Yesterday our group went to Wal Mart to shop for groceries. After I had gotten my groceries, and I was waiting for our van to arrive a guy came up and sat down beside me. He asked me if I knew any social agencies that would give him five dollars worth of gas because he and his partner were out of gas and they needed to be in the town of Gentry by five o’clock. I could have given him the five dollars myself without much trouble, but something held me back. Instead, I gave him directions to the Salvation Army and told him that if they couldn’t give him the gas they could probably point him in the right direction to get some from a different social agency. I’ve been wondering about that guy since then. I still wonder if he wasn’t some kind of scammer. Maybe he was part of an organized panhandling scheme and he was seeing how generous the people in the vicinity were so they would know if it would be worth their time to panhandle there. If that was the case those of his ilk give panhandling a worse reputation than it already has. Some poor schmuck that is panhandling and really needs the money isn’t looked at as being on the up and up because of stuff like that. Or maybe this was some other type of scam. On the other hand, I might have subjected some decent guy to a lot of trouble because I was too suspicious to give him the money. What do you think?
He might have been decent. Or he might have been an addict. But I think a scammer would come up with something more elaborate or be more persistent.
I guess I should have given him the money.
You never really know. But if you weren’t at a gas station it strikes me as suspicious.
hes was good…he asked without directly asking… he made sure you heard the specific dollar amount he required…
I like to make them tell me a funny story or joke… this ensures I get the good feeling either because they actually needed it or because the scammer made me laugh… I had a guy in Atlanta say he was starving…i offered to go get him some food…he passed… so I said I would give him 5 of the 10 I originally planned on giving him… if he could make laugh… he got his 5 bucks…and walked over to a blacked out suv the window came down his joke money went in and off he went… still got a good laugh…
I had this lady ask me for $7.25 cents for the bus, I didn’t believe it because she seemed so entitled . So I pulled over and watch her for awhile and eventually she went over and hoped in a car with someone waiting for her,. I don’t give money unless I think they have sz or something. They still. Probably by booze but what can you do to help?
Who knows if this was a scam? Long ago I had people saying to me pretty much what this guy said to you.
I’ve heard people say to me almost exactly what this guy said to you and I sensed they were lying. All I can say is to trust your instincts. Scammers are good at what they do. In fact I used to know people personally who needed money and used this story and then turned around and spent the money on drugs. Trust your instincts.
I might be wrong but the fact that he sat down beside you seems a little suspicious. Its a little too intimate for someone you don’t know to be that familiar while asking for money. At the end of the day, he was just a stranger and you didn’t owe him anything.
I would have done what you did. If he wasn’t a scammer, you helped him. you gave him information on how to get help. If he was a scammer, then you didn’t get scammed. You did the right thing. Although I frequently give money to the people on the side of the highway. They may or may not be scamming me but my heart is in the right place and I do what I think is right at the time which is give them money for food. You just never know. Sometimes even the legitimately needy will try to scam because they don’t know what else to do.
Definitely a scam
I wonder if ancient super powers dealt with similar con artists… probably…
There were probably cons as long as there has been money.
yeah lol some things don’t change… nice to know
In San Francisco today while waiting for the “walk” light to go green, this guy asks me for a quarter. I asked him what was he going to do with one quarter.
Then told him he was too late, the evil parking meter sucked down all my quarters…it gives 8 minutes for one quarter.
Now which was the scam?
There are other scams accepted as respectable, but I’m not going to go into that.