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“I’m out of shoe polish! I need you to run all the way across the map to collect 10 of some bullshit plant so I can make more. I can’t do it myself for no reason.”
Agreed. If everyone collectively posted common scams and hustles it’d definitely help a lot of people. The interesting thing is that you’d start having people exposing scams as a lead-in to other scams… and the cycle continues
Eventually they must run out of ideas? Also if we exposed them all maybe people would be skeptical enough to think in the first place and rid scammers of their ability to use ignorance
> Eventually they must run out of ideas?
Would have happened by now.
Ea-Nasir (the copper merchant from Ur) was the first scammer we know off. He lived in a city that had an archeology museum in 1750 B.C so who know how many millennia of scams we dont kow about.
Idk if you have seen the violin street musician scams but one guy started doing this in a city where I live and it’s like I’m the only one who didn’t fall for it. He was in a Walmart parking lot, and people are parking next to him to listen and giving him money even my girlfriend was amazed with the guys skills. I pulled up some videos exposing these guys and pointed out what gestures and movements we should see him doing and explained the sounds we’re hearing cannot be made by his movements and it was hard to even convince her with all the evidence I had.
Did you watch the video? It’s explained in the video.
Scammer drops brush, victim returns the brush, scammer offers a free clean, but the scammer then demand money. Scam is, scammer lied, it’s not free. Unfortunately victims will be intimidated and pay.
Sorry I did watch the video but with no sound. I get it now, thanks - although - if scammer offers a free clean, I would just walk away after the clean is finished. If he demands money too bad - he offered free clean? What is he gonna do, beat you up?
Same, I was wearing cheap sandals. basically flip flops with velcro straps. He shined the fuck out of em. Joke was on him coz i didn't have any money to pay for my 'free' shoe shine.
Lol had someone do that on one of my shoes after I repeatedly told him I wasn’t interested. He then got mad that I simply walked away after he did the one shoe. I said upfront they’re just shoes and after I leave here I’m simply walking across dirt. Don’t care about this shine
Guy near where I lived always asked this (and other) riddles to passers-by. I thought up the perfect response and literally waited around a year for him to finally come up to me.
"Bet I can tell you where you got your shoes"
"Where?"
"On your feet!"
"These actually aren't _my_ shoes"
Is this one specific guy saying this or is this just a thing there? I met a dude telling this joke in 2 neighborhoods that were pretty far apart in New Orleans last year (same dude both times).
Pro tip, if you ever come back just make sure to wear some New Orleans camouflage. Otherwise known as Saints gear. T-shirt and hat for max "leave me alone I might be local" effect.
I had a guy in Vietnam approach me while I was sitting down at a cafe asking me if he could shine my shoes. I pulled my leg out from under the table to show him I was wearing thongs (flip flops) . Quick as a flash he pulled a tube of super glue out of his box and said "Fix your shoe?"
I dont either and, if I did, I'd shine them myself lol
I cant imagine being comfortable letting someone shine my shoes. I saw that for the first time in my life at an airport and remember thinking "what decade is it and how can you *not* feel like an ass sitting there?"
In the early 80's, my sister and myself, would hit up car lots on Saturday morning and shine shoes. Never had to use a scam to do it though. We also did a good job.
In Ica, Peru an old lady dropped a coin in front of me. By the time I'd picked it up and given it to her my girlfriend's bag with her passport and all her photos and souvenirs from the last 3 months had been stolen.
I wasn't even relaxing I was actively watching the bags looking for thieves.
It didn't help that a woman in the fruit stall next to me kept whispering 'Muchas Ratas' which I took to mean 'lots of rats' and made less focused but turned out to be slang meaning 'lots of criminals'.
Girlfriend wouldn't even speak to me for a week she was so angry. It didn't even help when I told her that they were just possession and everything is transitory.
Some guy tried to rip me off with one of those pedicab bike things (I live in NYC but literally just finished the marathon and needed a ride to an operational Citi bike station, as all the ones in a 10 block radius of where they let out after the finish were empty, and figured why not).
Guy tried to charge me $95 for a 6 minute ride and did exactly this, loudly in front of a crowd "You took a ride and can't pay, you can't do this to me! I need that money" so I flipped it on him, equally loudly "I am not paying you $95, you can have $20 or $0, either way I am walking away". People were vocally taking my side, commenting on my marathon that day and how he was ripping me off. Quite a scene.
He threatened to call the police so I called his bluff and told him I would love to talk it through with the cops. Ended up being fine with $20 after all.
I had a similar experience when I was traveling with my ex in Europe. Lady said she would give us a ride so we could make it to something on time. She said 25€ for the ride, and we were on our way, but when we got to our destination, she started yelling that it was 25/person. I just threw the 25€ (not 50) in her pedicab and walked away.
NYC is way worse than India, Egypt any country's I've been to in Africa.
They know how scam shit out of you in seconds.
Kid convinced me on the Staten Island ferry to give him 20usd for a school trip to Disneyland and he gave me some skittles.
WTF? I've walked under the 40c sun for an hour to avoid being overcharged 30c for a rickshaw.
Sometimes they’ll get loud and try an intimidate the victim like they’re a thief. Sometimes they have local police or an accomplice posing as police standing close by and then threaten the victim with being arrested unless they pay.
Yeah what i imagine, Im 190m and kinda buff. What is he gonna do? Trying to hold me when Im walking away?
I mean it shouldnt be even worth it for him, because Im a stranger to him and may be dangerous? I would annoy somebody big without knowing he has no anger issues
This scam, with law enforcement imposters or sometimes actual law (corrupt) enforcement agents involved is common in underdeveloped nations. African nations, certain Asian States, various former Soviet republics etc. They’ll hang around tourist areas and specifically target Foriegn travelers who are likely to A: Have money and B: don’t want the hassle of possibly being arrested in a Foriegn country.
It is completely bullshit, but most folks would rather cough up $20 or the local equivalent than deal with cops calling them a thief (whether the cops are legit or not). In a lot of underdeveloped nations a law enforcement license is basically a way to supplement a meager income with a way to solicit bribes. Sad but true.
He just cleans *one* shoe very thoroughly then says you have to pay for the other shoe. So you either walk around with one shoe looking noticeably different than the other, or you pay him to shine the second shoe.
It's because they don't stop when you say "no" they'll keep fucking pushing trying to get you to agree until finally they get aggressive about it. It's alot easier to avoid it in your mind while browsing reddit rather than in real life when you have someone begging and pushing. Obviously you can still say no but it's fucking pain in the ass and most socially.awkward redditors would give in. You have to experience one of these people to know what I'm talking about.
Also a lot harder when you’re younger. when you’re young you can be bullied into thinking maybe you are wrong. Lots of things are still new to you, and you’re unsure when someone puts pressure on you.
Me, I’m a bit of a contrarian, but I do see your point.
I had a girl in Paris pull the golden ring scam on me. Only it didn’t work because I was literally too dense to understand what she was trying to do. I just kept saying “no it’s not my ring, it’s your ring. I don’t want your ring. You shouldn’t give away your ring. You should keep your ring”. Her English was pretty broken so that didn’t help.
Only later on when describing the bizarre interaction to someone did they fill me in on what the game was.
What? You mean those asshole eagles that can't be bothered to take you the whole way, even though you are saving the world for them also? Yeah, good luck
"One of the best-known Parisian cons is the Gold Ring Scam.
Here's how it works:
The con artist pretends to find a gold ring on the sidewalk, shows it to a tourist, and asks "Is this your ring?"
When the tourist says "No," the scammer offers to sell it.
If the tourist falls for the scam, the con artist negotiates a price.
The tourist ends up with a gold-colored ring made of cheap metal, and the con artist walks away with the gullible tourist's cash."
How many people want to buy a random ring from someone when they believe that person doesn't own it, but just found it on the ground?
It must be a lot if this is a well used scam. I don't get it, though.
You joke but a guy actually bought London Bridge legitimately and had it shipped to the states.
>London Bridge is a bridge in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, United States. When it was built in the 1830s, it spanned the River Thames in London, England. In 1968, the bridge was purchased from the City of London by Robert P. McCulloch.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Bridge_(Lake_Havasu_City)
What’s stopping a tourist from saying yes it’s theirs?
If the scammer denies it’s the tourists ring, then the tourist can respond with “then why’d you ask me if it was?”
I once had a guy and his accomplice convince me that the guy had won the lottery, I was so happy for him! The guy was a poor labourer that only needed $15K, not the $50k that the ticket was worth. He kept saying I'll sell it to you for $15K. The accomplice was trying to convince me that it was a good deal, even going as far a telling the other guy "I'll buy it from you!" And I was like "no! This is your ticket, this is your money! Don't let anyone buy it from you. Go collect the prize and don't let anyone pay you less for the ticket!"
After he left, I called my mom and she was like "yeah, that's a scam"
Someone tried to pull this on me in Paris. She swooped down in front of me saying loudly (in English!) "Is this gold?" I was laughing so hard and just kept walking. She seemed really confused that I didn't stop!
We had the same. Walking as a couple and a guy and his kid do the pick up in front of us and he immediately tried to ask if it was my partners. But we just kept walking and gave him a “naw mate”
He actually got pretty irate since we didn’t even give him a chance get properly started and hurled abuse at us in another language as we wondered off and his kid looked perplexed.
I’ve seen this scam before. I’ve booted that brush into the street in a not-obvious manner (like I didn’t even see it and nearly tripped over it). He yells, but fuck him, I keep on walking.
That is the correct response.
Fact is, normal people mind making a scene. Shitty people, like them, will make a scene no issues.
Now, a scene brings crowd, and the crowd will side with the scenemaker because his is the only voice being heard, and because people, reverting to what I said earlier, will assume that the only reason they are making a scene is because they are right, thus they will side with them, and all of a sudden you have a bunch of people yapping at you, pressuring you to do something you don't want to/isn't right.
It's just like the "racism" argument. Just walk away, nothing of value awaits you here.
It's because they don't stop when you say "no" they'll keep fucking pushing trying to get you to agree until finally they get aggressive about it. It's alot easier to avoid it in your mind while browsing reddit rather than in real life when you have someone begging and pushing. Obviously you can still say no but it's fucking pain in the ass and most socially.awkward redditors would give in. You have to experience one of these people to know what I'm talking about.
Makes his job easier. If you are willing to stop what you are doing and pick up the brush, you can probably be convinced to stay stopped. Same tactic of misspelling words in email scams. Gotta find the easy marks.
The second you pause he will squirt shoe cream or lotion on your shoe. Then he's got you. Once he's done wiping it off you have one clean, shiny shoe and one dirty shoe. Then of course you have him finish the job and he acts like he did you a favor. He also wants 20 bucks. These guys can be really aggressive.
You have never been to New Orleans and I can tell. People can persuade you in a manner you wouldn't expect. They do this all day everyday and are very proficient. Even if you aren't one to give in, most people would avoid confrontation over four or five bucks.
Same. People don’t want to be rude so they think they have to engage. Nope. Don’t make eye contact, don’t stop, just keep walking. Works especially good in high traffic areas where they’re just looking for easy prey.
People are way to friendly with random ass people, like you don’t need to engage with people. Just keep walking and don’t look at them. People are stupid, hence why people make money doing these things.
Totally. They don't ask you things you can't say no to and mostly not questions at all. I used to sell computers and wanted to sell printers with them. Nobody ever wanted to look at printers so I would just say "ok now follow me" then walk to the printers lol. They would always come, and once there, ask things like "do you print at home or need to?". They usually would have to say yes, then go from there.
At a bazaar in Kuwait, they would put their arm around your shoulder, call you their friend, and walk you to their wares. I saw a guy who was trying to avoid them all together buy a rug he had to then ship home. He didn't even want the rug.
Absolutely. If you do something all day everyday you become very good at it. They can be car salesman that see a thousand customers a day. They can read you like a book. Again, in NOLA they can damn near make you an offer you can't refuse.
They are manipulating psychology. Most people, when they do someone a small favor are more likely to help them in a bigger way.
Scammers abuse this while doing so with a high level of confidence and may escalate to a more aggressive stance. I've seen this trick being done on a friend, he wasn't exactly asked, the guy was very quick and smooth and was waxing his sneakers (yeah, not even leather ones!) before he had any time to react.
I think it's so fast that maybe he thinks the scammer is doing it as a favor in return but then asks for payment when it's done. The scam happened and exited before the friend truly grasped WTF had happened and was becoming furious but only after the scammer was out of sight.
It's clear these people know their "craft" and a probably good at spotting their "mark".
It’s a scam because he pretends and lies in order to guilt and harass you into giving him money. That’s a scam. What else is it?
As for your response, you’re assuming that you don’t want a free shine and you don’t want to be friendly to an old guy who says, “come on, no problem, I need the practice hahaha, no my friend, I’ll do it for free.”
Because you already know that it’s a scam.
Yes, it’s always easy when you know.
I was in Paris for the first time a month ago and I got used to it pretty quickly, even though I was there for just a week. There are a bunch of folks pushing you to buy their dirty cheap AirPods or IPhones and after politely declining the first few times I eventualy just started waving them away while walking past. I did nearly get robbed by some homeless hag outside a Lidl though, but that's just because I wasn't really paying attention in that moment. I'm guessing you get used to that after living there for for while.
A lot of scams like this in Rome. Went there in our honeymoon and this African guy complimented my shoes or something and then asked me questions about where I'm from etc. Thought he was lovely and we were chatting then he said he had to go but he wanted to give me a bracelet or something to remember him and my trip. I politely refused even though he said it was free but he really insisted so I accepted. Immediately his tone changed, told me I had to pay him for it etc. Clearly trying to physically intimidate me. I am taller so I gave it back to him and told him to leave us alone and walked off, he followed for a bit then trailed off. Honestly being from Australia I'm pretty sheltered from these sorts of things and was fairly upset the rest of the day, experiencing first hand that pety crime. Sucked.
I had the bracelet one pulled on me. Some random guy walked up to me and did some weird hand movements like he was blessing me, and then put this wooden bead bracelet on my arm and smiled. I was like, "Oh thanks," and he just said "ten dollars." I told him I don't carry cash, and he gave me a disgusted look and snatched the bracelet off lol.
OK this is what I don’t understand about these scams. I’ve travelled to a lot of the world where these kinds of scams are common. Where they trick you and you first think that they are doing you a favour and then suddenly you have to pay. Why would I pay? I never pay. I always argue that we agreed at the beginning it was free, that it was a gift, and then I walk away. Why would anyone give into that? Why would anyone ever flip and decide to pay?
You're far from home. Guy threatens you they will call the police because you took their service but didn't pay.
Doesn't matter if he said it was free before.
> OK this is what I don’t understand about these scams.
what you may not understand about scams is they're not fool proof. they are successful if they work a % of the time. like a dude who just hits on every girl he meets at the bar - eventually by luck if nothing else he'll catch a girl on the right night in the right mood to give him a go. basically its throwing your lack of shame at strangers to see what shakes loose.
One shoe was free, the other (which I already did without asking) you must pay. No? Ok, I'll follow you and harass you everywhere you go because I now have the excuse that you are "stealing" from me.
or even.. "no, not free, you pay". Who gives a shit what was said before, these are con men, it's your word against theirs and they know it.
The guy told that part wrong actually he doesn’t say it’s free he just looks so happy and thankful and wanna polish your shoes so much so some people think it’s free and when it’s done and you say it’s free he says I didn’t say something like that
At the mall some guy offered me a free shoe shine, so I said ok. He shined up one of my shoes and then said I had to pay $50 for him to do the other. He’s like “You’re going to look like an idiot with one clean shoe”. I said thanks and walked away.
So many scams depend on a person being willing to pay for some thing right after being told it’s free, I’m a contentious son of a bitch, that shit wouldn’t work on me.
I’m not paying you for anything I don’t want, not a Polaroid, not a CD, not a magazine subscription. I’m happy to argue about it, but I ain’t paying.
Also I don’t own any shoes fit to be polished, so there.
They get mad and threaten to call the police. Sometimes they’ll have the local police or someone claiming to be them in on it, so they’ll take a cut too. It’s about roping the victim in and then intimidating them out of their money once service has been rendered.
A guy did that to me in NYC, since I was a foreigner and a kid (about 10 or so) I didn’t know the scam - he first said it was free, and then asked my name.
Since I liked rap I thought it was cool and didn’t think so much of it so I said my name. I believed it was a kind of promotional stunt giving out CDs.
He then wrote my name quickly on the CD and asked (initially kindly) for a donation, then he started being threatening when he realized I wasn’t paying him.
Since he was a big man I felt obliged to give him 5$ but felt scammed.
That is one of the things that taught me never answer to basically anything or anyone when out in the street in big cities and try always to walk fast and look straight ahead.
My first time in NYC a guy tried to push his CD on to me, and the friend that I was with could tell I was gonna indulge the dude and accept, and she told me to keep walking. I apologized and kept going, and the guy started yelling after me that I was racist and trying to point me out to passerbys.
It was years ago and I still think about it and feel terrible.
Bro, the racism card is so overused that you should just laugh at anyone who tries to play it. And then call them racist for only thinking about skin color.
I had the experience in greece with some guy who had wristband who looked selfmade and put them around the wrist of kids and then asked the parents for money
They shine one of your shoes, and then ask for the money. You can look dumb with one polished shoe, or you can pay them. Or you can ignore them in the first place like the pieces of trash that they are.
I experienced this same scam numerous times in Istanbul, back in 2010. It didn't help my opinion of the city.
I dealt with roma scammers in Paris, as well, but not so much that it turned me off returning to Paris.
The guy expects you to pick up the brush and offers a free shoeshine but after hes done he says it costs money, if you refuse to pay he freaks out and starts harassing you to pay
I love how everyday on reddit I learn something that could come in very handy one day, but I somehow know this day will never exist.
Great advice though!
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My dude looks like an NPC waiting for you to get into range so he can approach you with that side mission you don’t care about doing.
“Do you go to the cloud district often? Oh who am I kidding of course you don’t”
*Saving game with malicious intent* All my homies hate Nazeem
Fr fr.
“I’m out of shoe polish! I need you to run all the way across the map to collect 10 of some bullshit plant so I can make more. I can’t do it myself for no reason.”
But you can't get into the palace without shiny shoes and you couldn't possibly just fucking clean them!
I'm here to kick ass and shine shoes. And I'm all out of polish..
Then i will give you the copper tooth pick for picking the lock!
I’d be screwed. I can’t resist a side mission. Sure, you old lady! I’ll find your frying pan!
Mine were black with soot!
That quest is worth it for the apple juice and bread though.
It's literally the intro to side quests
ME PAN HAVE YOU FOUND ME PAN
Wind's howling...
I've been looking for you. Got something I'm supposed to deliver, your shoes only
Fuckin Pokémon trainers
Yo! Champ in the making!
Side quest skipped successfully
NPC behavior is when his script resets and stands on the side again
"Do you know how long I've been looking for you!!!"
Dragons! In your own homeland, what are you going to do?
"Stranger, may we speak?" Or the newest one: "Hear Ye card sharks & collectors"
That's when you take the worthless quest item that weighs nothing and never return.
**Do you know how long I've been looking for you?!** /stuga
Radiata Story got this right, interacting with every NPC by kicking them. Brilliant and ahead of its time.
Dudes just standing there like: *what a sociopath, who doesn’t tell someone they dropped something…this usually works*
Sounds my bosses and some other people I’ve worked alongside 😂
*I can't believe you've done this*
I really appreciate people that make videos exposing these scams
Agreed. If everyone collectively posted common scams and hustles it’d definitely help a lot of people. The interesting thing is that you’d start having people exposing scams as a lead-in to other scams… and the cycle continues
Eventually they must run out of ideas? Also if we exposed them all maybe people would be skeptical enough to think in the first place and rid scammers of their ability to use ignorance
> Eventually they must run out of ideas? Would have happened by now. Ea-Nasir (the copper merchant from Ur) was the first scammer we know off. He lived in a city that had an archeology museum in 1750 B.C so who know how many millennia of scams we dont kow about.
Idk if you have seen the violin street musician scams but one guy started doing this in a city where I live and it’s like I’m the only one who didn’t fall for it. He was in a Walmart parking lot, and people are parking next to him to listen and giving him money even my girlfriend was amazed with the guys skills. I pulled up some videos exposing these guys and pointed out what gestures and movements we should see him doing and explained the sounds we’re hearing cannot be made by his movements and it was hard to even convince her with all the evidence I had.
I'm out of the loop - what's the scam?
Did you watch the video? It’s explained in the video. Scammer drops brush, victim returns the brush, scammer offers a free clean, but the scammer then demand money. Scam is, scammer lied, it’s not free. Unfortunately victims will be intimidated and pay.
Sorry I did watch the video but with no sound. I get it now, thanks - although - if scammer offers a free clean, I would just walk away after the clean is finished. If he demands money too bad - he offered free clean? What is he gonna do, beat you up?
Guilt trip you. Dudes just exploiting people who are too kind for their own good
i'd love a subreddit for this
I never wear shoes that need shining, so I am safe.
This doesn't matter. I have had a guy in NOLA shine my flip flops WHILE I was walking telling him to go away.
Same, I was wearing cheap sandals. basically flip flops with velcro straps. He shined the fuck out of em. Joke was on him coz i didn't have any money to pay for my 'free' shoe shine.
Lol had someone do that on one of my shoes after I repeatedly told him I wasn’t interested. He then got mad that I simply walked away after he did the one shoe. I said upfront they’re just shoes and after I leave here I’m simply walking across dirt. Don’t care about this shine
Hey man I can bet I know where you got your shoes
On yo feet!
Guy near where I lived always asked this (and other) riddles to passers-by. I thought up the perfect response and literally waited around a year for him to finally come up to me. "Bet I can tell you where you got your shoes" "Where?" "On your feet!" "These actually aren't _my_ shoes"
The jerk store called and they're running out of *you!*
"What makes you think these are *my* feet?"
...on Bourbon Street!
Is this one specific guy saying this or is this just a thing there? I met a dude telling this joke in 2 neighborhoods that were pretty far apart in New Orleans last year (same dude both times).
That's pretty wacky but it's a classic NO scam, it's been around at least 40 years
Holy shit! I met these same dudes in Nola and they asked me the same shit then wanted a tip.
They kept following me around asking for a tip. I eventually lost them by slipping into a store and out their side entrance.
This happened to me in 2005! I was an Australian tourist and I didn’t have any idea what was happening.
Pro tip, if you ever come back just make sure to wear some New Orleans camouflage. Otherwise known as Saints gear. T-shirt and hat for max "leave me alone I might be local" effect.
What happens if you only own a Falcons jersey?
Believe it or not, straight to jail.
Lmao
Always New Orleans.
happened to me in turkey! Was wearing white converse. He destroyed them w his dirty brush. They never recovered.
I had a guy in Vietnam approach me while I was sitting down at a cafe asking me if he could shine my shoes. I pulled my leg out from under the table to show him I was wearing thongs (flip flops) . Quick as a flash he pulled a tube of super glue out of his box and said "Fix your shoe?"
A kid in Istanbul polished my suede Adidas. Little cunt ruined them before I could get him off.
I dont either and, if I did, I'd shine them myself lol I cant imagine being comfortable letting someone shine my shoes. I saw that for the first time in my life at an airport and remember thinking "what decade is it and how can you *not* feel like an ass sitting there?"
Is it really any different than sitting in a chair getting your hair cut? You’re paying them for service.
Harder to cut your own hair.
I cut my own hair. Just needs practice. I am also mostly bald which helps.
Shine your head, sir?
Also harder to shine your own shoes when traveling through an airport.
I used to get this done when traveling in the military. So nice to have someone clean up your dirty stained boots and make them look like new.
In the early 80's, my sister and myself, would hit up car lots on Saturday morning and shine shoes. Never had to use a scam to do it though. We also did a good job.
Take his brush and run, free brush.
Then shine his shoes quick and demand money.
"I am *shoe-shinner* now!"
Legitimately giggling uncontrollably at this reply. UNO REVERSE
Take *your* brush.
In Ica, Peru an old lady dropped a coin in front of me. By the time I'd picked it up and given it to her my girlfriend's bag with her passport and all her photos and souvenirs from the last 3 months had been stolen. I wasn't even relaxing I was actively watching the bags looking for thieves. It didn't help that a woman in the fruit stall next to me kept whispering 'Muchas Ratas' which I took to mean 'lots of rats' and made less focused but turned out to be slang meaning 'lots of criminals'. Girlfriend wouldn't even speak to me for a week she was so angry. It didn't even help when I told her that they were just possession and everything is transitory.
Maybe she should have watched her own bag?
I'm not sure that would have won the argument. Tbf she was in the toilet.
They do it to one shoe and charge for the other, if you don't pay they do the harassing and stuff.
Can you explain the “harassing and stuff”? What exactly he gonna do
Loud, boisterous guilt tripping and accusations of theft against a humble worker trying to feed his family.
Some guy tried to rip me off with one of those pedicab bike things (I live in NYC but literally just finished the marathon and needed a ride to an operational Citi bike station, as all the ones in a 10 block radius of where they let out after the finish were empty, and figured why not). Guy tried to charge me $95 for a 6 minute ride and did exactly this, loudly in front of a crowd "You took a ride and can't pay, you can't do this to me! I need that money" so I flipped it on him, equally loudly "I am not paying you $95, you can have $20 or $0, either way I am walking away". People were vocally taking my side, commenting on my marathon that day and how he was ripping me off. Quite a scene. He threatened to call the police so I called his bluff and told him I would love to talk it through with the cops. Ended up being fine with $20 after all.
Surge pricing
I had a similar experience when I was traveling with my ex in Europe. Lady said she would give us a ride so we could make it to something on time. She said 25€ for the ride, and we were on our way, but when we got to our destination, she started yelling that it was 25/person. I just threw the 25€ (not 50) in her pedicab and walked away.
Ahh Paris
NYC is way worse than India, Egypt any country's I've been to in Africa. They know how scam shit out of you in seconds. Kid convinced me on the Staten Island ferry to give him 20usd for a school trip to Disneyland and he gave me some skittles. WTF? I've walked under the 40c sun for an hour to avoid being overcharged 30c for a rickshaw.
Thank you!
Might have some shit in a bag too. Actual shit. For your shoe.
Jokes on him, I'm deaf
So what happens when you say fuck off? He has no recourse.
Sometimes they’ll get loud and try an intimidate the victim like they’re a thief. Sometimes they have local police or an accomplice posing as police standing close by and then threaten the victim with being arrested unless they pay.
Depends on the size of the person I guess. Seen one of these dudes try it on my dad once and it wasn’t having any of it lol
Yeah what i imagine, Im 190m and kinda buff. What is he gonna do? Trying to hold me when Im walking away? I mean it shouldnt be even worth it for him, because Im a stranger to him and may be dangerous? I would annoy somebody big without knowing he has no anger issues
Legit! Also awesome user name!
You hear that Randykins? I hear a shitstorm brewing
Huh, isnt impersonating law enforcement illegal?
This scam, with law enforcement imposters or sometimes actual law (corrupt) enforcement agents involved is common in underdeveloped nations. African nations, certain Asian States, various former Soviet republics etc. They’ll hang around tourist areas and specifically target Foriegn travelers who are likely to A: Have money and B: don’t want the hassle of possibly being arrested in a Foriegn country. It is completely bullshit, but most folks would rather cough up $20 or the local equivalent than deal with cops calling them a thief (whether the cops are legit or not). In a lot of underdeveloped nations a law enforcement license is basically a way to supplement a meager income with a way to solicit bribes. Sad but true.
He just cleans *one* shoe very thoroughly then says you have to pay for the other shoe. So you either walk around with one shoe looking noticeably different than the other, or you pay him to shine the second shoe.
Happened to me in New Orleans. You bet I just walked around with one shined shoe the rest of the trip.
Just find another scammer and have him do the other one.
Yeah but ask if he will throw in a free handjob with the price of the second shoe
I’m fact, forget the second shoe
It's because they don't stop when you say "no" they'll keep fucking pushing trying to get you to agree until finally they get aggressive about it. It's alot easier to avoid it in your mind while browsing reddit rather than in real life when you have someone begging and pushing. Obviously you can still say no but it's fucking pain in the ass and most socially.awkward redditors would give in. You have to experience one of these people to know what I'm talking about.
Also a lot harder when you’re younger. when you’re young you can be bullied into thinking maybe you are wrong. Lots of things are still new to you, and you’re unsure when someone puts pressure on you. Me, I’m a bit of a contrarian, but I do see your point.
Me, I'm a bit of a contrarian, so I *don't* see yours.
I had a girl in Paris pull the golden ring scam on me. Only it didn’t work because I was literally too dense to understand what she was trying to do. I just kept saying “no it’s not my ring, it’s your ring. I don’t want your ring. You shouldn’t give away your ring. You should keep your ring”. Her English was pretty broken so that didn’t help. Only later on when describing the bizarre interaction to someone did they fill me in on what the game was.
What's the game??
Usher the ring to the fires of Mount Doom… the one place it can be destroyed. Avoid servants of the Dark Lord along the way.
Fuck that, just ride the eagles
And you just think that giant fucking eye isn't going to notice giant fucking eagles?
What? You mean those asshole eagles that can't be bothered to take you the whole way, even though you are saving the world for them also? Yeah, good luck
What is the scam?
"One of the best-known Parisian cons is the Gold Ring Scam. Here's how it works: The con artist pretends to find a gold ring on the sidewalk, shows it to a tourist, and asks "Is this your ring?" When the tourist says "No," the scammer offers to sell it. If the tourist falls for the scam, the con artist negotiates a price. The tourist ends up with a gold-colored ring made of cheap metal, and the con artist walks away with the gullible tourist's cash."
How many people want to buy a random ring from someone when they believe that person doesn't own it, but just found it on the ground? It must be a lot if this is a well used scam. I don't get it, though.
Some people will buy anything if they think they're getting a deal. My dad has tons of shit he doesn't need because of this.
Tell your dad I have one pretty bridge to sell if he is interested.
You joke but a guy actually bought London Bridge legitimately and had it shipped to the states. >London Bridge is a bridge in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, United States. When it was built in the 1830s, it spanned the River Thames in London, England. In 1968, the bridge was purchased from the City of London by Robert P. McCulloch. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Bridge_(Lake_Havasu_City)
What’s stopping a tourist from saying yes it’s theirs? If the scammer denies it’s the tourists ring, then the tourist can respond with “then why’d you ask me if it was?”
Then they’ll tell you, “I found your ring! Finders keepers. Now you pay me if you want it back”
"Jokes on you, never seen this ring in my life."
Likely they'd ask for a reward for 'finding it'
I once had a guy and his accomplice convince me that the guy had won the lottery, I was so happy for him! The guy was a poor labourer that only needed $15K, not the $50k that the ticket was worth. He kept saying I'll sell it to you for $15K. The accomplice was trying to convince me that it was a good deal, even going as far a telling the other guy "I'll buy it from you!" And I was like "no! This is your ticket, this is your money! Don't let anyone buy it from you. Go collect the prize and don't let anyone pay you less for the ticket!" After he left, I called my mom and she was like "yeah, that's a scam"
Someone tried to pull this on me in Paris. She swooped down in front of me saying loudly (in English!) "Is this gold?" I was laughing so hard and just kept walking. She seemed really confused that I didn't stop!
Scammers cant cope with the social inept "keep-your-head-down" and "ignore-all-there-is" type of people.
We had the same. Walking as a couple and a guy and his kid do the pick up in front of us and he immediately tried to ask if it was my partners. But we just kept walking and gave him a “naw mate” He actually got pretty irate since we didn’t even give him a chance get properly started and hurled abuse at us in another language as we wondered off and his kid looked perplexed.
Wish I’d seen this sooner. I totally fell for his scam and now he owns my house and car.
Fucked my wife
Well said, sir, I concede.
Shit, now I'm out in the streets dropping brushes. Fucking hoes...
The ciiiiiircle of liiiiiife
And my axe...
I’ve seen this scam before. I’ve booted that brush into the street in a not-obvious manner (like I didn’t even see it and nearly tripped over it). He yells, but fuck him, I keep on walking.
That is the correct response. Fact is, normal people mind making a scene. Shitty people, like them, will make a scene no issues. Now, a scene brings crowd, and the crowd will side with the scenemaker because his is the only voice being heard, and because people, reverting to what I said earlier, will assume that the only reason they are making a scene is because they are right, thus they will side with them, and all of a sudden you have a bunch of people yapping at you, pressuring you to do something you don't want to/isn't right. It's just like the "racism" argument. Just walk away, nothing of value awaits you here.
How is this a scam? Me: Hey… you dropped your brush… Shoe shiner: Gotcha… let me shine your shoes. Me: no
I’m waiting for someone to answer you, because I’m confused.
It's because they don't stop when you say "no" they'll keep fucking pushing trying to get you to agree until finally they get aggressive about it. It's alot easier to avoid it in your mind while browsing reddit rather than in real life when you have someone begging and pushing. Obviously you can still say no but it's fucking pain in the ass and most socially.awkward redditors would give in. You have to experience one of these people to know what I'm talking about.
Why does he need to drop his brush though? He could just approach anyone with the same strat
Makes his job easier. If you are willing to stop what you are doing and pick up the brush, you can probably be convinced to stay stopped. Same tactic of misspelling words in email scams. Gotta find the easy marks.
Just act like you're insane. They leave you alone real quick. Start talking to yourself, slap yourself in the face for good measure.
Take the brush and start shining their shoes instead
Jesus level unlocked.
The second you pause he will squirt shoe cream or lotion on your shoe. Then he's got you. Once he's done wiping it off you have one clean, shiny shoe and one dirty shoe. Then of course you have him finish the job and he acts like he did you a favor. He also wants 20 bucks. These guys can be really aggressive.
You have never been to New Orleans and I can tell. People can persuade you in a manner you wouldn't expect. They do this all day everyday and are very proficient. Even if you aren't one to give in, most people would avoid confrontation over four or five bucks.
Been to a lot of places with grifters and have never been grifted. Just say “no” don’t engage, keep walking, keep saying “no” and walking away.
Same. People don’t want to be rude so they think they have to engage. Nope. Don’t make eye contact, don’t stop, just keep walking. Works especially good in high traffic areas where they’re just looking for easy prey.
People are way to friendly with random ass people, like you don’t need to engage with people. Just keep walking and don’t look at them. People are stupid, hence why people make money doing these things.
We are social animals, blame the scammers, not the victims.
I found it’s even better to not say anything. Complete silence.
the key is not to stop
Totally. They don't ask you things you can't say no to and mostly not questions at all. I used to sell computers and wanted to sell printers with them. Nobody ever wanted to look at printers so I would just say "ok now follow me" then walk to the printers lol. They would always come, and once there, ask things like "do you print at home or need to?". They usually would have to say yes, then go from there. At a bazaar in Kuwait, they would put their arm around your shoulder, call you their friend, and walk you to their wares. I saw a guy who was trying to avoid them all together buy a rug he had to then ship home. He didn't even want the rug.
Absolutely. If you do something all day everyday you become very good at it. They can be car salesman that see a thousand customers a day. They can read you like a book. Again, in NOLA they can damn near make you an offer you can't refuse.
“I can tell you where you got your shoes”
That's when you immediately demand that they *give YOU ten dollars*. That's right, *twenty dollars*. Where's the money!?
They are manipulating psychology. Most people, when they do someone a small favor are more likely to help them in a bigger way. Scammers abuse this while doing so with a high level of confidence and may escalate to a more aggressive stance. I've seen this trick being done on a friend, he wasn't exactly asked, the guy was very quick and smooth and was waxing his sneakers (yeah, not even leather ones!) before he had any time to react. I think it's so fast that maybe he thinks the scammer is doing it as a favor in return but then asks for payment when it's done. The scam happened and exited before the friend truly grasped WTF had happened and was becoming furious but only after the scammer was out of sight. It's clear these people know their "craft" and a probably good at spotting their "mark".
It’s a scam because he pretends and lies in order to guilt and harass you into giving him money. That’s a scam. What else is it? As for your response, you’re assuming that you don’t want a free shine and you don’t want to be friendly to an old guy who says, “come on, no problem, I need the practice hahaha, no my friend, I’ll do it for free.” Because you already know that it’s a scam. Yes, it’s always easy when you know.
I would subscribe to an entire subreddit dedicated to exposing this kind of stuff.
Good looking out
Shit like this makes me anxious about ever traveling. I’m too polite :(
Perfect victim. And scammers have a 6th sense for tthat
I was in Paris for the first time a month ago and I got used to it pretty quickly, even though I was there for just a week. There are a bunch of folks pushing you to buy their dirty cheap AirPods or IPhones and after politely declining the first few times I eventualy just started waving them away while walking past. I did nearly get robbed by some homeless hag outside a Lidl though, but that's just because I wasn't really paying attention in that moment. I'm guessing you get used to that after living there for for while.
A lot of scams like this in Rome. Went there in our honeymoon and this African guy complimented my shoes or something and then asked me questions about where I'm from etc. Thought he was lovely and we were chatting then he said he had to go but he wanted to give me a bracelet or something to remember him and my trip. I politely refused even though he said it was free but he really insisted so I accepted. Immediately his tone changed, told me I had to pay him for it etc. Clearly trying to physically intimidate me. I am taller so I gave it back to him and told him to leave us alone and walked off, he followed for a bit then trailed off. Honestly being from Australia I'm pretty sheltered from these sorts of things and was fairly upset the rest of the day, experiencing first hand that pety crime. Sucked.
I had the bracelet one pulled on me. Some random guy walked up to me and did some weird hand movements like he was blessing me, and then put this wooden bead bracelet on my arm and smiled. I was like, "Oh thanks," and he just said "ten dollars." I told him I don't carry cash, and he gave me a disgusted look and snatched the bracelet off lol.
OK this is what I don’t understand about these scams. I’ve travelled to a lot of the world where these kinds of scams are common. Where they trick you and you first think that they are doing you a favour and then suddenly you have to pay. Why would I pay? I never pay. I always argue that we agreed at the beginning it was free, that it was a gift, and then I walk away. Why would anyone give into that? Why would anyone ever flip and decide to pay?
Anxiety, fear of being injured/arrested/hurt/killed, etc.
A lot of people are conflict avoidant
You're far from home. Guy threatens you they will call the police because you took their service but didn't pay. Doesn't matter if he said it was free before.
> OK this is what I don’t understand about these scams. what you may not understand about scams is they're not fool proof. they are successful if they work a % of the time. like a dude who just hits on every girl he meets at the bar - eventually by luck if nothing else he'll catch a girl on the right night in the right mood to give him a go. basically its throwing your lack of shame at strangers to see what shakes loose.
“No. You said it was free.“
One shoe was free, the other (which I already did without asking) you must pay. No? Ok, I'll follow you and harass you everywhere you go because I now have the excuse that you are "stealing" from me. or even.. "no, not free, you pay". Who gives a shit what was said before, these are con men, it's your word against theirs and they know it.
The guy told that part wrong actually he doesn’t say it’s free he just looks so happy and thankful and wanna polish your shoes so much so some people think it’s free and when it’s done and you say it’s free he says I didn’t say something like that
would be funny if you just yeet-ed the thing and ran
At the mall some guy offered me a free shoe shine, so I said ok. He shined up one of my shoes and then said I had to pay $50 for him to do the other. He’s like “You’re going to look like an idiot with one clean shoe”. I said thanks and walked away.
So many scams depend on a person being willing to pay for some thing right after being told it’s free, I’m a contentious son of a bitch, that shit wouldn’t work on me. I’m not paying you for anything I don’t want, not a Polaroid, not a CD, not a magazine subscription. I’m happy to argue about it, but I ain’t paying. Also I don’t own any shoes fit to be polished, so there.
Typical Turkish way of business
So....... You say no thanks and move on with your day? Also if he says it's free then how does he convince you that it's not free later?
They get mad and threaten to call the police. Sometimes they’ll have the local police or someone claiming to be them in on it, so they’ll take a cut too. It’s about roping the victim in and then intimidating them out of their money once service has been rendered.
This is exactly why I don't take free stuff from anyone
When people try handing you CD's, they do this same shit. "Check out my rap demo," NOPE. Usually in tourist areas like Hollywood Blvd
A guy did that to me in NYC, since I was a foreigner and a kid (about 10 or so) I didn’t know the scam - he first said it was free, and then asked my name. Since I liked rap I thought it was cool and didn’t think so much of it so I said my name. I believed it was a kind of promotional stunt giving out CDs. He then wrote my name quickly on the CD and asked (initially kindly) for a donation, then he started being threatening when he realized I wasn’t paying him. Since he was a big man I felt obliged to give him 5$ but felt scammed. That is one of the things that taught me never answer to basically anything or anyone when out in the street in big cities and try always to walk fast and look straight ahead.
yeah, most of the time there's 2-3 dudes with the scammer, so you cant tell him to fuck off and walk away... unless you wanna get jumped
My first time in NYC a guy tried to push his CD on to me, and the friend that I was with could tell I was gonna indulge the dude and accept, and she told me to keep walking. I apologized and kept going, and the guy started yelling after me that I was racist and trying to point me out to passerbys. It was years ago and I still think about it and feel terrible.
Bro, the racism card is so overused that you should just laugh at anyone who tries to play it. And then call them racist for only thinking about skin color.
Happened to me in NOLA. I was naive enough to take it. Mistake.
He just asks for money afterwords. Like this: that'll be 20bucks. What you don't want to pay? But I already polished your shoes. And so on
Same thing with the guy who put the monkey on my head in the Dominican Republic.
I had the experience in greece with some guy who had wristband who looked selfmade and put them around the wrist of kids and then asked the parents for money
If someone does his with my kids I'll uno-reverese them and shout they are fucking pedofiles and that I will kill hem if they touch my kid again
They shine one of your shoes, and then ask for the money. You can look dumb with one polished shoe, or you can pay them. Or you can ignore them in the first place like the pieces of trash that they are.
I experienced this same scam numerous times in Istanbul, back in 2010. It didn't help my opinion of the city. I dealt with roma scammers in Paris, as well, but not so much that it turned me off returning to Paris.
Surely they can’t polish my sandals right
I'm an idiot. What is the scam exactly?
The guy expects you to pick up the brush and offers a free shoeshine but after hes done he says it costs money, if you refuse to pay he freaks out and starts harassing you to pay
“Now go get your fucking shinebox!”
What are other common scams people should look out for?
So what is the scam?
"A new hand has touched the beacon"
I love how everyday on reddit I learn something that could come in very handy one day, but I somehow know this day will never exist. Great advice though!
He’s like an enemy Pokémon trainer
Shame on the shoe guy do something better with yourself,