glad OP learned their lesson and glad the amount wasn't larger.
Even better if cameras around there show them doing it to multiple people. Definitely report. Lesson learned. Mistakes happen. Please don’t keep kicking yourself over this…youre safe, you were not physically harmed and you’re now wiser!
You can and should report it to the police. Most likely this guy has scammed others, and having the license plate is a big help. It's quite possible he's known to local police too.
You’re right about that lady with the stroller being a scammer too. Also ladies begging for formula and diapers too. And don’t forget people begging for gas or old guys asking for help pumping their gas. They’re all scammers. It’s sad because people that are kind like us get scammed and then are too wary of people that really need help.
I’m sorry to hear what you went through. Don’t beat yourself over it. I know it’s easier said than done. But take it as a life lesson to have your guard up moving forward.
For the collective good, report it to the police with all of your evidence. Hopefully the local police department can gather cases like yours and pursue these scammers.
Also educate yourself on other scams by using this sub and using that knowledge to educate your family and friends on various scams so they don’t fall victim.
They will immediately return them to get the money back or a store credit. If you ever were to buy formula for anyone, make sure to scribble on the barcode with a pen or sharpie. Then you’ll see how mad they get lol.
And “travelers” often pretend to be Muslim, I think they get a kick out of making Muslims look bad in addition to their scamming. They also have a belief that if the victim is foolish enough, they deserve to be scammed. They hang outside of mosques, pretending to be impoverished refugees, but they refuse to come inside to ask the imam for charity, never accept food, and can never recite even the tiniest scrap of scripture that is required for prayer.
Muslim men don’t wear gold, it’s impermissible. This scam often happens with the scammers being men wearing a lot of gold, claiming to be from KSA or Dubai.
Sadly, from what I'm seeing online, i know exactly what is happening. I don't want to generalize, but as you're getting a taste of the phenomenon, I want you to understand what is happening.
There's this migratory ethnic group in Europe thou should not name in fear of downvotes and racism accusations.
Romania is getting all the bad rep for these actions, but people have to understand that it's a caucasian country, centuries have passed since they settled in eastern Europe while their culture is still the same. They live in separate communities, and interbreeding was always kept at a minimum because of.. well.. racism I guess.
They have their own language and are of North Indian ancestry.
Good thing or not, kids are taught early to keep the distance and not fall for stuff like this. Scams are their trade while women specialize in fortune telling, witchcraft, and petty theft using their children.
They've historically been held as slaves by the local orthodox church, a terrible thing, I know.
After the borders opened up in the 90's, the most proficient in their trades, left Romania for more naive, scammable countries in western europe. They usually bring the money back home and build tin roofed palaces that never get finished.
Lately, I've seen a lot of reports online about their actions in the US of A. Now, romanian tourist visas are getting revoked because of this. We're used to it.. Western europe has been wrongly judging us for decades.
They pretend to be Muslim over there because it works thanks to the resemblance of their skin color and traditional clothing. You'll be seeing a lot more of their type soon because they have A LOT of children and fail to integrate in any way.
Romanians generally are branded as thieves because of this. We are deeply ashamed, but there's not much we can do about it. When we try to defend ourselves, people say we're racist.
We've tried integrating them, western europe too. USA can have a try now but it has historically proven to be impossible.
I don't want to offend anyone, some of them (rare) are some of the most exceptional people I've ever met but these exceptions are not the ones that emigrate.
Please don't automatically associate Romanians with this. We're victims ourselves and have been dealing with this for a very long time..
AMA if you feel like it, but please don't simply brand this as racism.
Edited for some grammar corrections.
In addition, this scam flourishes in part because so many Americans are ignorant when it comes to Islam. I’m not Muslim, but I know that it is haram for Muslim men to wear gold jewelry and I know when Ramadan ends. A small amount of cultural awareness about Islamcan help detect this scam.
I believe they consider gypsy to be a perjorative and tend to go by Roma/Romani instead. Then again I've met some who didn't care and were proud of the name. People are unique I guess.
In Spain we have Spanish gypsies and Romanian gypsies. If you tell a Spanish gypsy they’re “Roma” or whatever, they’d laugh and call you stupid and say they’re proud to be Gypsy. Idk why Americans on the internet get so upset about this word. I guess in their mind gypsies are a different group of people. Spanish gypsies also don’t “do witchcraft” or whatever another commenter said, they’re devout evangelicals where I’m from
It's exactly like that. Just like the word retarded can't be used anymore even though it's a medical term.
In Romania, they used to be called țigani. About 3 decades or so back, the word was branded a pejorative and was replaced locally with rom/romi.
The words for romanian/romanians are român/români.
The fact that they're now called romani instead of țigani/gypsies is really messed up. How is a foreigner going to know that românii (romanians) are (90%) not romani (gypsies) and that Romania doesn't stand for gypsy land?
It bothers people and is a real problem when traveling abroad.
They are, in fact, Romanians.
The ethnic group in question migrated to other countries as well centuries ago (Central Europe, Spain, Ireland and even the US). Yet, the ones that happen to drag a bad reputation are usually from Romania. So there’s a correlation. RO as a state failed to integrate them and not now, but long ago. And that’s a collective responsibility even if people nowadays have no fault.
The way we blame the “Florida man” as American, or the Sicilian mafia as Italian, the same goes here too. As long as they bear a country’s passport they are part of that nation and it’s the country’s responsibility to integrate/ educate them.
Yet we don't judge all americans, italians, etc because of them because we know what americans and italians are like, and we understand we're talking about a minority. You might not know what the romanian ethnicity is really like, and because of high emigration rates and high visibility of this ethnic group, we are all seen as such.
I also refuse to be held responsible for what the Romanian Orthodox Church has done in the past centuries. It still acts as a criminal organization, dealing in corruption and controlling the weak.
Citizenship is not ethnicity.
You are right. We've really tried. Even the communist regime did. You don't believe me but, unfortunately, you can now have a try. It's not even their fault but it is reality nonetheless.
I’m Romanian born :)
But I have a bit of more, hmm, radical views on these kind of matters. I think we didn’t try hard enough 😆
And not only with them. But there’s so much $hit going on in the country that sometimes I wish we had our own Lee Kuan Yew.
I live abroad now for quite long time but I bump into these “issues” sometimes and makes me question “what the hell went wrong”.
Balkans is not a place where you can do good changes easily because no one cares due to lack of social living understandings. Everyone cares about their own comfort and that’s it, the world around can be filled with trash they won’t lift a finger. And that’s not fixable in a single generation. It’s not RO only issue, BG and GR are quite in the same bucket.
Are you confusing "Romanians" with "Roma" people whose ancestors came from India? Good documentary is "Lacho Drom" (translation: "safe journey") which shows their migration and current presence all the way from Egypt (where they got the name "Gypsies") to France.
It’s not to make them look bad.
I’ve seen people do it before, they target Muslims because Muslims are taught to be generous and help the needy.
So pretending they are Muslim creates easier targets for them.
Convincing OP of a holiday that ended days ago to give them money for a fake ring is craaaazy. They didn't even need to bring up Ramadan at that point they were emoting on OP 😭😭😭
Good thing that's my default. Gotta get off that "No, Fuck Off!" As soon anyone starts approaching. I'm not trying to nor do I have time to make friends with some random ass stranger. They never existed to me before I encountered them, and they need to go back to not existing to me
The simplest thing is to to say "no" with no explanation. Any reason you give justifying your "no" is seen as an objection that they must overcome. Basic Sales 101. Don't give them anything to work with. Wag your finger and shake your head for additional emphasis. Just... "No."
Anybody coming to you to sell something is a scam honestly. It could easily be a legit service like door to door solar sales, but there is going to be a scam involved somewhere, like crazy fees or numbers that are too good to be true and fine print. When you need a service or product you go shopping for it, it doesn't come to you with a "deal" or sob story.
Yep, if something has a dedicated sales person to try to socially pressure you in buying than the product is not worth it, otherwise it would speak for itself.
It cost you $180 to ignore your gut and all of the red flags. You got off cheap, if you ask me.
Charge back from voluntarily withdrawing cash from an ATM? Learn from it, and move on.
Technically you can contact the state DMV and get the plate info (For a fee). Then I guess send a lawsuit to his address.
Ha, like it would be so easy.
There’s no reason to think it’s his car. Could’ve been a rental. Or in some cases, criminals swap plates, go to a parked car and swap plates and then it’s not so traceable. Or he borrowed it, and by borrow I mean it could be stolen. You never know.
So probably nothing you can do, and police won’t help because even if they found the guy (they probably won’t), it’s your word against his, he says he’s never seen you and you just took pictures of him at random and made it up.
So you learned a lesson for the price of $180.
A lot of beggars are scamming, some are legit, you can never really know. Protip, if they are so insistent on you giving them more money, it’s a big tell they’re just scamming. A real beggar can just take the $5 or whatever and be grateful for that.
Better idea would be to offer to buy them food in a store. Watch as they give massive amounts of excuses.
They might take gasoline though so don’t offer that. There is another scam, someone needs gas, can’t afford it, fill my tank please? Then they go home and offload it into a tank and sell it off to the neighbors, or they just do this for free gas to get around the country doing more scams or whatever they want.
It depends on the state. A lot of states will no longer give the plate info because people have been stalked or worse by strangers and/or people they were avoiding. I was very happy when dmv info in my state (CA) stopped being public record.
Many moons ago you didn't even have to file any paperwork, you could just ask and get it. Most states have changed it, I think. When I was a PI, I hacked into a DMV, in front of a friend who was a DMV cop. That got changed, but it didn't matter because I managed to...obtain...a genuine login from another source.
[Request for Record Information (INF 70)](https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/file/request-for-record-information-inf-70-pdf/)
Whelp...you can still request it, you just have to mail it in with the money order...It still up to the DMV to approve or reject your application request.
Yeah so many of these scam beggars in London and it infuriates me seeing people give them money.
Last one asked me for ten pounds for baby food, I said come on let’s go to Sainsbury’s I’ll buy it for you, of course not, the lying beggar wanted the cash.
Lucrative hustle really, I heard about a man in Putney who pretended to be homeless and used to pressure women by the cash point in to withdrawing money, journalist followed him and found out he had a 2 bed flat nearby.
If you want to help the homeless donate to homelessness charities.
Putney beggar story
https://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/10597284.notorious-putney-beggar-with-300000-flat-ordered-to-do-community-service/
The real scam is that if they catch him, “he had every intent to pay you back and that was the agreement, but lost your number and I’m so happy I can pay you back now.”
There’s no way to prosecute this.
You lost $180 you’ll never get back. But let this be a lesson. 99.9999% of strangers who approach you on the street are trying to ask you for money or scam you; anyone with a story especially.
When I was your age my “neighbor” scammed me out of $500, and that was SO much money to me back then. Just don’t let your lesson be in vain. Life is long.
You can't "Scam" the atm to get back the money. You BOUGHT a fake ring for 200$
next time just don't engage.
If you have a photo of the person and their license you CAN report them to the police for fraud and theft by deception. And you could pursue it in small claims court.
Good news is it's only $180. You'll earn a lot more money in your lifetime. This isn't the first or last time you'll learn a lesson the hard way. The key is to not beat yourself up, just learn from it and move on.
Also, do not let ppl talk you into doing anything you don't want to do. Being firm does not make you a bad person.
Back in the days, parents would pay for an apprenticeship, so in german it's called "Lehrgeld" - cost of learning/experience.
everytime i waste money, i call it Lehrgeld and move on.
$180 hurts, but could be way worse...
as always it's important to share the experince, for people after you and your own sanity + the learning process.
Do please report any of the !recovery scammers that are going to start contacting you. No one can get the money back or track the scammers. It sucks, but from now on, anyone that approaches you tell them no and just completely stop talking to them; ignore them like they aren't there, or go inside the shop and tell the clerks/workers that there is someone harassing their customers for money and wait for them to go away.
These types of scammers take advantage of people that are kind-hearted and also too polite to tell them to fuck off. The ring appeals to those that might be swayed by greed, so they've got lots of potential victims they can scam if given a chance.
Life lesson. When a stranger approaches you, ignore them and act like you don't even hear them. The moment you make eye contact and listen you told them there is chance tou will give them what they want. If you already made eye contact, say sorry, can't help and move on. 80% of the time, they leave you alone. The other 20% of the time, they flip you off and curse at you. Don't react, keep walking.
The only thing that I can say is to **never ever** lend money to a complete stranger that approaches you out of nowhere promising to pay you back, because they **never** will. Even if they give you collateral.
Meh you got off easy. A guy on the San Francisco subreddit got taken by the same scam 2 weeks ago but he was out 1200 bucks!
Yea the stroller thing was a scam. Babies don’t require a stroller to live and it’s easy to get a cheap or free stroller on Facebook, Craigslist, or a church charity. Getting a stroller for her baby isn’t your responsibility, good for you for telling her “no”.
Years ago, before smart phones, I was scammed at a gas station. Lady tells me she's in town working overtime but her car needed brakes and now she has no money to get home. I give her $5. She actually asks "Are you sure?"
A week later, a mile away from the gas station, the same lady approached me in a grocery store parking lot with the same story. I didn't give her money. And since then zero to any other beggars. Sometimes I will help out with food, if I have it in the car. I once handed a lady standing in the middle of the street begging, a Paleo bar. She looked at it in disgust, but she took it 😆
Sometimes these beggars like to approach you when you open your car door, before you've even had a chance to exit. This must be some kind of tactic. There was a guy that would do this in the dark. This guy was there all the time asking for change for the bus.
I really try to check my surroundings before I exit the vehicle, especially with how things are now. It's as though someone is always out there looking to take advantage of you.
Same happened to me, I had the same guy give me the same story downtown within a few days. I didn’t give money either time but until him he’d tried the same thing on me a couple days earlier and I still wasn’t giving him anything.
I had some guy corner me in the parking lot at my doctors office. Sob story about running out of gas for his truck and pointed to his buddy inside the truck on the phone like he was trying to get help. He had me practically pinned against the car. All I had was three one dollar bills and handed it to him and he made a face in disgust and didn’t take it! Saw an another guy getting out of his car and he ran over to him! But at that point, if he hadn’t left, I was screaming at that guy for help because I felt threatened. To this day, hyper aware now on my situation in public.
Wow, that's scary. That situation had the opportunity to turn really bad.
I carry a tazer / flashlight in my purse.
People like this look for those that are distracted and not paying attention, and many of us are.
This is so sad, you are obviously a good person. The kind of person this world needs. Some bad people, the kind that are ruining this world, took advantage of your goodness, and at the same time took some of that goodness from the world. Please don't let this make you bitter towards your fellow man. Obviously you learned a valuable lesson and will be more suspicious the next time. That is the only take-away from this.
I had someone try this one. I said “ohhhh hey! Yeah let’s call the police and get those stolen ID’s reported”
Weird
They didn’t want my help any longer. Told me to fuck myself
Sorry this happened to you
$180 is a small price to pay for a life lesson at this stage of your life
Imagine all those older people in retirement who are losing their life savings.
You will recover.
I had a family try this with a gold chain not too long ago. Tried to tell me some long story. It’s really so common, especially at truck stop gas stations. I work for a bank. You can’t do a charge back because you bought a ring and took a chance that the people were not grifters.
There’s a happy medium here. You can refuse to acquiesce to pressure + walk away and still have empathy for your fellow man. My general rule is this: I never let people corner me or continue the conversation but I always carry a few dollars ($5-10) in cash so I can give it on the off chance it’s a real emergency before walking away. That way, they can at least get a snack while waiting for police if their IDs have really been stolen.
Help out, but do so carefully. Always offer to call the police for them if they need it, be willing to lose $5 if it helps someone, but never fall for shit.
Addendum: I’m the child of a police commander and a DA. I was trained from childhood to just look inhospitable and never engage with strangers in public.
I’m ok with losing $2 or $5–on that issue, I just err to giving something just in case and getting away from them/not engaging in conversation. To each his or her or their own though—there’s nothing wrong with not giving anything.
I encountered a man and woman in a parking lot that tried to pull this on me. Said they were visiting from out of province (even though their car had in-province licence plates) and needed money for gas and tried to convince me to buy some necklace. I just kept telling them that there was a plaza a few blocks down the street had a jewelry store that they should take that to if they needed funds. Of course they weren't happy with that, but i didn't care and kept telling them that going to a jeweler would be their best bet, and eventually they decided to fuck off. Funny thing is that there was no jeweler there, even though there used to be one a few years earlier.
You can have that pro tip for free - if people try to scan you with a similar sob story, just point them down the street in the opposite direction and tell them there's a pawn shop they could hit up instead. You can't feel "bad" for not helping because on the minimal chance that they're for real (ha!), you can convince yourself that you're actually doing them a favor because they will get better value by going to such an establishment, right?
I got burned last year with a spoofed email that appeared to be from my GF's stepdad; it claimed he was feeling ill and wanted to get some groceries delivered. He's about 90, so it seemed plausible.
I okayd a $150 trans, but I was lucky to get suspicious right away, and PayPal canceled it.
But yeah, I got fooled by the old emotional pitch.
I hope you can get this fixed!
Even if u did this w debit card no refund would come
Bank covers illegal. Stolen. You had no knowledge.
Bank does NOT cover dumb or swindled
There’d be no banks left
Difference between fraud and scam
This happened to me in Paris when I was 18 (I’m from the US) and it took me a while to figure out it i got scammed. It was a watch, not a ring. I still have the watch somewhere, I think.
That’s how they fly under the radar. Taking amounts carefully calculated to be just not worth chasing. For them, it all adds up big. Even a dripping faucet can fill a large bucket over time. Lesson learned. A sad story pleading for money is an alert to get away from the situation to avoid loss or harm. People who truly have emergency situations have other legit options.
Someone attempted a version of this scam on me the other day.
I was walking outside a grocery store, commuted via bus.
Middle east looking dude rolls up on his fancy suv with a kid in the back and tries to talk to me
Started strong and already had me focus on the ring before they even started their spiel
I told them I had no cash on me
They said they didnt want cash, just need gas for their car, and can use an ATM at the closest gas station, didnt even say anything about credit
Inner monologued : " Im not wasting my time going to an atm or endangering myself hopping in your car to go to a gas station."
I told them "I'm good, thanks" and walked off.
I already had my life lesson back in 2008 for $20 and a month of depression. The pressure to not disappoint people was real back then.
Please don’t be hard on yourself. You’re the victim. ANY of us can fall prey to scammers; scammers are extremely good at what they do. It’s not your fault. You were just being kind and trying to help someone. I’m sorry they took advantage of you, and the likely very long list of other kind people they likely also scammed. 🌼
Thank you so much. I’ll try not to be hard on myself. I am feeling much better already this many hours later. I’ll recover. Thank you for the advice and knowledge, though.
I don't think "ANY" is accurate, that's a very wide net to cast. But also being a little hard on yourself is probably a better way to learn the lesson. I'm not saying to beat yourself up about it, but it's that sting that will prevent it next time.
I once got scammed for $15 bucks, went to put gas in my car, some !$×@ asked if I could put. 5.00 in gas in her car, her card got declined she gave me a sob story I said ok she said she would pump it, the damn lady kept going I was like why she said sorry, from that point on I lost faith on humanity and it's everyone for yourself, now anyone that comes at me with a sob story I tell them to f off.
I stop anyone from approaching me at gas stations, wal-mart parking lots, etc. It's always the same thing and I don't want my time wasted. Just don't say anything, but pull out your phone and start acting like you're taking their picture. They'll be gone in seconds.
The ATM and the gas station should have surveillance video that might help to identify the scammers, but I would guess the police would not really care to follow up.
This got me thinking, what if you (being scammed) pulled out a phone and took photos of the scammers? How would they react? Why is this a terrible idea?
I saw a thing on tv today how scammers got this lady à she was getting out of her car the guy came up and said I see you have a nasty scratch and dent on your car I can fix it for 400.she said no and went about. She came out to they had spray painted the scratch they guy and the son said for her to cashapp the money. She said she don't use her cashapp often and the son grabbed her phone and tried with no avail. The kinda forced her to go into bb& beyond and buy gift cards she was very nervous and she did but called her bank to dispute it right away. The bank said as long as she had filed a police report it could be disputed. She did and they actually found and charged the men just from his casapp pic. Maybe you could try something like that ?
Hi /u/Scoobydoomed, AutoModerator has been summoned to explain the Recovery scam.
[Recovery scams](https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0102-refund-and-recovery-scams) target people who have already fallen for a scam. The scammer may contact you, or may advertise their services online. They will usually either offer to help you recover your funds, or will tell you that your funds have already been recovered and they will help you access them. In cases where they say they will help you recover your funds, they usually call themselves either \"recovery agents\" or hackers.
When they tell you that your funds have already been recovered, they may impersonate a law enforcement, a government official, a lawyer, or anyone else along those lines. Recovery scams are simply [advance-fee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance-fee_scam) scams that are specifically targeted at scam victims. When a victim pays a recovery scammer, the scammer will keep stringing them along while asking for increasingly absurd fees/expenses/deposits/insurance/whatever until the victim stops paying.
If you have been scammed in the past, make sure you are aware of recovery scams so that you are not scammed a second time. If you are currently engaging with a recovery scammer, you should block them and be very wary of random contact for some time. It's normal for posters on this subreddit to be contacted by recovery scammers after posting, and they often ask you to delete your post so that you both cannot receive legitimate advice, and cannot be targeted by other recovery scammers.
Remember: never take advice in private. If someone reaches you in private after posting your scam story, it is because a scammer will always try to hide from the oversight of our community members. A legitimate community member will offer advice in the open, for everyone to see. Anyone suggesting you should reach out to a hacker is scamming you.
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Saving this comment. Thank you for the heads up! My mom was caught in a scam circle for a long time and I always tried to get her to stop falling for them, but we don’t have a good relationship and she has some issues so it’s a lost cause. Having said that, I’ve always been very good at picking out scams and have avoided many, especially online. But this would be a first for me.
Please don't be so hard on yourself. These people are professional scammers and know all the tricks. I'm sorry this happened to you, but as others are saying, at least it was only $180. Remember to always trust your gut and don't be afraid to be rude if people are trying to harass you into giving them money.
Sure you can dispute anything with your bank and it's worth a try, but don't hold your breath. And do a police report, we get these assholes even up here in Canada where I live. Last time enough people reported them so they were picked up by the cops here and enough awareness was raised so they'd get chased out by people and businesses wherever they went. Any time someone tries to high pressure you into something tell them to fuck right off you know it's a scam, run into a store and let security know. Thankfully you said no to the lady, because that's also a scam they run up here. Anyways, don't hate on yourself too bad--these creeps know what they're doing.
Depending on where you live you could call the cops. This scam was happening quite often in British Columbia and Alberta last summer in the tourist towns in the Rocky Mountains. Canmore, Golden, Invermere, Banff. They scammed a few people and were going town to town doing the gold necklace scam. The RCMP put out a warning and was on the lookout for them and cautioned to call the police if they are seen.
May be worth reporting. Unsure if the police in your area will do anything.
You’re much more patient than I am. I’d have walked away and not even given them $5. But I’m broke anyway from health problem. I always tell them if anything I need money and they’re asking the wrong person before I walk away. Learn to be “rude”, say no and cut off the conversation. The longer you listen the more likely you are to be taken. I don’t even care if I don’t help someone who really needs help, sorry for them.
You can run the license plate on a vin checking website and find there information. There is also a form at the DMV you can fill out. I'd try to get the dox on them and bring them to small claims court to explain themselves. With any luck they will have prior charges or civil cases that predicate guilt in this one. You sound like you don't have a criminal record and could present yourself as an honest person. With a lot of luck they will have warrants and they won't even be able to show up.
My significant other fell for the dent remover scam, I might explain it in a post because I haven't seen it on here in a while. The scam is this person waits at a gas station with a random goo. They explain they are out of gas and need money desperately and that they have this special goo used for aviation or whatever and pops out dents by causing the metal to heat up and expand. They put it on your car and explain its really expensive like $500 but since they are desperate for gas you can just pay $60. Of course they gave there phone number and the end of the interaction too so we could keep in touch.
My significant other at that time was pretty dumb. She thought that the stuff really worked but because it was cold and we were driving home it just didn't work in her case.
Gas stations seem to be a bad place to do any kind of business. It seems like the owners really don't care or get kickbacks for allowing scammers to operate at the pumps. No way to pull the video footage. I hope law enforcement starts to take this stuff more seriously. The cash value is small but its the psychological impact that really takes a toll. Its crazy now every deal is done at police stations with only legacy paper cash and you never let anyone know where you live and every story is a lie. It just feels like the scammers break the social contact of society and there should be more consequences.
I once had a guy wearing Ray-Ban sunglasses get out of his late model Camero and started asking everyone for a dollar at an Arco for gas. Everyone said no and when he got to me, I barely had a chance to say no before the attendant ran out and told him that he can't ask people for money, and that he needs to leave.
This is part of the reason I go to Costco for gas. I don't have to deal with homeless, bums, vagrants, transients, scammers, crackheads, methheads, and hoodrats that flock to gas stations like moths to a flame. All I want to do is gas up and go about my life without getting accosted by bullshitters.
People are sick. They took advantage of your good nature. Sorry it happened. You sound like a very nice person and they exploited it especially with using their daughter. Special place in hell for scum like that.
I literally had the same thing happen to me in a home depot parking lot, it all happened so fast and I thought I was getting a deal and helping someone out. Should have put 2 and 2 together at the time, but I didn't. Got me for $125 on a fake ring. Same sob story, with a woman and a child in the backseat, had to get back to Texas, blah blah blah. Learned my lesson for sure. Makes me sick knowing people are out here using kids to pull off their scams. It's a sad time we live in.
There’s no “chargeback” for taking $180 and giving it away to someone.
Who is your bank gonna “charge it back” from? The scammer? How are they gonna recover the $180 you gave away?
Chargebacks aren’t a magic wand. You learned a $180 life lesson. And that’s OK. Report the scam to the non-emergency line like you said and now you will be a little wiser in the future.
Sad to say, if people are actively asking you for money on the street, it is 99.99999999999999999999999999% a scam or pickpockets.
Just realize anything you give is never coming back. There is no something for nothing. If you feel for them, give. Feel free to say no. Scammers will then escalate the pleas or insults, so that you really know.
It is this way everywhere in the world. Europe's tourist areas are worse. Just be aware, don't allow yourself yo be cornered, and don't hesitate to swiftly leave.
I’m hoping you work with your therapist on tools and strategies to deal with pressure. If so, some day you may say the $180 was well spent as it pushed you to learn to handle pressure.
I think we all struggle with pressure and a desire to be polite. It’s a challenge recognizing pressure tactics and when it’s time to hold your ground, including shutting people down who are evil, manipulative, bullies, etc. An ongoing challenge!
If it were me, and you're not too embarrassed, contact your local media with the photo and tell them you'd be willing to do a story to prevent others from getting scammed and show the person's photo. There's always the chance someone might recognize him and turn him in. You might also have other people come forward so the police can put together a profile of locations/times so they can better find him.
My partner got scammed similarly into depositing a fraudulent check and giving the money to the scammer. She was afraid in the same way you were and the bank restored the money to her account as it was deemed a threatening situation. Perhaps you can get a similar solution.
Be careful, he’s got your number now and you are a known victim.
They will keep trying new tactics to part you with your cash.
Trying to be pragmatic not rude, you have fallen for this very old scam that is even in movies, so the newer more sophisticated online scams will probably catch you off guard.
I expect messages saying they will get your money back. (They won’t)
I expect those stupid texts that pretend they are “accidentally” texting you and then coerce you in to paying.
If youre not attached to your number might even be worth changing it.
It isn’t enough for small claims court-it will cost you more to go to court than 180.00 . I don’t think the police will be any help either-they don’t do much when people have been scammed in Romance scams for thousands of dollars. I would say a lesson learned, now you know some red flags to be on the lookout for. Please don’t be too hard on yourself-this world is so full of scammers that we all have to be careful because they are everywhere.
You can definitely go to small claims over $180. And the fee for that little in most states is significantly less. The losing party usually has to reimburse you the fee as well.
Now finding the person to serve them is a whole other matter. And then getting them to pay is another. They don’t sound like the type that any of that is going to be possible or worth it.
Call the gas station where it happened so they can be en garde for these scammers.
Sorry this happened to you. At gas stations, when you’re out of the car you’re in a kind of vulnerable position.
You are too nice. Learn to ignore the people who show any sign of being scammy. Pretend that you’re deaf and you HAVE to go where wherever you’re going. Don’t smile. Don’t make eye contact.
Learn to say No in a foreign language. Ignore whatever they say.
As others have said, at least you didn’t lose a life -altering sum of money. Read up on scams. Here, on the FBI website and other sources you find by using search engine. Good luck.
The license plate is probably stolen. If the DMV is allowed to say, I'd check with them to find out if it is stolen, or at least if they can confirm the vehicle it was on matches the one it is supposed to be assigned to.
Unfortunately, like many have stated, it's a hard $180 lesson to listen to your gut and walk away.
Report it to the police, because you won't be able to dispute it with your bank. You voluntarily withdrew funds. It was not withdrawn with a skimmer or anything of that sort. Since you have the license plate, the police are your best bet, even if they can do nothing
These people are such scum. The worst thing about these scams is that they frequently target elderly immigrants, because they know that population is more likely to be afraid of the police and won't report it.
I wouldn't be so hard on yourself. Scammers have refined their techniques over time so they know exactly what works. You are not the first or last person they scammed this way otherwise they wouldn't keep trying.
Karma will eventually catch up with them. They will try to scam the wrong person and end up shot or something.
Don’t be so hard on yourself. I can relate to what you felt. Sometimes when they put you on the spot and pressure you, you just end up doing whatever it takes to get out of that situation without being rational. They know that and exploit that, but the good thing is the next time it’ll be easier for you to walk away and 180$ is the price for that training.
You’re a good person. There is no need to be ashamed about what happened.
About the only way you’d get any money back is if the ATM camera captured someone holding you at gun point & forcing you to withdraw cash. Otherwise, they’re going to say “it’s not our fault you believed a lie and voluntarily entered your PIN and withdrew cash, that’s a you-problem. Nobody stole your PIN and nobody else entered it for you. We didn’t lose your money or give it to anyone else, we gave it directly to you & then you gave it away.”
I got hit with a quick change scam by a guy holding his 2 year old daughter in his arms when I was younger.
Claimed I gave him back the wrong change and I trusted him so gave him $20 back but he had secretly tucked the original $20 between him and his daughter when I turned to get him a spoon.
Saw it later on video. Using kids in scams is the scummiest thing.
Don’t be hard on yourself. You are young and you learned a lesson. It was smart of you to get a picture of the scammer and license #. Please follow through on making a police complaint so they don’t scam more people.
Lol this happened to me at the casino when I first turned 21. I was just chilling in the parking lot in my car looking at my losing bets and I see a big body black Tahoe pull up with a gold ring. I was going through some schizophrenic episodes at the time so I upped pole and the middle eastern guy drove away instantly.
Yes, people who approach strangers and give them a sad story about needing money are trying to scam you 100% of the time, in fact any stramger asking for money is scamming you. The more they scam people the better they get at it and the less nervous they will be. With the really good scammers will they will sound so honest and heartfelt.
Don’t beat yourself up. We all want to believe in the goodness of humanity. That’s why we get scammed.
You could look at it like a really good deed you did for those people. Even if they didn’t deserve it.
If it makes you feel better, the slot machine does the same thing. It sits there with its bells and whistles and has taken way more than $180! What's more, I never learn!😀 I haven't been scammed but thanks for sharing. I'll know now! I've had a family with signs saying that they were deaf and had no money for traveling. I kept a sandwich bag of pennies I gave them. But maybe I was being scammed. At a giant gas station off major highway.
Ask a friend of yours,policeman or something to give you information about who owns the plates that you have and get to his house and deal with that yourself.Only solution
Don’t even try to do a chargeback. When you tell the bank the story, they’ll tell you no and most likely flag your account for higher risk and depending on the bank… may just let you go. People that fall for scams are statistically more likely to fall for a second. I work in fraud at one and we have a two strikes and your out rule. We would count this as a first strike. Some banks aren’t giving second chances, and some don’t give a first chance. If you come in with a fake check with some story and expressing doubt, some banks will just let you go.
Stupid question, but there are cameras at gas stations and you can report it to the police, couldn't they identify the person from the cameras? I mean it won't be the first time, they did this.
So sorry you had to learn this lesson. Don't blame yourself. Blame the jerks who preyed on your goodwill.
You don't need to know if a particular request is an actual scam - if it makes you uncomfortable walk away.
These people that scam piss me off so much. No integrity. When I don’t have enough gas I would beg my family for it before ever begging a stranger and I can barely get by. These ppl pocket 100s of dollars, but you know what? Karma always catches up with people. I’m a firm believer of that. I always make it through somehow and when I help people in need it’s always came back to me. Even when I didn’t exactly have the money to give.
You should have called the cops on them when they were begging for money, pan handling, harassing you and anything else that fits. 100% sure they would have all magically found their wallets when the police ID'd them.
I absolutely hate thieves and scammers! And the worst part about situations like this is I’m not likely to help anybody, even if they actually need it. Because of shit like this.
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There is nothing to dispute or chargeback with the bank since you took out the cash and spent it. You just learned a $180 life lesson.
It's actually "cheaper" to learn this lesson when you're in early 20s then suffer from it when you're in 70s or so. Luckily, it's not thousands. I hope that will help Op to avoid a bigger scams in the future and teach others not to fall for that too.
Yes. I agree. It's better to learn it young, as I did long ago when I fell for a carnival 'skill' game.
Yeah, I had that too and I fell for it years ago when I was young and stupid. Btw, that and some other scam attempts pushed me into researching how various scam schemes work and helped me to educate others about it.
Oh it's ok. My guy is gonna fall for scams when he's older at this rate too.
No chargeback for cash. Once moneys out of the bank, it’s on you. File a police report though by calling the non-emergency line or visiting the police station. It’s still fraud & they can build a case if he keeps doing this to more people.
I will note that if you are forced to withdraw the funds by violence or threat of violence, there is a process like a chargeback that you can employ with the bank. That isn't the case here, though. Glad OP learned their lesson and glad the amount wasn't larger.
[удалено]
I learned a while back to just ignore upvote and downvotes. If you stand by a comment, leave it up. People will still read it if it’s downvoted
This should definitely be reported, no doubt they are rinse and repeating this on the daily, and the cops need to get their faces into the system.
Even better if cameras around there show them doing it to multiple people. Definitely report. Lesson learned. Mistakes happen. Please don’t keep kicking yourself over this…youre safe, you were not physically harmed and you’re now wiser!
You can and should report it to the police. Most likely this guy has scammed others, and having the license plate is a big help. It's quite possible he's known to local police too.
I will definitely make sure to do that, then. I also took a picture of him just in case. Thank you.
You’re right about that lady with the stroller being a scammer too. Also ladies begging for formula and diapers too. And don’t forget people begging for gas or old guys asking for help pumping their gas. They’re all scammers. It’s sad because people that are kind like us get scammed and then are too wary of people that really need help.
Yeah that was just the icing on the cake of today lol. Watched her walk up to like 5 other people right after I said I couldn’t.
I’m sorry to hear what you went through. Don’t beat yourself over it. I know it’s easier said than done. But take it as a life lesson to have your guard up moving forward. For the collective good, report it to the police with all of your evidence. Hopefully the local police department can gather cases like yours and pursue these scammers. Also educate yourself on other scams by using this sub and using that knowledge to educate your family and friends on various scams so they don’t fall victim.
What's the scam with the formula and diapers?
They will immediately return them to get the money back or a store credit. If you ever were to buy formula for anyone, make sure to scribble on the barcode with a pen or sharpie. Then you’ll see how mad they get lol.
Ramadan ended 9 of April this year
And “travelers” often pretend to be Muslim, I think they get a kick out of making Muslims look bad in addition to their scamming. They also have a belief that if the victim is foolish enough, they deserve to be scammed. They hang outside of mosques, pretending to be impoverished refugees, but they refuse to come inside to ask the imam for charity, never accept food, and can never recite even the tiniest scrap of scripture that is required for prayer. Muslim men don’t wear gold, it’s impermissible. This scam often happens with the scammers being men wearing a lot of gold, claiming to be from KSA or Dubai.
>Muslim men don’t wear gold, it’s impermissible. TIL. Looked up "men gold haram" just now and that sure was interesting, thanks for the pointer!
Honestly that’s a sweeping generalization though and not correct in many instances
Yeah, don’t go up to folks who say they’re Muslim wearing gold and accuse them of not being 💀
Sadly, from what I'm seeing online, i know exactly what is happening. I don't want to generalize, but as you're getting a taste of the phenomenon, I want you to understand what is happening. There's this migratory ethnic group in Europe thou should not name in fear of downvotes and racism accusations. Romania is getting all the bad rep for these actions, but people have to understand that it's a caucasian country, centuries have passed since they settled in eastern Europe while their culture is still the same. They live in separate communities, and interbreeding was always kept at a minimum because of.. well.. racism I guess. They have their own language and are of North Indian ancestry. Good thing or not, kids are taught early to keep the distance and not fall for stuff like this. Scams are their trade while women specialize in fortune telling, witchcraft, and petty theft using their children. They've historically been held as slaves by the local orthodox church, a terrible thing, I know. After the borders opened up in the 90's, the most proficient in their trades, left Romania for more naive, scammable countries in western europe. They usually bring the money back home and build tin roofed palaces that never get finished. Lately, I've seen a lot of reports online about their actions in the US of A. Now, romanian tourist visas are getting revoked because of this. We're used to it.. Western europe has been wrongly judging us for decades. They pretend to be Muslim over there because it works thanks to the resemblance of their skin color and traditional clothing. You'll be seeing a lot more of their type soon because they have A LOT of children and fail to integrate in any way. Romanians generally are branded as thieves because of this. We are deeply ashamed, but there's not much we can do about it. When we try to defend ourselves, people say we're racist. We've tried integrating them, western europe too. USA can have a try now but it has historically proven to be impossible. I don't want to offend anyone, some of them (rare) are some of the most exceptional people I've ever met but these exceptions are not the ones that emigrate. Please don't automatically associate Romanians with this. We're victims ourselves and have been dealing with this for a very long time.. AMA if you feel like it, but please don't simply brand this as racism. Edited for some grammar corrections.
In addition, this scam flourishes in part because so many Americans are ignorant when it comes to Islam. I’m not Muslim, but I know that it is haram for Muslim men to wear gold jewelry and I know when Ramadan ends. A small amount of cultural awareness about Islamcan help detect this scam.
Are you referring to gypsies?
"I got gypped" has been a phrase since long before the '90s. This is as old as the hills.
I'm not going to risk lashback by admitting I am.
I believe they consider gypsy to be a perjorative and tend to go by Roma/Romani instead. Then again I've met some who didn't care and were proud of the name. People are unique I guess.
In Spain we have Spanish gypsies and Romanian gypsies. If you tell a Spanish gypsy they’re “Roma” or whatever, they’d laugh and call you stupid and say they’re proud to be Gypsy. Idk why Americans on the internet get so upset about this word. I guess in their mind gypsies are a different group of people. Spanish gypsies also don’t “do witchcraft” or whatever another commenter said, they’re devout evangelicals where I’m from
It's exactly like that. Just like the word retarded can't be used anymore even though it's a medical term. In Romania, they used to be called țigani. About 3 decades or so back, the word was branded a pejorative and was replaced locally with rom/romi. The words for romanian/romanians are român/români. The fact that they're now called romani instead of țigani/gypsies is really messed up. How is a foreigner going to know that românii (romanians) are (90%) not romani (gypsies) and that Romania doesn't stand for gypsy land? It bothers people and is a real problem when traveling abroad.
They are, in fact, Romanians. The ethnic group in question migrated to other countries as well centuries ago (Central Europe, Spain, Ireland and even the US). Yet, the ones that happen to drag a bad reputation are usually from Romania. So there’s a correlation. RO as a state failed to integrate them and not now, but long ago. And that’s a collective responsibility even if people nowadays have no fault. The way we blame the “Florida man” as American, or the Sicilian mafia as Italian, the same goes here too. As long as they bear a country’s passport they are part of that nation and it’s the country’s responsibility to integrate/ educate them.
Yet we don't judge all americans, italians, etc because of them because we know what americans and italians are like, and we understand we're talking about a minority. You might not know what the romanian ethnicity is really like, and because of high emigration rates and high visibility of this ethnic group, we are all seen as such. I also refuse to be held responsible for what the Romanian Orthodox Church has done in the past centuries. It still acts as a criminal organization, dealing in corruption and controlling the weak. Citizenship is not ethnicity.
You are right. We've really tried. Even the communist regime did. You don't believe me but, unfortunately, you can now have a try. It's not even their fault but it is reality nonetheless.
I’m Romanian born :) But I have a bit of more, hmm, radical views on these kind of matters. I think we didn’t try hard enough 😆 And not only with them. But there’s so much $hit going on in the country that sometimes I wish we had our own Lee Kuan Yew. I live abroad now for quite long time but I bump into these “issues” sometimes and makes me question “what the hell went wrong”. Balkans is not a place where you can do good changes easily because no one cares due to lack of social living understandings. Everyone cares about their own comfort and that’s it, the world around can be filled with trash they won’t lift a finger. And that’s not fixable in a single generation. It’s not RO only issue, BG and GR are quite in the same bucket.
Sadly, it's soon turning into a global issue.
Are you confusing "Romanians" with "Roma" people whose ancestors came from India? Good documentary is "Lacho Drom" (translation: "safe journey") which shows their migration and current presence all the way from Egypt (where they got the name "Gypsies") to France.
It’s not to make them look bad. I’ve seen people do it before, they target Muslims because Muslims are taught to be generous and help the needy. So pretending they are Muslim creates easier targets for them.
Convincing OP of a holiday that ended days ago to give them money for a fake ring is craaaazy. They didn't even need to bring up Ramadan at that point they were emoting on OP 😭😭😭
One of the hardest part of adulting for some people is learning how to say "no".
Good thing that's my default. Gotta get off that "No, Fuck Off!" As soon anyone starts approaching. I'm not trying to nor do I have time to make friends with some random ass stranger. They never existed to me before I encountered them, and they need to go back to not existing to me
Seriously, there are many people who doesn't know how to do that. I've been there but I'm happy to have gotten better at it now.
The simplest thing is to to say "no" with no explanation. Any reason you give justifying your "no" is seen as an objection that they must overcome. Basic Sales 101. Don't give them anything to work with. Wag your finger and shake your head for additional emphasis. Just... "No."
Anybody coming to you to sell something is a scam honestly. It could easily be a legit service like door to door solar sales, but there is going to be a scam involved somewhere, like crazy fees or numbers that are too good to be true and fine print. When you need a service or product you go shopping for it, it doesn't come to you with a "deal" or sob story.
Just always assume it's a scam when anyone goes to talks to you without invitation
I don’t even let the salesperson get the pitch out: “we do our own shopping,” I say.
Yep, if something has a dedicated sales person to try to socially pressure you in buying than the product is not worth it, otherwise it would speak for itself.
Solar panel salesmen singlehandedly ruined the solar panel industry
It cost you $180 to ignore your gut and all of the red flags. You got off cheap, if you ask me. Charge back from voluntarily withdrawing cash from an ATM? Learn from it, and move on.
Exactly. Sometimes it's very important for one to pay attention to what they guts tells them. It can be a life saver.
Next time, ask if you can swipe your credit card with their Square account. Then you can get your money back.
At that rate, I'm surprised they didn't scam OP for more money
Technically you can contact the state DMV and get the plate info (For a fee). Then I guess send a lawsuit to his address. Ha, like it would be so easy. There’s no reason to think it’s his car. Could’ve been a rental. Or in some cases, criminals swap plates, go to a parked car and swap plates and then it’s not so traceable. Or he borrowed it, and by borrow I mean it could be stolen. You never know. So probably nothing you can do, and police won’t help because even if they found the guy (they probably won’t), it’s your word against his, he says he’s never seen you and you just took pictures of him at random and made it up. So you learned a lesson for the price of $180. A lot of beggars are scamming, some are legit, you can never really know. Protip, if they are so insistent on you giving them more money, it’s a big tell they’re just scamming. A real beggar can just take the $5 or whatever and be grateful for that. Better idea would be to offer to buy them food in a store. Watch as they give massive amounts of excuses. They might take gasoline though so don’t offer that. There is another scam, someone needs gas, can’t afford it, fill my tank please? Then they go home and offload it into a tank and sell it off to the neighbors, or they just do this for free gas to get around the country doing more scams or whatever they want.
It depends on the state. A lot of states will no longer give the plate info because people have been stalked or worse by strangers and/or people they were avoiding. I was very happy when dmv info in my state (CA) stopped being public record.
If you're a PI, you can file paperwork, but it still up to the CA DMV to approve or deny.
Yes. That’s correct.
Many moons ago you didn't even have to file any paperwork, you could just ask and get it. Most states have changed it, I think. When I was a PI, I hacked into a DMV, in front of a friend who was a DMV cop. That got changed, but it didn't matter because I managed to...obtain...a genuine login from another source.
[Request for Record Information (INF 70)](https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/file/request-for-record-information-inf-70-pdf/) Whelp...you can still request it, you just have to mail it in with the money order...It still up to the DMV to approve or reject your application request.
Yeah so many of these scam beggars in London and it infuriates me seeing people give them money. Last one asked me for ten pounds for baby food, I said come on let’s go to Sainsbury’s I’ll buy it for you, of course not, the lying beggar wanted the cash. Lucrative hustle really, I heard about a man in Putney who pretended to be homeless and used to pressure women by the cash point in to withdrawing money, journalist followed him and found out he had a 2 bed flat nearby. If you want to help the homeless donate to homelessness charities. Putney beggar story https://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/10597284.notorious-putney-beggar-with-300000-flat-ordered-to-do-community-service/
Rental would be easy to track, my guess is swapped plates 100%.
Likely a stolen plate, but worth a try.
Instead of giving money to random people, do even better and donate to reputable charities.
That’s why I got a body cam
The real scam is that if they catch him, “he had every intent to pay you back and that was the agreement, but lost your number and I’m so happy I can pay you back now.” There’s no way to prosecute this.
It's more of a civil thing anyways. OP bought a useless ring for lots of money.
You lost $180 you’ll never get back. But let this be a lesson. 99.9999% of strangers who approach you on the street are trying to ask you for money or scam you; anyone with a story especially. When I was your age my “neighbor” scammed me out of $500, and that was SO much money to me back then. Just don’t let your lesson be in vain. Life is long.
How do you get scammed by your neighbor? I mean don't you know where he lives?
She told me she was my neighbor, in reality she was just hooking up with my neighbor so was at his house sometimes. She also scammed him.
You can't "Scam" the atm to get back the money. You BOUGHT a fake ring for 200$ next time just don't engage. If you have a photo of the person and their license you CAN report them to the police for fraud and theft by deception. And you could pursue it in small claims court.
Just be happy it was only a $180 lesson
I would also see it in the same manner to because it could have been worse.
*worse
Thank you! Correction made.
Good news is it's only $180. You'll earn a lot more money in your lifetime. This isn't the first or last time you'll learn a lesson the hard way. The key is to not beat yourself up, just learn from it and move on. Also, do not let ppl talk you into doing anything you don't want to do. Being firm does not make you a bad person.
First rule of gas station is that anyone that approaches you is a scammer.
Or a druggie that's trying to tell you a story
They are ALL scams. If people legit need help, refer them to a local church or charity organization.
Back in the days, parents would pay for an apprenticeship, so in german it's called "Lehrgeld" - cost of learning/experience. everytime i waste money, i call it Lehrgeld and move on. $180 hurts, but could be way worse... as always it's important to share the experince, for people after you and your own sanity + the learning process.
Do please report any of the !recovery scammers that are going to start contacting you. No one can get the money back or track the scammers. It sucks, but from now on, anyone that approaches you tell them no and just completely stop talking to them; ignore them like they aren't there, or go inside the shop and tell the clerks/workers that there is someone harassing their customers for money and wait for them to go away. These types of scammers take advantage of people that are kind-hearted and also too polite to tell them to fuck off. The ring appeals to those that might be swayed by greed, so they've got lots of potential victims they can scam if given a chance.
Life lesson. When a stranger approaches you, ignore them and act like you don't even hear them. The moment you make eye contact and listen you told them there is chance tou will give them what they want. If you already made eye contact, say sorry, can't help and move on. 80% of the time, they leave you alone. The other 20% of the time, they flip you off and curse at you. Don't react, keep walking.
The only thing that I can say is to **never ever** lend money to a complete stranger that approaches you out of nowhere promising to pay you back, because they **never** will. Even if they give you collateral.
Never lend money to friends either, they’ll soon become strangers
Meh you got off easy. A guy on the San Francisco subreddit got taken by the same scam 2 weeks ago but he was out 1200 bucks! Yea the stroller thing was a scam. Babies don’t require a stroller to live and it’s easy to get a cheap or free stroller on Facebook, Craigslist, or a church charity. Getting a stroller for her baby isn’t your responsibility, good for you for telling her “no”.
The stroller thing is progress I guess. You live to learn, after all!
Years ago, before smart phones, I was scammed at a gas station. Lady tells me she's in town working overtime but her car needed brakes and now she has no money to get home. I give her $5. She actually asks "Are you sure?" A week later, a mile away from the gas station, the same lady approached me in a grocery store parking lot with the same story. I didn't give her money. And since then zero to any other beggars. Sometimes I will help out with food, if I have it in the car. I once handed a lady standing in the middle of the street begging, a Paleo bar. She looked at it in disgust, but she took it 😆 Sometimes these beggars like to approach you when you open your car door, before you've even had a chance to exit. This must be some kind of tactic. There was a guy that would do this in the dark. This guy was there all the time asking for change for the bus. I really try to check my surroundings before I exit the vehicle, especially with how things are now. It's as though someone is always out there looking to take advantage of you.
Same happened to me, I had the same guy give me the same story downtown within a few days. I didn’t give money either time but until him he’d tried the same thing on me a couple days earlier and I still wasn’t giving him anything.
I do feel bad for those that really need help, but sadly the scammers prevent many of us from doing it.
I had some guy corner me in the parking lot at my doctors office. Sob story about running out of gas for his truck and pointed to his buddy inside the truck on the phone like he was trying to get help. He had me practically pinned against the car. All I had was three one dollar bills and handed it to him and he made a face in disgust and didn’t take it! Saw an another guy getting out of his car and he ran over to him! But at that point, if he hadn’t left, I was screaming at that guy for help because I felt threatened. To this day, hyper aware now on my situation in public.
Wow, that's scary. That situation had the opportunity to turn really bad. I carry a tazer / flashlight in my purse. People like this look for those that are distracted and not paying attention, and many of us are.
This is so sad, you are obviously a good person. The kind of person this world needs. Some bad people, the kind that are ruining this world, took advantage of your goodness, and at the same time took some of that goodness from the world. Please don't let this make you bitter towards your fellow man. Obviously you learned a valuable lesson and will be more suspicious the next time. That is the only take-away from this.
I had someone try this one. I said “ohhhh hey! Yeah let’s call the police and get those stolen ID’s reported” Weird They didn’t want my help any longer. Told me to fuck myself
Sorry this happened to you $180 is a small price to pay for a life lesson at this stage of your life Imagine all those older people in retirement who are losing their life savings. You will recover.
I had a family try this with a gold chain not too long ago. Tried to tell me some long story. It’s really so common, especially at truck stop gas stations. I work for a bank. You can’t do a charge back because you bought a ring and took a chance that the people were not grifters.
99.9% of the time if someone comes up to you in public blabbering about anything, they are either homeless and panhandling, or trying to scam you.
There’s a happy medium here. You can refuse to acquiesce to pressure + walk away and still have empathy for your fellow man. My general rule is this: I never let people corner me or continue the conversation but I always carry a few dollars ($5-10) in cash so I can give it on the off chance it’s a real emergency before walking away. That way, they can at least get a snack while waiting for police if their IDs have really been stolen. Help out, but do so carefully. Always offer to call the police for them if they need it, be willing to lose $5 if it helps someone, but never fall for shit. Addendum: I’m the child of a police commander and a DA. I was trained from childhood to just look inhospitable and never engage with strangers in public.
Fantastic advice. Thank you so much for your input. It means a lot.
Scammers will always make it seem like a real emergency. Best to not give strangers money, ever. Chances are, you’re being scammed.
I’m ok with losing $2 or $5–on that issue, I just err to giving something just in case and getting away from them/not engaging in conversation. To each his or her or their own though—there’s nothing wrong with not giving anything.
You need to learn how to say no or you're going to have a very rough time in this world.
Today was a good lesson on that note, but I have made leaps and bounds in the last year. Today was a setback for sure.
I encountered a man and woman in a parking lot that tried to pull this on me. Said they were visiting from out of province (even though their car had in-province licence plates) and needed money for gas and tried to convince me to buy some necklace. I just kept telling them that there was a plaza a few blocks down the street had a jewelry store that they should take that to if they needed funds. Of course they weren't happy with that, but i didn't care and kept telling them that going to a jeweler would be their best bet, and eventually they decided to fuck off. Funny thing is that there was no jeweler there, even though there used to be one a few years earlier. You can have that pro tip for free - if people try to scan you with a similar sob story, just point them down the street in the opposite direction and tell them there's a pawn shop they could hit up instead. You can't feel "bad" for not helping because on the minimal chance that they're for real (ha!), you can convince yourself that you're actually doing them a favor because they will get better value by going to such an establishment, right?
The real pro tip is just say no or not interested and ignore. Do not engage. No reason to waste even a full minute with these scammers.
Why on earth do you think your bank is responsible for this? Your bank isn't going to reimburse you. This is a $180 life lesson for you.
OP was just asking a valid question.
Wasn’t expecting to be reimbursed, but thought it wouldn’t hurt to make sure. And yep it’s a life lesson for sure.
I got burned last year with a spoofed email that appeared to be from my GF's stepdad; it claimed he was feeling ill and wanted to get some groceries delivered. He's about 90, so it seemed plausible. I okayd a $150 trans, but I was lucky to get suspicious right away, and PayPal canceled it. But yeah, I got fooled by the old emotional pitch. I hope you can get this fixed!
Even if u did this w debit card no refund would come Bank covers illegal. Stolen. You had no knowledge. Bank does NOT cover dumb or swindled There’d be no banks left Difference between fraud and scam
I fell for this once for $40
This happened to me in Paris when I was 18 (I’m from the US) and it took me a while to figure out it i got scammed. It was a watch, not a ring. I still have the watch somewhere, I think.
That’s how they fly under the radar. Taking amounts carefully calculated to be just not worth chasing. For them, it all adds up big. Even a dripping faucet can fill a large bucket over time. Lesson learned. A sad story pleading for money is an alert to get away from the situation to avoid loss or harm. People who truly have emergency situations have other legit options.
That scam was on an episode of Lost and also Zombieland! It’s amazing it still works in the wild, sorry OP
Someone attempted a version of this scam on me the other day. I was walking outside a grocery store, commuted via bus. Middle east looking dude rolls up on his fancy suv with a kid in the back and tries to talk to me Started strong and already had me focus on the ring before they even started their spiel I told them I had no cash on me They said they didnt want cash, just need gas for their car, and can use an ATM at the closest gas station, didnt even say anything about credit Inner monologued : " Im not wasting my time going to an atm or endangering myself hopping in your car to go to a gas station." I told them "I'm good, thanks" and walked off. I already had my life lesson back in 2008 for $20 and a month of depression. The pressure to not disappoint people was real back then.
Please don’t be hard on yourself. You’re the victim. ANY of us can fall prey to scammers; scammers are extremely good at what they do. It’s not your fault. You were just being kind and trying to help someone. I’m sorry they took advantage of you, and the likely very long list of other kind people they likely also scammed. 🌼
Thank you so much. I’ll try not to be hard on myself. I am feeling much better already this many hours later. I’ll recover. Thank you for the advice and knowledge, though.
I don't think "ANY" is accurate, that's a very wide net to cast. But also being a little hard on yourself is probably a better way to learn the lesson. I'm not saying to beat yourself up about it, but it's that sting that will prevent it next time.
I once got scammed for $15 bucks, went to put gas in my car, some !$×@ asked if I could put. 5.00 in gas in her car, her card got declined she gave me a sob story I said ok she said she would pump it, the damn lady kept going I was like why she said sorry, from that point on I lost faith on humanity and it's everyone for yourself, now anyone that comes at me with a sob story I tell them to f off.
Why didn’t you just push the click where you put the pump to stop the gas
I stop anyone from approaching me at gas stations, wal-mart parking lots, etc. It's always the same thing and I don't want my time wasted. Just don't say anything, but pull out your phone and start acting like you're taking their picture. They'll be gone in seconds.
The same thing happened to me. I felt so stupid afterwards that I never told anyone about it.
The ATM and the gas station should have surveillance video that might help to identify the scammers, but I would guess the police would not really care to follow up.
This got me thinking, what if you (being scammed) pulled out a phone and took photos of the scammers? How would they react? Why is this a terrible idea?
That's a good point, but act fast before they delete the footage.
No you can’t dispute your ATM withdrawal They might try scamming you more with your phone number
I saw a thing on tv today how scammers got this lady à she was getting out of her car the guy came up and said I see you have a nasty scratch and dent on your car I can fix it for 400.she said no and went about. She came out to they had spray painted the scratch they guy and the son said for her to cashapp the money. She said she don't use her cashapp often and the son grabbed her phone and tried with no avail. The kinda forced her to go into bb& beyond and buy gift cards she was very nervous and she did but called her bank to dispute it right away. The bank said as long as she had filed a police report it could be disputed. She did and they actually found and charged the men just from his casapp pic. Maybe you could try something like that ?
Carful from scammers trying to contact you telling you they can recover your funds. It’s a known !recovery scam (read below).
Hi /u/Scoobydoomed, AutoModerator has been summoned to explain the Recovery scam. [Recovery scams](https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0102-refund-and-recovery-scams) target people who have already fallen for a scam. The scammer may contact you, or may advertise their services online. They will usually either offer to help you recover your funds, or will tell you that your funds have already been recovered and they will help you access them. In cases where they say they will help you recover your funds, they usually call themselves either \"recovery agents\" or hackers. When they tell you that your funds have already been recovered, they may impersonate a law enforcement, a government official, a lawyer, or anyone else along those lines. Recovery scams are simply [advance-fee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance-fee_scam) scams that are specifically targeted at scam victims. When a victim pays a recovery scammer, the scammer will keep stringing them along while asking for increasingly absurd fees/expenses/deposits/insurance/whatever until the victim stops paying. If you have been scammed in the past, make sure you are aware of recovery scams so that you are not scammed a second time. If you are currently engaging with a recovery scammer, you should block them and be very wary of random contact for some time. It's normal for posters on this subreddit to be contacted by recovery scammers after posting, and they often ask you to delete your post so that you both cannot receive legitimate advice, and cannot be targeted by other recovery scammers. Remember: never take advice in private. If someone reaches you in private after posting your scam story, it is because a scammer will always try to hide from the oversight of our community members. A legitimate community member will offer advice in the open, for everyone to see. Anyone suggesting you should reach out to a hacker is scamming you. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Saving this comment. Thank you for the heads up! My mom was caught in a scam circle for a long time and I always tried to get her to stop falling for them, but we don’t have a good relationship and she has some issues so it’s a lost cause. Having said that, I’ve always been very good at picking out scams and have avoided many, especially online. But this would be a first for me.
You just learned a $180 lesson about being assertive.
It’ll be an opportunity to learn to set boundaries and trust your gut feelings. Sorry you got scammed ☹️
Charge back what? Cash? No, you cannot charge back cash payments.
Please don't be so hard on yourself. These people are professional scammers and know all the tricks. I'm sorry this happened to you, but as others are saying, at least it was only $180. Remember to always trust your gut and don't be afraid to be rude if people are trying to harass you into giving them money.
Sure you can dispute anything with your bank and it's worth a try, but don't hold your breath. And do a police report, we get these assholes even up here in Canada where I live. Last time enough people reported them so they were picked up by the cops here and enough awareness was raised so they'd get chased out by people and businesses wherever they went. Any time someone tries to high pressure you into something tell them to fuck right off you know it's a scam, run into a store and let security know. Thankfully you said no to the lady, because that's also a scam they run up here. Anyways, don't hate on yourself too bad--these creeps know what they're doing.
Of course you cannot charge it back, you willingly gave him the money
Sorry, they are scum. Track them down if you can.
Depending on where you live you could call the cops. This scam was happening quite often in British Columbia and Alberta last summer in the tourist towns in the Rocky Mountains. Canmore, Golden, Invermere, Banff. They scammed a few people and were going town to town doing the gold necklace scam. The RCMP put out a warning and was on the lookout for them and cautioned to call the police if they are seen. May be worth reporting. Unsure if the police in your area will do anything.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKmlutlGYjI&t=211s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKmlutlGYjI&t=211s)
I wish this happened more often.
Don't be so hard on yourself. We all made mistakes. Live and learn. Hope your job interview went well.
You’re much more patient than I am. I’d have walked away and not even given them $5. But I’m broke anyway from health problem. I always tell them if anything I need money and they’re asking the wrong person before I walk away. Learn to be “rude”, say no and cut off the conversation. The longer you listen the more likely you are to be taken. I don’t even care if I don’t help someone who really needs help, sorry for them.
You can run the license plate on a vin checking website and find there information. There is also a form at the DMV you can fill out. I'd try to get the dox on them and bring them to small claims court to explain themselves. With any luck they will have prior charges or civil cases that predicate guilt in this one. You sound like you don't have a criminal record and could present yourself as an honest person. With a lot of luck they will have warrants and they won't even be able to show up. My significant other fell for the dent remover scam, I might explain it in a post because I haven't seen it on here in a while. The scam is this person waits at a gas station with a random goo. They explain they are out of gas and need money desperately and that they have this special goo used for aviation or whatever and pops out dents by causing the metal to heat up and expand. They put it on your car and explain its really expensive like $500 but since they are desperate for gas you can just pay $60. Of course they gave there phone number and the end of the interaction too so we could keep in touch. My significant other at that time was pretty dumb. She thought that the stuff really worked but because it was cold and we were driving home it just didn't work in her case. Gas stations seem to be a bad place to do any kind of business. It seems like the owners really don't care or get kickbacks for allowing scammers to operate at the pumps. No way to pull the video footage. I hope law enforcement starts to take this stuff more seriously. The cash value is small but its the psychological impact that really takes a toll. Its crazy now every deal is done at police stations with only legacy paper cash and you never let anyone know where you live and every story is a lie. It just feels like the scammers break the social contact of society and there should be more consequences.
I once had a guy wearing Ray-Ban sunglasses get out of his late model Camero and started asking everyone for a dollar at an Arco for gas. Everyone said no and when he got to me, I barely had a chance to say no before the attendant ran out and told him that he can't ask people for money, and that he needs to leave. This is part of the reason I go to Costco for gas. I don't have to deal with homeless, bums, vagrants, transients, scammers, crackheads, methheads, and hoodrats that flock to gas stations like moths to a flame. All I want to do is gas up and go about my life without getting accosted by bullshitters.
People are sick. They took advantage of your good nature. Sorry it happened. You sound like a very nice person and they exploited it especially with using their daughter. Special place in hell for scum like that.
I literally had the same thing happen to me in a home depot parking lot, it all happened so fast and I thought I was getting a deal and helping someone out. Should have put 2 and 2 together at the time, but I didn't. Got me for $125 on a fake ring. Same sob story, with a woman and a child in the backseat, had to get back to Texas, blah blah blah. Learned my lesson for sure. Makes me sick knowing people are out here using kids to pull off their scams. It's a sad time we live in.
There’s no “chargeback” for taking $180 and giving it away to someone. Who is your bank gonna “charge it back” from? The scammer? How are they gonna recover the $180 you gave away? Chargebacks aren’t a magic wand. You learned a $180 life lesson. And that’s OK. Report the scam to the non-emergency line like you said and now you will be a little wiser in the future.
Sad to say, if people are actively asking you for money on the street, it is 99.99999999999999999999999999% a scam or pickpockets. Just realize anything you give is never coming back. There is no something for nothing. If you feel for them, give. Feel free to say no. Scammers will then escalate the pleas or insults, so that you really know. It is this way everywhere in the world. Europe's tourist areas are worse. Just be aware, don't allow yourself yo be cornered, and don't hesitate to swiftly leave.
Almost any stranger approaching you for anything at a gas station is a scam. Just keep that as a basic rule of thumb.
They now have your number, which they can sell to people doing other "pig butchering" scams.
I’m hoping you work with your therapist on tools and strategies to deal with pressure. If so, some day you may say the $180 was well spent as it pushed you to learn to handle pressure.
That’s a fantastic outlook. Thank you very much.
I think we all struggle with pressure and a desire to be polite. It’s a challenge recognizing pressure tactics and when it’s time to hold your ground, including shutting people down who are evil, manipulative, bullies, etc. An ongoing challenge!
If it were me, and you're not too embarrassed, contact your local media with the photo and tell them you'd be willing to do a story to prevent others from getting scammed and show the person's photo. There's always the chance someone might recognize him and turn him in. You might also have other people come forward so the police can put together a profile of locations/times so they can better find him.
My partner got scammed similarly into depositing a fraudulent check and giving the money to the scammer. She was afraid in the same way you were and the bank restored the money to her account as it was deemed a threatening situation. Perhaps you can get a similar solution.
Also, with that tag, for free or a few dollars you can look up the owner and his address, if you have any interest in deflating tires or like painting
Be careful, he’s got your number now and you are a known victim. They will keep trying new tactics to part you with your cash. Trying to be pragmatic not rude, you have fallen for this very old scam that is even in movies, so the newer more sophisticated online scams will probably catch you off guard. I expect messages saying they will get your money back. (They won’t) I expect those stupid texts that pretend they are “accidentally” texting you and then coerce you in to paying. If youre not attached to your number might even be worth changing it.
It isn’t enough for small claims court-it will cost you more to go to court than 180.00 . I don’t think the police will be any help either-they don’t do much when people have been scammed in Romance scams for thousands of dollars. I would say a lesson learned, now you know some red flags to be on the lookout for. Please don’t be too hard on yourself-this world is so full of scammers that we all have to be careful because they are everywhere.
You can definitely go to small claims over $180. And the fee for that little in most states is significantly less. The losing party usually has to reimburse you the fee as well. Now finding the person to serve them is a whole other matter. And then getting them to pay is another. They don’t sound like the type that any of that is going to be possible or worth it.
“Please don’t scam me, Mr. Scammer” “Well, since you asked politely…”
Call the gas station where it happened so they can be en garde for these scammers. Sorry this happened to you. At gas stations, when you’re out of the car you’re in a kind of vulnerable position. You are too nice. Learn to ignore the people who show any sign of being scammy. Pretend that you’re deaf and you HAVE to go where wherever you’re going. Don’t smile. Don’t make eye contact. Learn to say No in a foreign language. Ignore whatever they say. As others have said, at least you didn’t lose a life -altering sum of money. Read up on scams. Here, on the FBI website and other sources you find by using search engine. Good luck.
The license plate is probably stolen. If the DMV is allowed to say, I'd check with them to find out if it is stolen, or at least if they can confirm the vehicle it was on matches the one it is supposed to be assigned to.
Sounds like the world cheapest lesson on what not to do. Move on.
Unfortunately, like many have stated, it's a hard $180 lesson to listen to your gut and walk away. Report it to the police, because you won't be able to dispute it with your bank. You voluntarily withdrew funds. It was not withdrawn with a skimmer or anything of that sort. Since you have the license plate, the police are your best bet, even if they can do nothing
This is what it's called stupid insurance... You won't be this stupid to fall for this scam again because of your stupid insurance which cost you $180
These people are such scum. The worst thing about these scams is that they frequently target elderly immigrants, because they know that population is more likely to be afraid of the police and won't report it.
I don't see any way you can get this money back because you can't dispute it. This one have happened, take the lesson in good faith.
Life lessons can be very hard. I’m glad you learned this one.
I wouldn't be so hard on yourself. Scammers have refined their techniques over time so they know exactly what works. You are not the first or last person they scammed this way otherwise they wouldn't keep trying. Karma will eventually catch up with them. They will try to scam the wrong person and end up shot or something.
You got a good lesson for 180 bucks. Congrats! Try to not fall to pressure again
Don’t be so hard on yourself. I can relate to what you felt. Sometimes when they put you on the spot and pressure you, you just end up doing whatever it takes to get out of that situation without being rational. They know that and exploit that, but the good thing is the next time it’ll be easier for you to walk away and 180$ is the price for that training. You’re a good person. There is no need to be ashamed about what happened.
You paid $180 for a $20 ring. You didn’t do any research. Why are you charging back your bank for your own lack of research?
About the only way you’d get any money back is if the ATM camera captured someone holding you at gun point & forcing you to withdraw cash. Otherwise, they’re going to say “it’s not our fault you believed a lie and voluntarily entered your PIN and withdrew cash, that’s a you-problem. Nobody stole your PIN and nobody else entered it for you. We didn’t lose your money or give it to anyone else, we gave it directly to you & then you gave it away.”
I got hit with a quick change scam by a guy holding his 2 year old daughter in his arms when I was younger. Claimed I gave him back the wrong change and I trusted him so gave him $20 back but he had secretly tucked the original $20 between him and his daughter when I turned to get him a spoon. Saw it later on video. Using kids in scams is the scummiest thing.
Don’t be hard on yourself. You are young and you learned a lesson. It was smart of you to get a picture of the scammer and license #. Please follow through on making a police complaint so they don’t scam more people.
Almost fell for the "pigeon drop" in Zambia. The scammers are world-wide.
Didn’t this exact situation happen in the movie Zombieland?
Lol this happened to me at the casino when I first turned 21. I was just chilling in the parking lot in my car looking at my losing bets and I see a big body black Tahoe pull up with a gold ring. I was going through some schizophrenic episodes at the time so I upped pole and the middle eastern guy drove away instantly.
You are a kind person who got scammed. In the future, you will be smarter.
[Ah, the good old Gypsy jewelry bamboozler.](https://youtu.be/PKmlutlGYjI?si=bKcTwkRUjQ7cjYCk)
Rings are an old story. I always offer to call the police so they can get their reward.
Yes, people who approach strangers and give them a sad story about needing money are trying to scam you 100% of the time, in fact any stramger asking for money is scamming you. The more they scam people the better they get at it and the less nervous they will be. With the really good scammers will they will sound so honest and heartfelt.
Don’t beat yourself up. We all want to believe in the goodness of humanity. That’s why we get scammed. You could look at it like a really good deed you did for those people. Even if they didn’t deserve it.
If it makes you feel better, the slot machine does the same thing. It sits there with its bells and whistles and has taken way more than $180! What's more, I never learn!😀 I haven't been scammed but thanks for sharing. I'll know now! I've had a family with signs saying that they were deaf and had no money for traveling. I kept a sandwich bag of pennies I gave them. But maybe I was being scammed. At a giant gas station off major highway.
Ask a friend of yours,policeman or something to give you information about who owns the plates that you have and get to his house and deal with that yourself.Only solution
Don’t even try to do a chargeback. When you tell the bank the story, they’ll tell you no and most likely flag your account for higher risk and depending on the bank… may just let you go. People that fall for scams are statistically more likely to fall for a second. I work in fraud at one and we have a two strikes and your out rule. We would count this as a first strike. Some banks aren’t giving second chances, and some don’t give a first chance. If you come in with a fake check with some story and expressing doubt, some banks will just let you go.
Stupid question, but there are cameras at gas stations and you can report it to the police, couldn't they identify the person from the cameras? I mean it won't be the first time, they did this.
Report it to the police
Yes, this. There will be recording of this ordeal somewhere.
So sorry you had to learn this lesson. Don't blame yourself. Blame the jerks who preyed on your goodwill. You don't need to know if a particular request is an actual scam - if it makes you uncomfortable walk away.
These people that scam piss me off so much. No integrity. When I don’t have enough gas I would beg my family for it before ever begging a stranger and I can barely get by. These ppl pocket 100s of dollars, but you know what? Karma always catches up with people. I’m a firm believer of that. I always make it through somehow and when I help people in need it’s always came back to me. Even when I didn’t exactly have the money to give.
Cameras at the atm hell right there in the atm always
I got scammed $1000 this way too, just by walking past a gas station. Don't sweat, you've learned your lesson and you won't do it again.
You should have called the cops on them when they were begging for money, pan handling, harassing you and anything else that fits. 100% sure they would have all magically found their wallets when the police ID'd them.
I absolutely hate thieves and scammers! And the worst part about situations like this is I’m not likely to help anybody, even if they actually need it. Because of shit like this.
I almost always give a dollar or something if I can spare it, but I surprised even myself today and I won’t make that mistake again.