Barbara goes to a nearby strip mall and sees a guy in the lot talking on his cell phone in an animated fashion. There is a woman nearby talking on her cell phone too. They both look like they are in their 30s.

Barbara parks and goes into the store. After she is done, she steps out of the store and gets a call on her own cell phone as she is walking to her car. She gets into her car and continues her call. Suddenly, the guy who was in the lot talking on his phone knocks on Barbara's window and asks her to roll it down. Barbara lowers it a crack and says "I am on a call." The guy apologizes and starts to explain that he and his wife have a big problem. All their furniture is in a moving truck an hour away and they are desperate because he does not have his wallett which is in the van and could Barbara give them any money for fuel. (I know, it sounds confusing. Barbara only heard parts of the explanation.)

Barbara gets kinda creeped out by the guy. What he is saying does not make a lot of sense, but he seems sincere. She sees that the woman who was near the man earlier is sitting at a nearby bench and she looks like she is crying. Barbara feels bad, but she does not feel safe. She tells the man she can't help and drives away. As she drives off, she sees the man is knocking on someone elses window.

Barbara still feels bad that she didn't help, but does not know what else she should have done. I told her she did the only safe thing.

Anyway, it sort of sounds like a con to me. Tell the nice woman in the Lexus a hard luck story While you GF stands 20 feet away and pretends to cry. Get $10 or $20, maybe more. Do that all day and maybe collect $300 or more. Has anybody heard of a scam like this? Do you think the people were really in trouble?

 

I've been on the receiving end of this story a number of times. I've always told them that I don't have enough cash to give them, but that if they really need gas I will use my card to pump a few gallons for them. Only once was anyone grateful to have me give them some gas. Everyone else tried to convince me that for some reason they needed the money instead.

 

Offer to call AAA for them and see what they say. Sounds like a scam to me.

 

con

 

Sounds like a con to me. Barbara did the right thing. See the woman in the lexus whose husband may be willing to cough up a lot of $$ to get the little woman back if they snatched her (or worse). Its sad to think badly of people, but this is a world filled with bad things.

 

I agree it's a con. Good advice to offer to pay for the gas instead of giving cash. Like the street people who beg for money. Give them a sandwich or something instead. Then you know they aren't using your money for drugs or whatever.

 

I'll have to remember that.

 

The best thing to do is to advise them to call the local police for assistance. The police are there to help. After that tell them that you don't have any spare cash and leave. After that you might want to report the incident to the police yourself so that nobody else in that lot gets scammed. The sight of a police car will cause them to move on.

Of course it's a scam. Just a new twist on an old come on.

 

Con.

I never carry around cash, I use plastic all the time so if they ask me for money, I truly don't have it to give to them...

 

I guess I'm in the minority and would say that it might not have been a con. But even so, Barbara did do the right thing.