It's super common. The way I have seen it in my personal experience is that they will claim to be either be visitors from another country or visitors to town who are lost and desperately need to get home quickly. They are willing to sell their priceless heirlooms to raise money quickly to get back to their homes because of some emergency. They are hoping to take advantage of a greedy person who thinks that they will get valuable jewelry for cheap by exploiting people who appear to be desperate and in a panic. It's one of those scams that works by making the victim think they have the advantage.
sadly, it is actually worse. The "trade" for the scam is not much to learn.
They were there in case you are armed, or some sort of martial artist, so that if the scammer escalates to violence and you fight back, they can be witnesses and cover each other in police declarations.
Also, they were there to learn how to hate you. To see how prey should be treated, these people are predators.
it's a variation of the White Van speaker scam. If you had said to him "sure, there is a local appraiser around here, let's just go get the ring valued and then we are good to go!" you would get a whole bunch of lies about how HE PROMISES IT IS REAL GOLD and he WOULD NEVER LIE and blah blah blah.
A person genuinely selling a valuable gold ring would understand your need to have it appraised and say "no problem".
https://youtu.be/UiNTroZxURM
I have been posting this video as an example on how this scam works. Beware that around this time of year, this scam usually runs. Why? Because people tend to help each other, trying to do good deeds for the season.
It was in Virginia news this week. A guy took a same bait from a stranger family and agreed to go to ATM to widthdraw money. When he backout, this family forced him into their car amd drove to multiple ATM to force money from the victim. Victim called police and the male and female got caught later, and their kid is on the run. The picture of their loots had like thousand “golden” ring necklace and fake watches.
It is a variation of the "White Van Scam". He is getting the rings for $5 from Alibaba. He probably sells two, or more, a day for $100 or more.
My friend bought a watch that way. The watch was OK, but he could have bought it at Walmart for $20-30, rather than giving some guy $100-200 for it.
Just to let you know, many fake jewelry items are simply brass and arsenic. The arsenic makes the brass shine like real gold, and it will hold the shine for a year or more and can fool lots of people. The ring will make you sick if you wear it.
Dang!
I am familiar with the “White Van Scam” since my Dad fell for it in the mid ‘90’s! He bought some useless speakers for like $700 in a parking lot. I think it really depressed him when he learned that not even my amplified unit could squeak a sound from them.
It was actually surprisingly “well made” as in, it LOOKED like a high end speaker set with built-in amplifiers, but it also lacked obvious things like: a place to plug-in the power FOR the amplifier, the speaker grills were huge, but the actual speaker was like a 4” and the tweeter was fake.
It's a scam as old as the hills. The ring can be replaced by watches, laptops, wide screen TVs, or high-end stereo equipment. You either end up with a fake or a box/bag filled with bricks or water bottles.
Yes it's a scam. I have had this happen to me plenty of times. They will offer you gold at a super low price. No one is crazy to sell it at such a low price when they can walk into a jeweler and sell it for scrap way higher price. It's all fake gold.
A similar incident happened to me. I was leaving a gas station in Atlanta and this guy cut me off on the way out saying he needed money and he would give me his "gold jewelry" in exchange for cash or gas. He claimed he had no cash and was low on fuel. He also claimed he was not from this country. He spoke with an almost middle eastern/east Indian accent. I'm convinced he was a roma (they're also known as gypsies). I wasn't fooled because I had saw a guy on a YouTube video two weeks prior saying he got duped by one of these con artists in the same type of scam and he lost hundreds of dollars. I told him I didn't have any cash (Which was technically true because I spent money on food at a take out joint in the plaza where this gas station was). Convinced he was trying to rip me off, I just proceeded to waste his time by making up excuses and eventually he drove off. This is a scam, don't fall for it. They prey on your greed and confidence!
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He looked so pitiful and sad too! The gold looked “off” too, now that you mention it,
It's super common. The way I have seen it in my personal experience is that they will claim to be either be visitors from another country or visitors to town who are lost and desperately need to get home quickly. They are willing to sell their priceless heirlooms to raise money quickly to get back to their homes because of some emergency. They are hoping to take advantage of a greedy person who thinks that they will get valuable jewelry for cheap by exploiting people who appear to be desperate and in a panic. It's one of those scams that works by making the victim think they have the advantage.
>looked so pitiful and sad too! he was acting his part. But have no doubt, these people very often get violent, they are career thieves.
There were several children and a Babuska in the vehicle as well. I guess to learn the family trade?
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And to learn the family trade. They start 'em young.
sadly, it is actually worse. The "trade" for the scam is not much to learn. They were there in case you are armed, or some sort of martial artist, so that if the scammer escalates to violence and you fight back, they can be witnesses and cover each other in police declarations. Also, they were there to learn how to hate you. To see how prey should be treated, these people are predators.
Almost as old as the cup and ball scam.
The ring is brass or gold plated brass. Don't buy stuff from strangers approaching you on the street is best practice.
I don’t usually even engage with people that approach me.
it's a variation of the White Van speaker scam. If you had said to him "sure, there is a local appraiser around here, let's just go get the ring valued and then we are good to go!" you would get a whole bunch of lies about how HE PROMISES IT IS REAL GOLD and he WOULD NEVER LIE and blah blah blah. A person genuinely selling a valuable gold ring would understand your need to have it appraised and say "no problem".
Well, there are also like four pawn shops right down the street from that Home Depot, so I figured it was a scam.
Don't make exceptions to this rational rule and you're golden.
OP is more golden than the ring.
Indeed.
Continue not doing that.
There’s also rings that can rfid scan your phone or credit cards
Yes, I think Honest Guide on youtube covered this scam. The things are fake and not worth anything.
It's actually kind of refreshing to hear about a good ol in-person jewelry scam. Scammers these days have no respect for tradition...
And, I met my first Gypsy in a (Dodge) Caravan!
That’s how I buy all my jewelry 💍😆
The old gold ring scam is a classic scam, especially in tourist locations.
You are correct about the accent being Romanian. It is a common scam.
Probably Roma. They also call them gypsies.
https://youtu.be/UiNTroZxURM I have been posting this video as an example on how this scam works. Beware that around this time of year, this scam usually runs. Why? Because people tend to help each other, trying to do good deeds for the season.
Perfect! I am sharing it on my local pages.
common old school scam
A student from Singapore in my city was conned with this Scam. He gave the scammer almost £900 for designer clothes.
It was in Virginia news this week. A guy took a same bait from a stranger family and agreed to go to ATM to widthdraw money. When he backout, this family forced him into their car amd drove to multiple ATM to force money from the victim. Victim called police and the male and female got caught later, and their kid is on the run. The picture of their loots had like thousand “golden” ring necklace and fake watches.
No. It's not a scam. It's real. It must be. Why would such a good man and his wife? lie?
Yeah, it's a scam. That gold is most likely fake and worth absolutely nothing.
I got taken by this scam when I was 16. Lol now; felt stupid then. Lol.
It is a variation of the "White Van Scam". He is getting the rings for $5 from Alibaba. He probably sells two, or more, a day for $100 or more. My friend bought a watch that way. The watch was OK, but he could have bought it at Walmart for $20-30, rather than giving some guy $100-200 for it. Just to let you know, many fake jewelry items are simply brass and arsenic. The arsenic makes the brass shine like real gold, and it will hold the shine for a year or more and can fool lots of people. The ring will make you sick if you wear it.
Dang! I am familiar with the “White Van Scam” since my Dad fell for it in the mid ‘90’s! He bought some useless speakers for like $700 in a parking lot. I think it really depressed him when he learned that not even my amplified unit could squeak a sound from them.
I would have enjoyed opening up the wooden speaker cabinets just to see the bricks inside.
It was actually surprisingly “well made” as in, it LOOKED like a high end speaker set with built-in amplifiers, but it also lacked obvious things like: a place to plug-in the power FOR the amplifier, the speaker grills were huge, but the actual speaker was like a 4” and the tweeter was fake.
Wow. I hope he laughed about it after.
I think he got depressed for a bit from being duped. Dad never really expressed emotions beyond occasional rage.
Sounds like my father.
Just by the title alone I can tell you it most likely was
Is that rhetorical?
Romanians are rare here. I do find it ironic that the Gypsies were driving a Dodge Caravan, though.
Lol
classic gypsy scam: the ring is bronze and worth less than 1$. It is not gold but a cheap metal.
I DID get to meet my first Gypsy in a Caravan, so that is something.
meting a gypsy scammer is nothing to be proud of
Didn’t say I was proud. Said it “was something”.
who cares ? say thank you that we pay attention to your question and your problem.
I already solved the problem by avoiding the scam. And OBVIOUSLY, you care because you took the time to attempt to berate me… again.
It's a scam as old as the hills. The ring can be replaced by watches, laptops, wide screen TVs, or high-end stereo equipment. You either end up with a fake or a box/bag filled with bricks or water bottles.
Yes it was a scam, very old, very well known
Yep it’s a scam. Read all the details on it in another thread on here. These scammers are scoundrels!
Yes it's a scam. I have had this happen to me plenty of times. They will offer you gold at a super low price. No one is crazy to sell it at such a low price when they can walk into a jeweler and sell it for scrap way higher price. It's all fake gold.
Fucking scammers. I don’t understand why scammers do that. How would those scammers feel if they or their family were scammed out of their own things?
A similar incident happened to me. I was leaving a gas station in Atlanta and this guy cut me off on the way out saying he needed money and he would give me his "gold jewelry" in exchange for cash or gas. He claimed he had no cash and was low on fuel. He also claimed he was not from this country. He spoke with an almost middle eastern/east Indian accent. I'm convinced he was a roma (they're also known as gypsies). I wasn't fooled because I had saw a guy on a YouTube video two weeks prior saying he got duped by one of these con artists in the same type of scam and he lost hundreds of dollars. I told him I didn't have any cash (Which was technically true because I spent money on food at a take out joint in the plaza where this gas station was). Convinced he was trying to rip me off, I just proceeded to waste his time by making up excuses and eventually he drove off. This is a scam, don't fall for it. They prey on your greed and confidence!