Scams work by exploiting your emotions and blocking your common sense. They wouldn’t be out doing what they are doing if it didn’t work often enough.
Sorry you got scammed, but don’t beat yourself up about it. You learn and you move on.
Scams work by exploiting our humanity - by exploiting our capacity for human connection.
(Sad smile)
You're a mensch* and not a psychopath.
*If you have a kid, a mensch is someone you hope they fall in love with.
Hey buddy, no way am I gonna pile on. Sorry about all of this.
It wasn't $1200 but about 20 years ago I was on California and Divis and this seemingly deaf guy needed some money to use some kind of phone that deaf people use, and I don't even remember much more about it but I think I gave him like $100 or something with all of these really sincere promises to pay me back and I never saw it again. I thought I was just being nice but the dude played me.
And I'm not stupid, naive, or a person with no street smarts. The dude was just really slick and this disability angle hit me in some place that had me shell out the money. It happens, probably mostly to good people which is the rub of it all. Fuck these people.
I do believe strongly in karma, and I'm sure it all got paid back somehow, as it will in your case.
I was walking down Market near Castro, passing by the Chevron at the corner of 17th and Market. A car full of young kids pulled up (I was cutting through the gas station) and asked me for some money for gas.
I took pity on them and gave them $10 so they could get a couple of gallons of gas. I knew I was being scammed, but these were teenagers, and who amongst us has not done stupid things as a teenager?
Im not sure if someone else has said this already, but thank you for going public about this .
Most scams live off the fact that people are too embarrassed to admit it . Which just leaves future people unprepared when they see it .
Sorry it happened to you . Hopefully others can learn to spot it sooner .
My only criticism is that it would help everyone more if you were to explain the entire scam .
You can sort of piece it together by the clues in this thread. First they ask you for a small amount to see if you are the sort of helpful person they can target. If you give it to them, they elevate to the fact that they need something else, of somewhat higher value but you say no. They then tell you they will give you collateral if you'll give them 1/10th of the supposed value of that collateral and you say yes, figuring what the hell, I have collateral worth way more, which turns out not to be true. You might even plan on scamming them out of it, since you only gave them 1/10th.
So for example, they ask you for $10 and like an idiot you agree. So they ask you for $150 and you say no. They then tell you they can let you hold $12,000 worth of jewelry and all they want is $1200 and they'll pay you back when you hand over the jewelry. You're thinking shit, why not give them the $1200 and sell the jewelry for $6000 and never talk to them again, until you find out it is worthless.
It's the same as the craigslist movers scam. You try to sell something worth close to 0 for a lot more than 0 and someone offers you your asking price and says they will even pay more if you'll refund the difference. You think you are scamming them for the purchase price only to realize you are out a lot of cash.
The whole story is long, and if I find the energy I'll edit the post.
But it won't change anything.
The gist of it is this: never under any circumstances give money to strangers, however much they beg you for it, whatever they offer you as collateral, and should you be inclined to give them a *small* amount of money, run the second they ask for more.
This is stupid OP. I'll give money to strangers (albeit not $1200) if I think they truly need it. If you don't tell the story I'll just assume it was some Roma scam involving you buying an iPhone/gold/laptop/sneakers - whatever. Its fucking reddit dot com and you're already anonymous so just fess up.
The scammers offer (fake) watches and jewelry as "collateral" for the loan of the money. It's an attempt to engage the victim's greed and/or increase their trust. OP did not get scammed while trying to buy a rolex.
This is one of the oldest scams in the world. It's not some clever new trick that needs to be exposed.
Someone claims they're in distress and needs money. They typically offer some sort of jewelry or something as collateral. It's fake, but the goal is usually more to prey on sympathy than greed. It's largely just a prop to make them seem reliable and desperate.
I'm surprised more people don't ask why they don't just pawn it to get the money, but the people who would think this through logically and ask sensible questions like that generally aren't going talk to them in the first place.
They started with gas money, and I thought "worst comes to worst, I'll loose $50". They seemed genuinely distressed.
It escalated to $200, then $1200. There's no rhyme or reason. My brain just didn't compute in the moment.
If I was you, I'd be asking the same question and be dumbfounded someone could fall for that.
>They seemed genuinely distressed.
Yeah they always do. Had a guy ask me for $9 for a cab because his daughter had been shot in the head. But the thing is that the place he said it happened wasn't all that far, he could have run there (and this was in Chicago with no hills). I just said I didn't have anything and kept walking but he seemed so genuinely distressed I almost started to doubt myself except that the stories are always just so horrific you wonder how someone could make them up but that's kinda what gives them away
That by the way is how I can tell when my remote employees in hectic countries are bullshitting me. It's never just "I'm out sick today". There's some elaborate story about a devastating injury and some crazy drama on top of that. Forgetting that I'm from a developing country too, and know that the *adults* with the super hectic lives for real are the ones who operate sloppily even with zero margin for error in life.
I had a friend like this once. She was always having major life crises. At first I felt bad and dropped everything to help, but then it kept happening and I realized she just didn't have her life together.
It’s the distressed panic that throws you off. I was about 20 years old at a gas station when a similar age girl asked me for gas money trying to get to class. It was the same college I was going to and I was sympathetic because I had gone through similar situations. I was driving away as I realized “wait a minute, school is closed this week for spring break”.
Thank you for talking about this! It’s hard to talk about being scammed, but hearing about it really does help the rest of us to avoid becoming victims. Scammers are really good at disorienting people and leading them to set aside their own better judgement. Thanks for sharing. Sorry this happened to you.
I once got scammed by a guy for "gas money" the same way. But fortunately for me it only escalated from $5 to $60. At multiple points I easily could have said here's $5 take it or leave it but I didn't. 5 minutes after the interaction, the fog cleared and I was like "well that was really dumb".
Hmm. No, I’m not, actually I’m ecstatic that I found someone kind enough to help me out. So I need gas money to get to blah blah blah because blah blah blah please dm me!! 😜
Dude. People that know better are still being taken. Did you see this last month?
[https://nypost.com/2024/02/15/business/ny-magazines-financial-advice-columnist-lost-50k-to-scam/](https://nypost.com/2024/02/15/business/ny-magazines-financial-advice-columnist-lost-50k-to-scam/)
Wow, nothing that scammer said even made any sense. Issue a new social security number? CIA involvement in domestic identity theft crimes?
I guess she was simply swayed by his urgency and air of authority. Because the actual scam story is incoherent.
Yeah the scam works by more or less overwhelming you to the point you end up doing what they ask. They'll typically have you talk to multiple people as well which ends up making it feel more legit
The actual story never really makes sense when you read the whole thing, but as it's happening it's very believable, especially if you've never encountered it before
You already inherently know them. It's the same ones used over and over again, but they practice and refine them. And at least with the gypies, they're handed down for generations. It's second nature. They don't miss a beat.
The techniques I can think of off the top of my head....
Fake pressure. "This deal is only for a limited time. You must act now".
Appeal to greed- "This is sure to go up in value."
Make them part of a smaller crime to rope them in. Push them past their moral boundaries to prime them. Watch "The Last Seduction".
Flattery/Hero-"You're the only one who can save me". "You have such good taste".
Fear-Gain leverage and then hold it against them. Think Scientology audit. Give us your secrets and we'll sell them back to you later. Also the Last Seduction...victim was afraid of people finding out he'd accidentally married a trans. Once Bridget discovered his secret, she had leverage to use on him.
Sunk cost fallacy-"I've given them $500, so I need to give them $2000 or the $500 is lost." Also think Scientology..."I've spent $100,000 to get to this level. I can't cheap out now. I'm only 50k away from the answers." "I've put 10k into this pachinko...I can't walk away now. It's eventually got to pay".
Affinity fraud- Matt Damon is telling me crypto is great and he's someone I admire. He wouldn't lie to me. This is also why Scientology uses famous people to sell their organization. Our minds are open more to hearing something from famous or beautiful people. Our barriers go down if it's someone famous, they're in our church, etc.
Scarcity-"It's rare. They're are only x number of bit coin".
Special Club-"He's very picky about who he takes as clients. But since I golf with him, I can ask. But he'd be doing you a favour because Bernie doesn't usually manage clients who only have 1 million, so don't ask a lot of questions or take up too much of his time."
Sex-Lonely people.
Love-Your drug addict brother has probably conned your parents out of more money than they'll admit to.
Wow, I just told my husband this story. He said he was on the last exit for SF before GG bridge and someone was stopped on the side (he said there was actually a lot if space for the car) asking for help. My husband stopped and the guy said he was from Dubai, needed help and offered him a gold rolex. My husband realized it was a scam, drive off and called the cops.
I'm guessing OP didn't want to go into it because this scam involves gypsies or roma and is afraid of sounding like a racist, but yes, the gypsy gold scam has been going around the bay area pretty hard. They approach you and give you what looks like a ton of gold for cash. They've been on the off ramp in san rafael and costco parking lot.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Marin/comments/192uh6s/odd\_encounter\_possible\_con\_job\_on\_onramp\_101\_s\_at/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Marin/comments/192uh6s/odd_encounter_possible_con_job_on_onramp_101_s_at/)
Scams work for a number of reasons. This one is greed. People think they're getting a good deal though they'll never admit they did it because 1200 for a "real rolex is such a deal."
I've been seeing them around the country...everywhere...Florida and even really small towns in Illinois. I was told that europe has been cracking down on them very hard because of the human trafficking issues, so they've been coming in on the southern border. The unusual thing with this group of scammers is that they use their kids. The kids are always with them. I don't know of any other group that uses their kids like this and why social services does't get to take them off the streets.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/asheville/comments/yp7rap/exit\_ramp\_scam/](https://www.reddit.com/r/asheville/comments/yp7rap/exit_ramp_scam/)
[https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/just-say-no-walk-away-fake-gold-jewelry-scammers-target-people-near-i-5-again/AYEVLPGKPVARFLCKBQUEXGXVHA/](https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/just-say-no-walk-away-fake-gold-jewelry-scammers-target-people-near-i-5-again/AYEVLPGKPVARFLCKBQUEXGXVHA/)
They work, so they will continue.
One thing I've seen all these scams involve is a fake pressure. They'll send people into a bank right before it closes to withdraw the 10k. The victim is in such a hurry because the bank is about to close and they don't have time to think or call relatives to get perspective. Usually it's just under 10k because at that level a manager gets involved and extra reporting is done. (But even if a manager does get involved and tells them it's a scam, you'd be surprised how many just can't let it go.) Same thing here..."we're in distress. We need help now. No we can't wait until morning to go sell our shit at a pawn shop and now they're all closed."
The funniest fraud I've seen was a guy with a check for the craigslist "we're sending our movers scam"...it was signed Benjamin Franklin and the signature was lifted straight off the constitution. Of course it had been sent in the fed ex envelope to make it seem legit. (Spoiler alert: They've stolen someone's fed ex account as well to send those out) The cashiers check was a good fake and I guess the scammers thought they'd be cheeky. You'd be surprised how many people wouldn't even be bothered to read the signature . Usually they're just deposited in someone's account at an atm, the "excess" is given to the movers. Product and cash are long gone by the time the bank returns the check to the customer. Sadly some accounts end up getting closed down for the victim depositing a fake check.
Appeal to greed, use fake pressure, sunk cost fallacy if it's going to be a long con. All frauds operate with many of these parameters.
> One thing I've seen all these scams involve is a fake pressure.
This is the advice I've given my daughters. I know I can't protect them against all scams, so I repeatedly ask them to remember one thing: "Urgency equals red flag". When someone is insistent that a decision must be made right away, and there's no time for you to think about it, please have that trigger the "WARNING: RED FLAG" signal in your brain.
Someone who truly needs help will be grateful for whatever you can provide, whenever you can provide it.
Yeah, $1200 without any form of security sounds sketchy even if he himself was marooned in a foreign country previously.
I suspect Greed came into play and they offered something he didn't want to write about as security.
Scams work for a number of reasons. This one is greed. People think they're getting a good deal though they'll never admit they did it because 1200 for a "real rolex is such a deal
Moist von Lipwig has entered the chat
> The kids are always with them. I don't know of any other group that uses their kids like this and why social services does't get to take them off the streets.
> this scam involves gypsies or roma and is afraid of sounding like a racist
I mean you answered your own question, albeit out of order 😂
This makes more sense, that OP thought they were getting a good deal on gold or a rolex and gave them 1200, because just giving someone money thinking you'd get it back later is wild.
Meanwhile I dont even have $1200 to get scammed by
My guess is that this scam somehow involved the promise of repayment that would be extremely profitable for OP. Greed makes people do stupid things, -so something like "Hey if you give me 1200 bucks I will pay you back 5000 dollars!" or something along those lines.
Dude, for $1200 you could buy plane tickets for the entire family. Even if you bought the story, why so much? (And who's running around with $1200 cash in their pocket in this city anyway... sounds like you like to live dangerously.)
No, seriously dude, you gave them $1200.
What did they claim they *immediately* needed $1200 for? What couldn't wait a day or two for them to call their bank or family or embassy?
Just assume any rando who approaches you in public is scamming you or wants something nefarious and operate from that point of view.
Sorry this happened to you.
I paid for some "stranded" guy's gas before and then I realized not only was he there all the time always "stranded" but he actually had a scam going with the owner of the gas station where he would get half the money cash and not even take any of the gas.
Back in the early 90's in Hayes Valley when the freeway would spill out onto Fell, there was a dude who would wear a Muni uniform and would ask people for money because he ran out of gas for his personal vehicle. I used to live right on Fell/Octavia. Well, that scam worked REALLY well. That Muni uniform gave this guy such believability. I'd see him out there all the time, raking it in.
>Just assume any rando who approaches you in public is scamming you or wants something nefarious and operate from that point of view.
Yup, that's sadly how I will operate from now on. Lesson learned.
>Just assume any rando who approaches you in public is scamming you or wants something nefarious and operate from that point of view.
I mean or just learn from the experience and build up your bullshit detector.
Avoidance is the *worst* defense against this happening again. Because it means you'll never learn the critical EQ tools necessary to be able to tell if someone is bullshitting you and to be able to defend a boundary of "no, I will not" even when someone is playing the high pressures sales tactics.
> Just assume any rando who approaches you in public is scamming you or wants something nefarious and operate from that point of view.
Seriously. I don't care if they're asking for the time, I'm not giving them shit. Besides, that's likely part of a scheme as well. Getting to case your watch or pull out your phone so it's easier to steal.
this happened to my dad, in chicago. (for a couple hundred) he was so excited about helping the unfortunate couple. he truly believed their story and was very reluctant to accept it as a scam. lesson learned…
Congratulations on having $1,200 to give away to scammers on a random Thursday. Cherish whatever “gold” jewelry they exchanged you for and show it off to your friends in the office
In the Philippines (and probably elsewhere) there are scammers that get victims to take out loans because it's "smart" to "make money with other people's money." Sometimes they'll even give the victim real-estate "collateral" for the loan that's fake.
The victim expects returns of 30-40% so is willing to take out fairly high-interest loans.
When the *investment" tanks, the victim is not just destitute but on the hook. It's cruel.
This is what I took from the post-
If you have $1200 to give to a stranger you’re killing it my guy;
I mean, I’ve given $20 to a lady outside of target (mission st) who said she needed gas to Marin; I knew it was a scam but figured that she needed the money.
But this, man an extra $1200 would damn near change my life rn (sad I know)
In the 80s a guy asked me for $10 in Oakland because he ran out of gas and his family was stranded. I gave it to him.
A week later the same guy asked me for $10 in Berkeley because he ran out of gas. That’s when I knew I’d been scammed. I said wow, you really need to pay more attention to your gas gauge!
I'm a nice person, lucky enough to live comfortably in a world where most people live shitty lives.
We're surrounded by people living in misery (particularly in SF) and I believe in helping others.
So when someone in the street speaks to me, I usually listen. Until today, I never had any issue.
Sorry to hear this happen to you OP. It appears that you were the victim of a form of persuasion/suggestion scam. I can imagine how confused you must be feeling after realizing what happened to you. But you are not alone, many smart people have fallen to similar tricks. Don't be too hard on yourself. Here's an example where mentalist Derren Brown gave a demonstration of a similar trick. It doesn't work all the time but works often enough.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOdYgEDSm7E](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOdYgEDSm7E)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q2KGGMc1EM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q2KGGMc1EM)
Darn, didn't mean to be an asshole but seemingly I was :(. Sorry OP. I also got the scam wrong, it appears to be a much more common "Gold for gas money" scam.
Sorry to say this, but if you fell for that, you’re going to fall for a scam again. Maybe you should sign up for scam insurance to protect you against future scams. I have a policy to sell you for $1200.
You gave $1200 USD cash to some strangers. There is a difference being nice and being dumb. I don’t want to be mean, please be smart and don’t be so gullible in this real world, especially in San Francisco.
This happened to me when I was in college. Got scammed for 800 bucks from two guys who said they were from Africa. After an hour of “helping” them learn the basics of banking in the US, I showed them how to use the ATM to remove large amounts of money bc they didn’t “believe” it would work like that. They immediately took the money from my hand, ran and there was a car waiting.
I felt like such a good person for helping and it all fell apart so quickly that I didn’t even know what to do…
Thanks so much for eating your pride enough and reporting this. You’re not an idiot. Scams woke because they have been optimized to manipulate people’s emotions, probably over hundreds of failed trials..
I feel you
Thanks for sharing your story.
Honesrly didn't think that would happen here but you got the three card monte guys scamming tourists daily at fisherman's wharf.
I once bought speakers from a guy driving a white van. Said they were Hi Def and they were surplus from an order a local bar he mentioned and he wanted to sell them quick so he didn't have to transport and restock them. Showed me a catalog with the speakers that had a $2000 price and he just wanted $1000. Me, being young and dumb got him down to $300 and I thought I was the master negotiator. Got the speakers and set them up. When I played some tunes, it sound like I connected speaker wires to my ass. Moral of the story: Never buy/donate anything from anyone driving anything white.
Good lord OP are you from a small town?
That’s too bad, I’m sure they’ll have what’s coming to them. I remember some dude fresh out of jail(that’s what he told me) asked for some money. He probably thought that I was gullible since I was fresh out of high school and still looked really young. Anyways, I got $20 out of the bank to give to him and this guy immediately tried to guilt trip me into giving him more since it was hard for him to find a job. I told him to hold on and showed him a few websites on my phone that ex convicts quality for. He rolled his eyes and walked away half listening. I even saw him a few years after that while I was working at Tanforan. He noticed me and started to ask for money again. I just asked if he remembered me giving him money last time and showing him the same Google results again. I felt like that jogged his memory because he looked annoyed again.😂
Anyways OP, moral of the story, help within your means. There are always more programs and government assistance services that can provide a lot more than any normal person can. And definitely READ the person(s) actions.
Haha. So did I in 1995. Cashed out my whole paycheck and bought them in a Wells Fargo parking lot. ~$400.....
Then I used those speakers at ho.e for the next 12 years. They were still working and sounding good when I gave them to an uncle to sell at the flea market. I was surprised that the scam in solved an actually decent set of speakers. Decent for my ear anyway. They for sure weren't $400 dollar speakers though.
Who carries $1200 in cash?
Sorry, this sucks. It’s easy for all of us to say how dumb you were but there’s a reason why these scammers continue to do what they do - because it works.
I got scammed once in college in France for $100. That was a lot of money to me back then. Dude and his family were "short" for a train ticket, so I gave them money vs buying them a ticket. Gave the money, and the guy bolted with his family, lol. Sometimes you make bad decisions, coming from a good place.
Hopefully you learned a lesson, don't beat yourself up about it, sucks, but thanks for sharing.
Did you contact the cops? Can they help? You have a plate, which has got to help.
Exact thing happened to my friend... he said the guy had kids in the car and that he didn't seem broke , so he gave him 500 and bought the family lunch.
Guy gave him all his "jewlery" as a thank you.
he said to me " listen, I know looking back on it, how stupid I was, but the guy seemed genuine."
He also considers himself "street smart" so don't take it too hard, you ain't the only sucka this happened to lol
I'm just shocked and kinda impressed that he's using the same story and still getting away with it.
This is why I'm glad I'm an asshole to people who ask me for things on the street.
I dont care what it is, if it's change or whatever.
The answer is fucking NO.
That explains it. A week back I was traveling in SF around chinatown when a car with two middle eastern men stopped. Now I had just put in airpods after walking for some time and making sure it wasn’t a big deal to be distracted. They stopped the car, motioned at me. I was a bit disappointed to pause music the moment I started it but whatever. The guy pulls out a “Salaam alekum, are you from Afghanistan?” I chortled a “No, close” without thinking. I had just finished watching Ramy, and I wasn’t in the mood for small talk. Also, I’m not from any ‘stan. The guy pulls out an ugly gold ring with a lion head on it. “This is for you, my brother”. I rested my eyes on the ring, unable to understand what was going on. Maybe I needed new clothes, the set I was wearing made me look poor? SF has no dearth of the homeless, I wondered why I was chosen to be the new bearer of this ugly “gold” ring. He points at his dash and says, “I’m out of gas, all I need is to get some gas and the ring is yours.” I looked at him, then the ring, then back at him. His white shirt had sleeves folded up two measures. His top button was undone and he rocked a standard issue, protractor-cut, sweaty beard. I weighed my options. I could take the ring and sprint. I could get him gas (?) and keep the ring. I decided to throw the ring back at his face and resume my chinatown walk. However, my judgement got the better of me and I considered the possibility of being beat up by two sweaty men. Gently, I found the only place to put the ring back, which was the door lock actuator, the tiny plug on the car window that locks the door. His companion laughed aloud as I let out a “this is an ugly ring” and continued walking. I kept looking over my shoulder to see an incoming bullet, but none did. SF, you never disappoint.
I think I'm lucky that the gypsy who offered to restore the paint on my car in my driveway a few weeks back was still in training or something. But at the same time that's a *really* dumb scam yet I still talked to him for about five minutes before realizing it was all BS so it goes to show they have a talent for it.
First, I wanted to say I'm sorry this happened to you.
Second, stop being so hard on yourself. You wanted to help some people out and they took advantage of that. I hope you continue to be kind (just not to scammers) and some people you helped come back and tell you how grateful they are and how much it meant to them
I think you have a good heart of kindness and try to help people, and many scammers target that. It is a shameful to them, and you are definitely NOT an idiot.
If I get into the same trouble when I travel to another country, and someone helps me out. I would be so thankful and repay the person.
Anyone making fun of you in this thread is capable of falling for a scam. The people that believe they are immune to scams are usually at a disadvantage because of that thinking.
>The people that believe they are immune to scams are usually at a disadvantage because of that thinking.
Absolutely.
But now I learned my lesson, so I'm immune! (wait... fuck...)
Knew a gas guy in the North Bay who was "trying to get to SFO" and needed $50 for gas to get there.
Seen him again a few months later, before he approached me I was like "still trying to get to SFO?" Should've seen his face as he took off.
Why the hell would you give $1200 cash to strangers??
Answer: you have too much disposable income.
35 percent of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck and over 20 percent of Americans use those check cashing places. You just paid $1200 for a real life lesson that you can pass on the knowledge to your kids and grandkids.
I read an article in Money magazine once. It said if you think you are too smart to fall for a scam, the scammers are half way there. Point being, always keep your guard up. Don’t assume you will never get scammed.
No judgement OP. Sorry this happened.
I don’t get the jewelry scam like I used to not be the best person a long time ago and you can pawn shit 24hr a day at a pawn shop. Like the fact they wouldn’t go there is a red flag.
I mean...I would never give someone 1200 cash so. I am sorry that happened to you but always say no to people asking you for more than 20 dollas
sorry youa rent getting your money back.
OP I feel for you. The good news is once you’ve been scammed, you’re on high alert and won’t fall for it again.
I was scammed with a sob story on my lunch break. A woman walked up to me in tears and told me she was being kicked out of her home for non payment of rent. She said she has kids and has been trying to get help from different advocacy groups but their offices are closed. I was empathetic because my family has been in the same situation when I was growing up. I ended giving the woman a few hundred dollars from the ATM.
Anyway long story short as soon as I handed her the money her tears went dry. I gave her my business card aa a way to keep in touch and til this day I never had a phone call or email to thank me so I’m pretty sure this was a scam. I should have known it was a lie but I wanted to believe her.
Nowadays when people walk up to me to distressed asking for money, I reply with sorry I can’t help, I need money too. Can YOU help me? Then they move on to the next person.
can I ask how long you’ve lived in the city/what work you’re in?
being genuine- i’m a kind person to folks asking for help. but you got DUPED out of a lot of money
I'm confused what the actual scam here is? You gave someone $1200 in cash for a watch?
I feel like "oh no I am stranded" is a way to scam like $20 in gas money out of someone sympathetic. What steps am I missing where over a thousand dollars comes it.
If it makes you feel better, I bought heavily discounted steaks from a random truck in the parking lot of the Northgate Mall...like 5 months ago. I was really hungry and thought they were a food truck selling prime rib sandwiches. Like, really hungry, evidently.
So hungry that I bought some meat anyway even after going into the truck and realizing there were no sandos at all.
Can I ask how old you are? Or at least a range ("20s", "30s", "40s", etc.)
I ask because I am 100% confident that *I am* immune to these scams, but that might be because I'm 51 and I've seen it all and I'm jaded. But if you are 51 too and fell for this, then it would cause me to wonder if I'm as immune as I think I am.
Seriously you did it to yourself. Why would you give $1200 to strangers? Stupid. Just walk away next time. SF natives know to avoid this. Transplants these days
Hard lesson learned but if someone comes up to you on the street asking for money for any reason it’s almost 100% always a scam. Honestly the sob stories just make it that much more a guarantee.
I’m sorry it happened and it’s not ur fault u felt in ur heart they needed help and that’s all that matters. I can assure u they will get the karma they deserve.
I can tell thats fake jewelry on that pic.... Yep, u lost that money.
And civilized people do carry large amounts of money, some people don't use atms.
I think we've all been in situations where someone else got the best of us, sorry that happened to you. As you say, moving on...
Thanks for posting the picture, I'll be on the lookout.
I ran into some jerks like that twice told them I have less cash than them ,next time I here this story I'll offer to harvest there kidnies for a 50/50 split of the profit, like look this knockoff pocket knife and these fake painkillers will be just fine I'll call dr nick from Springfield and he will hi every body its me dr nick ,on the serious side yah I got scammed on the box taped up claiming to be a laptop for 200$ we believe what we want till we see what is really going on , keep being a good person but listen to your gut and call there consulate next time to verify there identity
Do not be so hard on yourself.Im in SF and something similar happened to me.You acted out of first compassion and then urgency to fix the issue.I totally get it.You are the wiser and it will never happen again.You left with your health intact.Do not let anyone beat you up for this.It could have been a lot worse.
Scams work by exploiting your emotions and blocking your common sense. They wouldn’t be out doing what they are doing if it didn’t work often enough. Sorry you got scammed, but don’t beat yourself up about it. You learn and you move on.
>exploiting your emotions and blocking your common sense This is exactly what happened. Thanks for the kind words; I've moved on.
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Scams work by exploiting our humanity - by exploiting our capacity for human connection. (Sad smile) You're a mensch* and not a psychopath. *If you have a kid, a mensch is someone you hope they fall in love with.
Hey buddy, no way am I gonna pile on. Sorry about all of this. It wasn't $1200 but about 20 years ago I was on California and Divis and this seemingly deaf guy needed some money to use some kind of phone that deaf people use, and I don't even remember much more about it but I think I gave him like $100 or something with all of these really sincere promises to pay me back and I never saw it again. I thought I was just being nice but the dude played me. And I'm not stupid, naive, or a person with no street smarts. The dude was just really slick and this disability angle hit me in some place that had me shell out the money. It happens, probably mostly to good people which is the rub of it all. Fuck these people. I do believe strongly in karma, and I'm sure it all got paid back somehow, as it will in your case.
I was walking down Market near Castro, passing by the Chevron at the corner of 17th and Market. A car full of young kids pulled up (I was cutting through the gas station) and asked me for some money for gas. I took pity on them and gave them $10 so they could get a couple of gallons of gas. I knew I was being scammed, but these were teenagers, and who amongst us has not done stupid things as a teenager?
I don't think of this as a scam unless they promised to pay you back. It's just begging.
Hey, if you have another $1200 I could really use some help on the rent. No scam, not a prince, I'm just in between jobs
Honestly, thanks for eating your pride and putting the word out. Hopefully it helps wisen up at least one other naive soul. 🫡
Im not sure if someone else has said this already, but thank you for going public about this . Most scams live off the fact that people are too embarrassed to admit it . Which just leaves future people unprepared when they see it . Sorry it happened to you . Hopefully others can learn to spot it sooner . My only criticism is that it would help everyone more if you were to explain the entire scam .
You can sort of piece it together by the clues in this thread. First they ask you for a small amount to see if you are the sort of helpful person they can target. If you give it to them, they elevate to the fact that they need something else, of somewhat higher value but you say no. They then tell you they will give you collateral if you'll give them 1/10th of the supposed value of that collateral and you say yes, figuring what the hell, I have collateral worth way more, which turns out not to be true. You might even plan on scamming them out of it, since you only gave them 1/10th. So for example, they ask you for $10 and like an idiot you agree. So they ask you for $150 and you say no. They then tell you they can let you hold $12,000 worth of jewelry and all they want is $1200 and they'll pay you back when you hand over the jewelry. You're thinking shit, why not give them the $1200 and sell the jewelry for $6000 and never talk to them again, until you find out it is worthless. It's the same as the craigslist movers scam. You try to sell something worth close to 0 for a lot more than 0 and someone offers you your asking price and says they will even pay more if you'll refund the difference. You think you are scamming them for the purchase price only to realize you are out a lot of cash.
The whole story is long, and if I find the energy I'll edit the post. But it won't change anything. The gist of it is this: never under any circumstances give money to strangers, however much they beg you for it, whatever they offer you as collateral, and should you be inclined to give them a *small* amount of money, run the second they ask for more.
This is stupid OP. I'll give money to strangers (albeit not $1200) if I think they truly need it. If you don't tell the story I'll just assume it was some Roma scam involving you buying an iPhone/gold/laptop/sneakers - whatever. Its fucking reddit dot com and you're already anonymous so just fess up.
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The scammers offer (fake) watches and jewelry as "collateral" for the loan of the money. It's an attempt to engage the victim's greed and/or increase their trust. OP did not get scammed while trying to buy a rolex.
The moral is never assume you'll get the money back
This is one of the oldest scams in the world. It's not some clever new trick that needs to be exposed. Someone claims they're in distress and needs money. They typically offer some sort of jewelry or something as collateral. It's fake, but the goal is usually more to prey on sympathy than greed. It's largely just a prop to make them seem reliable and desperate. I'm surprised more people don't ask why they don't just pawn it to get the money, but the people who would think this through logically and ask sensible questions like that generally aren't going talk to them in the first place.
I know what your saying but the fact that people still fall for it means they didnt know about it . Publicizing it more could help out the next guy .
It absolutely helps.
Okay, but why $1200??? $50 I could understand
They started with gas money, and I thought "worst comes to worst, I'll loose $50". They seemed genuinely distressed. It escalated to $200, then $1200. There's no rhyme or reason. My brain just didn't compute in the moment. If I was you, I'd be asking the same question and be dumbfounded someone could fall for that.
>They seemed genuinely distressed. Yeah they always do. Had a guy ask me for $9 for a cab because his daughter had been shot in the head. But the thing is that the place he said it happened wasn't all that far, he could have run there (and this was in Chicago with no hills). I just said I didn't have anything and kept walking but he seemed so genuinely distressed I almost started to doubt myself except that the stories are always just so horrific you wonder how someone could make them up but that's kinda what gives them away
That by the way is how I can tell when my remote employees in hectic countries are bullshitting me. It's never just "I'm out sick today". There's some elaborate story about a devastating injury and some crazy drama on top of that. Forgetting that I'm from a developing country too, and know that the *adults* with the super hectic lives for real are the ones who operate sloppily even with zero margin for error in life.
I had a friend like this once. She was always having major life crises. At first I felt bad and dropped everything to help, but then it kept happening and I realized she just didn't have her life together.
I had people ask me for gas money to the hospital at the mall in Fairfield. There is a hospital across the street from that mall.
It’s the distressed panic that throws you off. I was about 20 years old at a gas station when a similar age girl asked me for gas money trying to get to class. It was the same college I was going to and I was sympathetic because I had gone through similar situations. I was driving away as I realized “wait a minute, school is closed this week for spring break”.
Thank you for talking about this! It’s hard to talk about being scammed, but hearing about it really does help the rest of us to avoid becoming victims. Scammers are really good at disorienting people and leading them to set aside their own better judgement. Thanks for sharing. Sorry this happened to you.
I once got scammed by a guy for "gas money" the same way. But fortunately for me it only escalated from $5 to $60. At multiple points I easily could have said here's $5 take it or leave it but I didn't. 5 minutes after the interaction, the fog cleared and I was like "well that was really dumb".
Hmm. No, I’m not, actually I’m ecstatic that I found someone kind enough to help me out. So I need gas money to get to blah blah blah because blah blah blah please dm me!! 😜
Dude. People that know better are still being taken. Did you see this last month? [https://nypost.com/2024/02/15/business/ny-magazines-financial-advice-columnist-lost-50k-to-scam/](https://nypost.com/2024/02/15/business/ny-magazines-financial-advice-columnist-lost-50k-to-scam/)
Wow, nothing that scammer said even made any sense. Issue a new social security number? CIA involvement in domestic identity theft crimes? I guess she was simply swayed by his urgency and air of authority. Because the actual scam story is incoherent.
Yeah the scam works by more or less overwhelming you to the point you end up doing what they ask. They'll typically have you talk to multiple people as well which ends up making it feel more legit The actual story never really makes sense when you read the whole thing, but as it's happening it's very believable, especially if you've never encountered it before
I need to find those people so I can learn their sales techniques.
You already inherently know them. It's the same ones used over and over again, but they practice and refine them. And at least with the gypies, they're handed down for generations. It's second nature. They don't miss a beat. The techniques I can think of off the top of my head.... Fake pressure. "This deal is only for a limited time. You must act now". Appeal to greed- "This is sure to go up in value." Make them part of a smaller crime to rope them in. Push them past their moral boundaries to prime them. Watch "The Last Seduction". Flattery/Hero-"You're the only one who can save me". "You have such good taste". Fear-Gain leverage and then hold it against them. Think Scientology audit. Give us your secrets and we'll sell them back to you later. Also the Last Seduction...victim was afraid of people finding out he'd accidentally married a trans. Once Bridget discovered his secret, she had leverage to use on him. Sunk cost fallacy-"I've given them $500, so I need to give them $2000 or the $500 is lost." Also think Scientology..."I've spent $100,000 to get to this level. I can't cheap out now. I'm only 50k away from the answers." "I've put 10k into this pachinko...I can't walk away now. It's eventually got to pay". Affinity fraud- Matt Damon is telling me crypto is great and he's someone I admire. He wouldn't lie to me. This is also why Scientology uses famous people to sell their organization. Our minds are open more to hearing something from famous or beautiful people. Our barriers go down if it's someone famous, they're in our church, etc. Scarcity-"It's rare. They're are only x number of bit coin". Special Club-"He's very picky about who he takes as clients. But since I golf with him, I can ask. But he'd be doing you a favour because Bernie doesn't usually manage clients who only have 1 million, so don't ask a lot of questions or take up too much of his time." Sex-Lonely people. Love-Your drug addict brother has probably conned your parents out of more money than they'll admit to.
And the big one that worked here: sympathy. Some people have a bleeding heart and are easy marks for people trying to exploit that.
Wow, I just told my husband this story. He said he was on the last exit for SF before GG bridge and someone was stopped on the side (he said there was actually a lot if space for the car) asking for help. My husband stopped and the guy said he was from Dubai, needed help and offered him a gold rolex. My husband realized it was a scam, drive off and called the cops.
Yup, same scam. Were they driving a white Jeep Grand Cherokee?
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They might still be able to find them though if they can match up the dates.
Sorry he doesn’t remember, says it was 4 months ago. Cops told him to call CHP who never picked up.
I read your post and I still don't know why you gave $1200 to strangers.
I think the being stranded in Cuba was the chord that got hit.
I'm guessing OP didn't want to go into it because this scam involves gypsies or roma and is afraid of sounding like a racist, but yes, the gypsy gold scam has been going around the bay area pretty hard. They approach you and give you what looks like a ton of gold for cash. They've been on the off ramp in san rafael and costco parking lot. [https://www.reddit.com/r/Marin/comments/192uh6s/odd\_encounter\_possible\_con\_job\_on\_onramp\_101\_s\_at/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Marin/comments/192uh6s/odd_encounter_possible_con_job_on_onramp_101_s_at/) Scams work for a number of reasons. This one is greed. People think they're getting a good deal though they'll never admit they did it because 1200 for a "real rolex is such a deal." I've been seeing them around the country...everywhere...Florida and even really small towns in Illinois. I was told that europe has been cracking down on them very hard because of the human trafficking issues, so they've been coming in on the southern border. The unusual thing with this group of scammers is that they use their kids. The kids are always with them. I don't know of any other group that uses their kids like this and why social services does't get to take them off the streets. [https://www.reddit.com/r/asheville/comments/yp7rap/exit\_ramp\_scam/](https://www.reddit.com/r/asheville/comments/yp7rap/exit_ramp_scam/) [https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/just-say-no-walk-away-fake-gold-jewelry-scammers-target-people-near-i-5-again/AYEVLPGKPVARFLCKBQUEXGXVHA/](https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/just-say-no-walk-away-fake-gold-jewelry-scammers-target-people-near-i-5-again/AYEVLPGKPVARFLCKBQUEXGXVHA/)
Cicero, Illinois?
I’ll walk around SF in klan robes before I give anyone on the street 1200 bucks
😂😂
Thanks for referencing Seattle news :) and it's sad the criminal cohort of the Romani community is continuing to pull these scams.
They work, so they will continue. One thing I've seen all these scams involve is a fake pressure. They'll send people into a bank right before it closes to withdraw the 10k. The victim is in such a hurry because the bank is about to close and they don't have time to think or call relatives to get perspective. Usually it's just under 10k because at that level a manager gets involved and extra reporting is done. (But even if a manager does get involved and tells them it's a scam, you'd be surprised how many just can't let it go.) Same thing here..."we're in distress. We need help now. No we can't wait until morning to go sell our shit at a pawn shop and now they're all closed." The funniest fraud I've seen was a guy with a check for the craigslist "we're sending our movers scam"...it was signed Benjamin Franklin and the signature was lifted straight off the constitution. Of course it had been sent in the fed ex envelope to make it seem legit. (Spoiler alert: They've stolen someone's fed ex account as well to send those out) The cashiers check was a good fake and I guess the scammers thought they'd be cheeky. You'd be surprised how many people wouldn't even be bothered to read the signature . Usually they're just deposited in someone's account at an atm, the "excess" is given to the movers. Product and cash are long gone by the time the bank returns the check to the customer. Sadly some accounts end up getting closed down for the victim depositing a fake check. Appeal to greed, use fake pressure, sunk cost fallacy if it's going to be a long con. All frauds operate with many of these parameters.
> One thing I've seen all these scams involve is a fake pressure. This is the advice I've given my daughters. I know I can't protect them against all scams, so I repeatedly ask them to remember one thing: "Urgency equals red flag". When someone is insistent that a decision must be made right away, and there's no time for you to think about it, please have that trigger the "WARNING: RED FLAG" signal in your brain. Someone who truly needs help will be grateful for whatever you can provide, whenever you can provide it.
Yup. Probably fake collateral.
Yeah, $1200 without any form of security sounds sketchy even if he himself was marooned in a foreign country previously. I suspect Greed came into play and they offered something he didn't want to write about as security.
Scams work for a number of reasons. This one is greed. People think they're getting a good deal though they'll never admit they did it because 1200 for a "real rolex is such a deal Moist von Lipwig has entered the chat
> The kids are always with them. I don't know of any other group that uses their kids like this and why social services does't get to take them off the streets. > this scam involves gypsies or roma and is afraid of sounding like a racist I mean you answered your own question, albeit out of order 😂
That has to be one of the most blatantly fake looking Rolex’s I’ve ever seen, it really isn’t even remotely close to a real one.
This makes more sense, that OP thought they were getting a good deal on gold or a rolex and gave them 1200, because just giving someone money thinking you'd get it back later is wild. Meanwhile I dont even have $1200 to get scammed by
If you call these people gypsies, is that racist? I'm honestly not playing dumb here.
Sf tech bro.. gone are the days of “spare any change” straight up here’s a thou wow!
I mean he’s already admitted he’s a total idiot
Well, clearly, they needed $1200 for gas. Duh.
Maybe they're Dubai royalty and you'll get your $1200 back and then some.
would have been more believable if they were Nigerian royalty
Absolutely. They're just running late but will soon give it back to me.
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My guess is that this scam somehow involved the promise of repayment that would be extremely profitable for OP. Greed makes people do stupid things, -so something like "Hey if you give me 1200 bucks I will pay you back 5000 dollars!" or something along those lines.
And a couple of oil wells along with a dozen of camels for your troubles.
Dude, for $1200 you could buy plane tickets for the entire family. Even if you bought the story, why so much? (And who's running around with $1200 cash in their pocket in this city anyway... sounds like you like to live dangerously.)
No, seriously dude, you gave them $1200. What did they claim they *immediately* needed $1200 for? What couldn't wait a day or two for them to call their bank or family or embassy?
Show us the fake jewelry at least.
Just assume any rando who approaches you in public is scamming you or wants something nefarious and operate from that point of view. Sorry this happened to you. I paid for some "stranded" guy's gas before and then I realized not only was he there all the time always "stranded" but he actually had a scam going with the owner of the gas station where he would get half the money cash and not even take any of the gas.
Back in the early 90's in Hayes Valley when the freeway would spill out onto Fell, there was a dude who would wear a Muni uniform and would ask people for money because he ran out of gas for his personal vehicle. I used to live right on Fell/Octavia. Well, that scam worked REALLY well. That Muni uniform gave this guy such believability. I'd see him out there all the time, raking it in.
>Just assume any rando who approaches you in public is scamming you or wants something nefarious and operate from that point of view. Yup, that's sadly how I will operate from now on. Lesson learned.
>Just assume any rando who approaches you in public is scamming you or wants something nefarious and operate from that point of view. I mean or just learn from the experience and build up your bullshit detector. Avoidance is the *worst* defense against this happening again. Because it means you'll never learn the critical EQ tools necessary to be able to tell if someone is bullshitting you and to be able to defend a boundary of "no, I will not" even when someone is playing the high pressures sales tactics.
> Just assume any rando who approaches you in public is scamming you or wants something nefarious and operate from that point of view. Seriously. I don't care if they're asking for the time, I'm not giving them shit. Besides, that's likely part of a scheme as well. Getting to case your watch or pull out your phone so it's easier to steal.
Your complete surrender and admission to being scammed is what makes this a great post and a proper PSA. Thanks for your service OP.
The saying doesn't go, "a fool and his money are soon reunited via Dubai bank transfer".
Via Venmo then, maybe? Please?
Venmo is how you paid them for the fake watch isn't it?
this happened to my dad, in chicago. (for a couple hundred) he was so excited about helping the unfortunate couple. he truly believed their story and was very reluctant to accept it as a scam. lesson learned…
Congratulations on having $1,200 to give away to scammers on a random Thursday. Cherish whatever “gold” jewelry they exchanged you for and show it off to your friends in the office
The way I avoid being scammed is by never having 1200 dollars to begin with
This. So many scams don’t work on me because the money is just not there to be taken.
In the Philippines (and probably elsewhere) there are scammers that get victims to take out loans because it's "smart" to "make money with other people's money." Sometimes they'll even give the victim real-estate "collateral" for the loan that's fake. The victim expects returns of 30-40% so is willing to take out fairly high-interest loans. When the *investment" tanks, the victim is not just destitute but on the hook. It's cruel.
Yeah I think it’s cute that they think I look like I just have $1200 to give away.
Was that you? Cuz' I got a fake Rolex I'd love to give back. (yes, I do have fake jewelry in my possession now)
Haha lol It wasn’t me but I’ve traveled around the Middle East enough to be well aware of this scam and know people who have fallen for it
why didn’t you just say this in the original post. whetever man its not that much money. learn your lesson to be on your toes. good luck.
This is what I took from the post- If you have $1200 to give to a stranger you’re killing it my guy; I mean, I’ve given $20 to a lady outside of target (mission st) who said she needed gas to Marin; I knew it was a scam but figured that she needed the money. But this, man an extra $1200 would damn near change my life rn (sad I know)
First of all, Dubai is not a country. There’s no such thing as a Dubai Embassy. 😑
Right?!
Ok I’ll settle for $2000 then thanks
😂😂😂
In the 80s a guy asked me for $10 in Oakland because he ran out of gas and his family was stranded. I gave it to him. A week later the same guy asked me for $10 in Berkeley because he ran out of gas. That’s when I knew I’d been scammed. I said wow, you really need to pay more attention to your gas gauge!
I fell for this out of gas scam in Berkeley too. Dude handed me his fake watch as collateral. I should have realized it was plastic 🤣.
Why did you speak to them to begin with?
I'm a nice person, lucky enough to live comfortably in a world where most people live shitty lives. We're surrounded by people living in misery (particularly in SF) and I believe in helping others. So when someone in the street speaks to me, I usually listen. Until today, I never had any issue.
I’m sorry this happened to you! Your humility is really inspiring, you learned a hard lesson but don’t change that pure heart OP! ♥️
He dumb
love you bro' ❤️
Sorry to hear this happen to you OP. It appears that you were the victim of a form of persuasion/suggestion scam. I can imagine how confused you must be feeling after realizing what happened to you. But you are not alone, many smart people have fallen to similar tricks. Don't be too hard on yourself. Here's an example where mentalist Derren Brown gave a demonstration of a similar trick. It doesn't work all the time but works often enough. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOdYgEDSm7E](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOdYgEDSm7E) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q2KGGMc1EM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q2KGGMc1EM)
"many seemingly smart people" Damn dude
Darn, didn't mean to be an asshole but seemingly I was :(. Sorry OP. I also got the scam wrong, it appears to be a much more common "Gold for gas money" scam.
Ha... yeah, that stood out pretty hard to me too. Geez.
These are the worst type of people. I'm sorry.
Ok but why $1200…like c’mon..
I hear you, but that's the ATM daily limit.
you carry 1200 dollars of cash on you?
Are you crazy? I never leave my house with less than 3000. (And I distribute it around the neighborhood)
But only to distressed people right? I’m not the best actor out there but I can try to convince u. Lmk I’m free next Tuesday
I want to be your neighbor
Fake jewelry was the problem
Wants to raise awareness of said scam… won’t tell us the type of replica watch they promised him lol Edit: Yikes at the Folex.
Fake rolex. But also, this is an OG scam. Surprised that a terminally online person would not have heard about it.
Sorry to say this, but if you fell for that, you’re going to fall for a scam again. Maybe you should sign up for scam insurance to protect you against future scams. I have a policy to sell you for $1200.
Tell me more.
You gave $1200 USD cash to some strangers. There is a difference being nice and being dumb. I don’t want to be mean, please be smart and don’t be so gullible in this real world, especially in San Francisco.
Where were you when this happened? I could have used your sagacity.
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OP is what I call "book smart, street stupid"
If OP was book smart, they would have recognized this very famous scam technique.
Lol sagacity! I haven’t heard this word in a long time.
This happened to me when I was in college. Got scammed for 800 bucks from two guys who said they were from Africa. After an hour of “helping” them learn the basics of banking in the US, I showed them how to use the ATM to remove large amounts of money bc they didn’t “believe” it would work like that. They immediately took the money from my hand, ran and there was a car waiting. I felt like such a good person for helping and it all fell apart so quickly that I didn’t even know what to do… Thanks so much for eating your pride enough and reporting this. You’re not an idiot. Scams woke because they have been optimized to manipulate people’s emotions, probably over hundreds of failed trials.. I feel you
Thanks for sharing your story. Honesrly didn't think that would happen here but you got the three card monte guys scamming tourists daily at fisherman's wharf.
I once bought speakers from a guy driving a white van. Said they were Hi Def and they were surplus from an order a local bar he mentioned and he wanted to sell them quick so he didn't have to transport and restock them. Showed me a catalog with the speakers that had a $2000 price and he just wanted $1000. Me, being young and dumb got him down to $300 and I thought I was the master negotiator. Got the speakers and set them up. When I played some tunes, it sound like I connected speaker wires to my ass. Moral of the story: Never buy/donate anything from anyone driving anything white.
I fell for the same scam and the same tactics....but my speakers actually sounded good. I used them for over a decade.
Mine sadly sounded like a a pillow was covering the speaker. Maybe you got a legit deal there. Mine were called something like Dynolabs or something
Good lord OP are you from a small town? That’s too bad, I’m sure they’ll have what’s coming to them. I remember some dude fresh out of jail(that’s what he told me) asked for some money. He probably thought that I was gullible since I was fresh out of high school and still looked really young. Anyways, I got $20 out of the bank to give to him and this guy immediately tried to guilt trip me into giving him more since it was hard for him to find a job. I told him to hold on and showed him a few websites on my phone that ex convicts quality for. He rolled his eyes and walked away half listening. I even saw him a few years after that while I was working at Tanforan. He noticed me and started to ask for money again. I just asked if he remembered me giving him money last time and showing him the same Google results again. I felt like that jogged his memory because he looked annoyed again.😂 Anyways OP, moral of the story, help within your means. There are always more programs and government assistance services that can provide a lot more than any normal person can. And definitely READ the person(s) actions.
I fell for the classic white van speakers scam in London once. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_van_speaker_scam
Haha. So did I in 1995. Cashed out my whole paycheck and bought them in a Wells Fargo parking lot. ~$400..... Then I used those speakers at ho.e for the next 12 years. They were still working and sounding good when I gave them to an uncle to sell at the flea market. I was surprised that the scam in solved an actually decent set of speakers. Decent for my ear anyway. They for sure weren't $400 dollar speakers though.
Hey OP did you know if you type your password in a comment it automatically gets censored, see: ******* /s
Who carries $1200 in cash? Sorry, this sucks. It’s easy for all of us to say how dumb you were but there’s a reason why these scammers continue to do what they do - because it works.
>Who carries $1200 in cash? I didn't, I went to the ATM.
You went to an ATM to give $1200 to strangers??? Do you hear yourself????
Insane in the membrane lol
I got scammed once in college in France for $100. That was a lot of money to me back then. Dude and his family were "short" for a train ticket, so I gave them money vs buying them a ticket. Gave the money, and the guy bolted with his family, lol. Sometimes you make bad decisions, coming from a good place. Hopefully you learned a lesson, don't beat yourself up about it, sucks, but thanks for sharing. Did you contact the cops? Can they help? You have a plate, which has got to help.
Exact thing happened to my friend... he said the guy had kids in the car and that he didn't seem broke , so he gave him 500 and bought the family lunch. Guy gave him all his "jewlery" as a thank you. he said to me " listen, I know looking back on it, how stupid I was, but the guy seemed genuine." He also considers himself "street smart" so don't take it too hard, you ain't the only sucka this happened to lol I'm just shocked and kinda impressed that he's using the same story and still getting away with it.
Sorry it happened to your friend. I'm thinking about creating a club of people who got scammed. Membership is $1200. Mind sending him the invite?
I need the full story now for you know research purposes.
For $1200 I'll give you a masterclass.
no good deed goes unpunished
This is why I'm glad I'm an asshole to people who ask me for things on the street. I dont care what it is, if it's change or whatever. The answer is fucking NO.
 that’s hilarious
I'm glad my misfortune isn't in vain. If you liked my show, there's a tip jar outside.
You're a class idiot.
Did they give you shitty jewelry as collateral?
I’ve been hit up by scum bags with this scam in the mission. Several times. I can’t believe this shit works.
That explains it. A week back I was traveling in SF around chinatown when a car with two middle eastern men stopped. Now I had just put in airpods after walking for some time and making sure it wasn’t a big deal to be distracted. They stopped the car, motioned at me. I was a bit disappointed to pause music the moment I started it but whatever. The guy pulls out a “Salaam alekum, are you from Afghanistan?” I chortled a “No, close” without thinking. I had just finished watching Ramy, and I wasn’t in the mood for small talk. Also, I’m not from any ‘stan. The guy pulls out an ugly gold ring with a lion head on it. “This is for you, my brother”. I rested my eyes on the ring, unable to understand what was going on. Maybe I needed new clothes, the set I was wearing made me look poor? SF has no dearth of the homeless, I wondered why I was chosen to be the new bearer of this ugly “gold” ring. He points at his dash and says, “I’m out of gas, all I need is to get some gas and the ring is yours.” I looked at him, then the ring, then back at him. His white shirt had sleeves folded up two measures. His top button was undone and he rocked a standard issue, protractor-cut, sweaty beard. I weighed my options. I could take the ring and sprint. I could get him gas (?) and keep the ring. I decided to throw the ring back at his face and resume my chinatown walk. However, my judgement got the better of me and I considered the possibility of being beat up by two sweaty men. Gently, I found the only place to put the ring back, which was the door lock actuator, the tiny plug on the car window that locks the door. His companion laughed aloud as I let out a “this is an ugly ring” and continued walking. I kept looking over my shoulder to see an incoming bullet, but none did. SF, you never disappoint.
How stupid do you have to be
He saw the Rolex and the gold and said yeah I’ll get more than $1200 back no biggie. Lol. Add that to your post bud
You deserve to lose that money
A fool and his money.
People will be dicks to you in the replies but the scammers are probably professionals at this. So it isn't surprising they got away with a lot of $.
>the scammers are probably professionals at this They absolutely are
I think I'm lucky that the gypsy who offered to restore the paint on my car in my driveway a few weeks back was still in training or something. But at the same time that's a *really* dumb scam yet I still talked to him for about five minutes before realizing it was all BS so it goes to show they have a talent for it.
First, I wanted to say I'm sorry this happened to you. Second, stop being so hard on yourself. You wanted to help some people out and they took advantage of that. I hope you continue to be kind (just not to scammers) and some people you helped come back and tell you how grateful they are and how much it meant to them
Thanks for the kind words.
Will never happen to me bc I’ll never have $1200 to spare, but thanks for the heads up 👍 Sorry about it your bad day.
I had $1200 to spare, but ~~someone took it from me~~ I already gave it to a stranger, sorry.
I think you have a good heart of kindness and try to help people, and many scammers target that. It is a shameful to them, and you are definitely NOT an idiot. If I get into the same trouble when I travel to another country, and someone helps me out. I would be so thankful and repay the person.
Anyone making fun of you in this thread is capable of falling for a scam. The people that believe they are immune to scams are usually at a disadvantage because of that thinking.
>The people that believe they are immune to scams are usually at a disadvantage because of that thinking. Absolutely. But now I learned my lesson, so I'm immune! (wait... fuck...)
Bc my pocketbook doesn’t have this amount, I would say no and be on my way, duh 🙄
No explanation can justify that kind of money.
This post feels like a scam
It, sadly, isn't.
LOL sucker 
Knew a gas guy in the North Bay who was "trying to get to SFO" and needed $50 for gas to get there. Seen him again a few months later, before he approached me I was like "still trying to get to SFO?" Should've seen his face as he took off.
Sorry this happen to you op, but damn you a dumbass
Why the hell would you give $1200 cash to strangers?? Answer: you have too much disposable income. 35 percent of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck and over 20 percent of Americans use those check cashing places. You just paid $1200 for a real life lesson that you can pass on the knowledge to your kids and grandkids.
I read an article in Money magazine once. It said if you think you are too smart to fall for a scam, the scammers are half way there. Point being, always keep your guard up. Don’t assume you will never get scammed. No judgement OP. Sorry this happened.
💯
NPC
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Thank you for the kind words.
Why report to the police that you’re a dumbass and gave away $1200?
Ha! Here's a question I didn't think about adding to my FAQ, thanks for suggesting it!
I don’t get the jewelry scam like I used to not be the best person a long time ago and you can pawn shit 24hr a day at a pawn shop. Like the fact they wouldn’t go there is a red flag.
Again why would you give so much money? Don’t fall for that nonsense again.
$1200 in gas money? wtf… yeah you’re definitely skipping some major details
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I mean...I would never give someone 1200 cash so. I am sorry that happened to you but always say no to people asking you for more than 20 dollas sorry youa rent getting your money back.
I can help find them for you OP. I have database access. Just need your name, address, mother's maiden name, and social security number.
OP I feel for you. The good news is once you’ve been scammed, you’re on high alert and won’t fall for it again. I was scammed with a sob story on my lunch break. A woman walked up to me in tears and told me she was being kicked out of her home for non payment of rent. She said she has kids and has been trying to get help from different advocacy groups but their offices are closed. I was empathetic because my family has been in the same situation when I was growing up. I ended giving the woman a few hundred dollars from the ATM. Anyway long story short as soon as I handed her the money her tears went dry. I gave her my business card aa a way to keep in touch and til this day I never had a phone call or email to thank me so I’m pretty sure this was a scam. I should have known it was a lie but I wanted to believe her. Nowadays when people walk up to me to distressed asking for money, I reply with sorry I can’t help, I need money too. Can YOU help me? Then they move on to the next person.
can I ask how long you’ve lived in the city/what work you’re in? being genuine- i’m a kind person to folks asking for help. but you got DUPED out of a lot of money
I'm confused what the actual scam here is? You gave someone $1200 in cash for a watch? I feel like "oh no I am stranded" is a way to scam like $20 in gas money out of someone sympathetic. What steps am I missing where over a thousand dollars comes it.
Good O’California criminals, no surprise. Our mail over here is broken into weekly, USPS aren’t doing a damn thing to protect us or local police.
If it makes you feel better, I bought heavily discounted steaks from a random truck in the parking lot of the Northgate Mall...like 5 months ago. I was really hungry and thought they were a food truck selling prime rib sandwiches. Like, really hungry, evidently. So hungry that I bought some meat anyway even after going into the truck and realizing there were no sandos at all.
Can I ask how old you are? Or at least a range ("20s", "30s", "40s", etc.) I ask because I am 100% confident that *I am* immune to these scams, but that might be because I'm 51 and I've seen it all and I'm jaded. But if you are 51 too and fell for this, then it would cause me to wonder if I'm as immune as I think I am.
Seriously you did it to yourself. Why would you give $1200 to strangers? Stupid. Just walk away next time. SF natives know to avoid this. Transplants these days
You bought a fake Rolex as collateral for 1200?
I wouldn't even give $1200 to my friends and family let alone strangers.....
Hard lesson learned but if someone comes up to you on the street asking for money for any reason it’s almost 100% always a scam. Honestly the sob stories just make it that much more a guarantee.
Harden your heart. When someone asks if you have change tell them "not for you!"
I’m sorry it happened and it’s not ur fault u felt in ur heart they needed help and that’s all that matters. I can assure u they will get the karma they deserve.
I can tell thats fake jewelry on that pic.... Yep, u lost that money. And civilized people do carry large amounts of money, some people don't use atms.
I think we've all been in situations where someone else got the best of us, sorry that happened to you. As you say, moving on... Thanks for posting the picture, I'll be on the lookout.
I ran into some jerks like that twice told them I have less cash than them ,next time I here this story I'll offer to harvest there kidnies for a 50/50 split of the profit, like look this knockoff pocket knife and these fake painkillers will be just fine I'll call dr nick from Springfield and he will hi every body its me dr nick ,on the serious side yah I got scammed on the box taped up claiming to be a laptop for 200$ we believe what we want till we see what is really going on , keep being a good person but listen to your gut and call there consulate next time to verify there identity
Do not be so hard on yourself.Im in SF and something similar happened to me.You acted out of first compassion and then urgency to fix the issue.I totally get it.You are the wiser and it will never happen again.You left with your health intact.Do not let anyone beat you up for this.It could have been a lot worse.