New scam (don't fall victim)

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Not to start up situational awareness recycling but he must have seen me go in and then saw where he could block my car in. I do not remember that truck when I went in, but it could have been fairly close. When I say it happened fast, I mean that when I got my key in the door to unlock it, his truck was not there but in the second that I opened the door and was about
to climb in, I looked ahead and there he was blocking me in at that point.
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That is what separates this in my opinion from mere panhandling to aggressive and therefore worthy of special alertness. Can we even say we are in Condition Yellow if something so out of the ordinary occurs and we do not immediately say "Hey, pay attention, something might become a threat here."

A stranger suddenly blocking in your vehicle and yelling at you, for whatever reason (well except, Hey your lights are out, or your tire is flat), is a "heads up" moment in my book. Especially when they don't just move on but linger after you have expressed no interest.
 
KingEdward,

You did the right thing. Always, trust your instincts. You felt this situation wasn't quite right and acted accordingly. Read "The Gift of Fear" by Gavin DeBecker. He's anti-gun big time but the info in the book is dead on the money.

Whether it was legit or not doesn't matter. It's better to err on the side of caution. Listen to that little voice... it's usually right.
 
People I don't give money to - anyone knocking on my door for money, anyone that approaches me aggresively for money, the many men that have approached me because their car broke down, the guy at the LAX airport that autographed a book he wanted me to have for a $10 donation, anyone at the 16th Street Mall, downtown Lawrence, downtown Colorado Springs, Country Club Plaza, Nations Capital or wearing military uniforms.
Some people I have given money too - the person downtown asking for change for a dollar for the parking meter at the spot I saw them pull into. Those bell ringers around the Holidays. Once a person in Mexico with a deaf/mute sign (she cried when I gave her a $20). Baristas, waitresses, bartenders, valet parkers, my cheapskate friends and pretty women.
It's my money and I'll do what I want, nobody (outside of the government) forces my asset allocation.
 
If my child was sick and I needed money for medicine and no way to get it but beg, yes, I would beg.

But not that way.

King, you did good.
 
Maybe I'm a little jaded... But I think the OP's response was pretty good. I'd have probably pushed back a little harder. IMO it started as an agressive panhandler. I truely believe that if King responded with kindness, or shown a hint of weakness it may have gotten ugly... fast. Now this is just my opinion... but that so called pan handler was sizing King up.. I truely believe from the information. this guy would have tried to intimidate him into coughing up some cash. This is a common scam more seen in sub-urban areas, rather than inner city, or rural areas. ( where you could get shot). The criminal is depending on your guilt for having more than him, your good nature, and natural curiosity and friendly manner, your sense of community. If that fails ... intimidation!!!... nope it was a scam and possible crime.


Why did he block King's vehical? Why did he motion King over to his vehical? why did he not speak?.... come on... you have to see this coming a mile away. I wonder what would have happened if King did walk over.
Maybe he's grabbed by the collar and a knife put to his throat, and money taken, maybe a gun is displayed and his money taken... Maybe the guy in the passenger side of the truck ( whos been hiding on the floor) gets out and grabs from behind. When a panhandler asks for a substantial amount of cash, he really wants to see if you have cash, and where do you keep it. I'm origonally from NYC...I know panhandlers..lol. They tend to be happy with what ever you give them as the old saying go's... beggers cant be choosey.

END OF RANT.
 
Flame on but some of you are point blank too paranoid, heartless, cynical and, with all due respect, pansy boys!

I drive a $1.4 M USD car & its happened to me in the same car. My first born had 102 fever (first time he got sick) and I rushed out to get Panadol at 3 AM. The nearest 24/7 pharmacy was 35 kms. When I reached there I realized I had left my wallet, mobile phone and even my watch at home. I'm someone who's never even asked my parents for money after I was 14 but I went inside the pharmacy, told the guy at teh counter I had forgotten my wallet and if he would give me the medicine & I'll come back with the money in less than an hour. He didnt even bat an eye lid and gave me the medicine. Same guy now owns his own pharmacy at a hospital that I own. You could have asked the guy to come with you to Walgreen and to buy him the medicine he needs if you were not comfortable with getting close to the guy & his vehicle.

So what if thats guys daughter was really sick?

How you screwed up is:

1. You didnt give him a mere $10 bucks.
2. And for topping you got police on his tail screwing up the poor soul.

How would you feel if you daughter was sick and you had to beg someone for a mere 10 bucks where that someone would flatly refuse. So here you are all worried and VOILA! Cops all over your arse..... and we all know what happens next.

Seriously guys, have some compassion for godsake. I never really understood fatherhood and the love for a child until I had my own.
 
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I like Peetza's plan

I agree there's a 97% chance it was a BS scam... but by offering to follow the guy

to the pharmacy counter the human in me wouldn't feel so guilty.
 
People legitimately looking for help don't generally DEMAND it, they ask for it. I'd say it was a scam, and an aggressive one at that.

jmho,

lpl
 
Ummm

Of all the things I may be..... a pansy boy isnt one of them. Because of the location your texting from. I'll take a chance and assume that you dont have a complete grasp of the english language. As far as my being too paranoid... that may well be so... but I've earned it fair n square. I'm sure there are things in your world that I'll never begin to understand... After all were all products of our environment. Well the mean streets of the United States is my environment. Consider that there may be things that I know that you cant understand. I promise that I will respect your postings, and I ask that you tender me the same respect. And i'm not heartless... I'm suspicious...I refuse to be a victim. And I thank you for your feedback

Glenn Dee :)
 
aggressive begging

Peetza, I admire your optimism. Maybe I'm a bit jaded having grown up in NYC and then spending most of my life in Philly and the D.C. area, but my guess is that the odds are at least 1000:1 that this guy was a scammer, and a fairly aggressive one at that. The "sick kid" story is old and worn out, just as is the "only need money for a cab to get home" (or buy gas to get to my family, etc., etc.) Do not believe that some folks don't make a living doing this. In NYC a local TV station did an interview with a well-dressed young guy asking for money from motorists stopped at a traffic light. When the TV reporter determined that this was effectively this guy's "job", he asked him why he chose to do such a low yield and demeaning thing, he was told "I can make about $100,000 a year doing this, no taxes, and I spend my winters in Florida." There have been well-documented reports in NYC about entire families who were professional beggars, and whose annual take put them well into the upper middle class. My wife works for the Archdiocese of Washington, and they get lots of people looking for charity. The single males who say their families are starving are rarely interested in being given food; they want food stamps (to sell) or cash for drugs. I used to believe the stories, but not so much any more.
 
I too think this was a scam. I can say if I were ever in the guys situation I would not be driving around blockbuster I would still be at walgreens asking people there if they could help me out and be certain to exchange info so I could pay them back. More likely I would sell something I owned or offer to work for the assistance.
I do have to say I have been guilty of giving money to panhandlers but feel I try to make an educated guess as to the reality of the situation. For example I was outside of a construction site on break and a guy asked me and my co-workers for a few bucks each and while the other 6 guys gave him some cash I asked him what it was for and he told me beer to stay warm. I of course told him to get lost although my friends thought I was a jerk. On a separate occasion there was a guy who was very dirty and had a bike with what appeared to be all his possessions on the back he was holding a sign that said will work for food, this guy seemed legitimate to me so I gave him $40 as I had no work for him. This guy looked as if he was going to cry and thanked me profusely while being obviously chocked up and humbled. Now I guess this could have been a scam and he could have done something else with the cash but I feel like it was genuine. In short I think use your gut and do what you think is right but in the op's post I fell he did an awesome job interpreting the situation.
 
I know that there are people who make living begging for money. I've seen it on tv too. What I've never heard of is people who do it at night, driving an expensive truck, in a blockbuster parking lot.

Like I said, there's a damn good chance that it was a scam. 70%? 90%? I don't know.

On the other hand, I've been there. What some people call "agressive" COULD have been poor foresight. Afterall, most people live in condition white, almost everyone on this board acknowledges that fact. If you were condition white, you're not thinking about muggers and thieves and you're not thinking about LOOKING like a mugger or a thief. "Gee, I better pull up 20 feet out so I don't block this guy in, don't want him thinking that I'm a mugger!" What you'd be thinking is "Hey! There's a guy! He'll understand! I'll pull up quick before he leaves! He's probably got kids, he might have $10 he can give me. God this is embarresing, I hope he doesn't know me somehow. God, I feel like an idiot."

In "condition white", there is no sense of blocking people in or looking suspicious. There us only "me", what I need. That's why they're in condition white in the first place, because they're preoccupied, fixated on something else.

I'd say it's forgivable when a child is sick at home and you don't have the money for her medicine.

Was it real? I don't know. Maybe not, maybe even probably not. Once again, I find no fault in the actions of the OP. I would have done things a LITTLE differently, that's all, because it COULD have been real, just as easily as it could have been a scam.
 
One day a friend, myself and his lady friend are having dinner by the naval academy in Annapolis. We just had the bug to spend a weekend out of state somehow. But this lady comes up and asks if we can spare some money for dinner for her and her two kids. We Obviously called BS on her blew her off. She says lost her job, been hospitalized and is broke and got no home to return to. Even showed us a hospital band on her left hand. We just smiled at each other thought she was creative. She looked droopy eyed so we though DRUGS.:) Before she left she asked if there was a homeless shelter around and for a second I had doubts but my friend just blew her off.

Few hours later we are leaving after dinner and drinks and spot the lady driving around the parking lot. In a freaking Lexus GS 300. Just about then we notice the car is full of house hold items, clothes and no joke, two little kids in the back with all the junk in the car and slumped over. I swear I choked. Forget the car, it was for real. Felt sorry for the poor kids, probably on their first homeless night. My buddy's lady friend had said the lady looked genuine and maybe desperate and she didn't think she was high, just looked more sick than high. My friend and I both felt like jerks. And his lady friend let us know men have no hearts;

Sorry, we misread the situation. I tried to hurry up see if I could get her attention but I was on foot, and lady left without ever knowing someone was willing to help. In life, you just never know. It really was not the scum we assumed it was. We easily looked up iphone and located a local homeless shelter address. Besides we both could spare a few notes for her, but guess it was not her night that night. Either way begging at night is a bad idea, and I would have been suspicious of truck guy too. Even after our experience.
 
While its just swell to be optomistic, i think a healthy dose of doubt is warranted and far safer. I had a fellow coworker come into work once with a really beat up face. He was one of the guys who would always be the first to give money to any of the beggers/panhandlers. Well one came up to him and asked him for "just a few bucks for gas" as his car ran out. my friend immediately took out his wallet to help the guy out when he was haymakered in the face. The guy was just waiting for him to take his wallet out so he knew that he had money. Keep your wallet in your pocket and keep your head on the swivel
 
I would have done things a LITTLE differently, that's all, because it COULD have been real, just as easily as it could have been a scam.
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OK, if someone blocks your car with his so you can't escape, then demands you go to his window, then consider that he MAY be in a legitimate financial situation and just chose you to help him out. Go see what he wants and Let us know how things turned out.

I think there's more of a likelyhood that such an incident constitutes a potentially dangerous situation than a legitimate need for ten dollars.
How many robberies start out with a request for money?

How many mere panhandlers actually time their arrival so they can block your car and hold you there? And do it in such a way they he can be gone in an instant after he gets your money---one way or the other?

Of course, I'm older than most of you, so I don't know if I'm just more paranoid or smarter.:confused:
 
peetzakilla I can understand where you are coming from. Unfortunately it takes quite a different perspective to accept the person in the truck as, 'my brother, come to offer me salvation'. Salvation being seeing my brother's needs as the same as mine. Perhaps this forum is a forum of fear, not a forum of love. Folks seem to see danger everywhere. Weapons seem to be the number one answer to all situations that are perceived as frightening.

Even if a scam, I offer $10 to every scruffy looking bum wearing a field jacket standing on the entry ramp to a freeway with a cardboard sign asking for food money for a homeless vet.

I have also given $10 to a stranger for gas money so he could get home to his family.

If my brother is in need, and I have the resources, I am willing to share my good fortune ... be it in church, or on the street. I have never noted any of these forum members talk in the negative about church leaders asking for money all the time, some still suggesting it is the only way to get into heaven. Civilized panhandling ?

Personally I would have gotten in my car, locked the doors and started my engine.
 
similar incident

I had a similar incident last sunday.I met a friend ,who this summer moved about 150 miles away,to give him some items he hadnt had room to move yet.Anyway,we were talking in a resturant parking lot after putting the items in the back of his truck ,when we were confronted by a male and female asking for money to buy gas for their van,with their sick baby in the car.It might have been more convincing if he wasnt slurring his words badly.
 
Nnobby45 said:
OK, if someone blocks your car with his so you can't escape, then demands you go to his window, then consider that he MAY be in a legitimate financial situation and just chose you to help him out. Go see what he wants and Let us know how things turned out.
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If you read my previous posts you'll see that I would have no intentions of going anywhere near the guys truck.

There ARE ways to be safe and charitable at the same time!

People on this forum sometimes have a very one sided perspective on life. How's the saying go? "Give a boy a hammer and he'll find that everything needs hammering."

Give a man a gun and he'll find that every stranger is a mugger.
 
On your scam:

:eek: Definitely this was a scam (especially your describing his truck value). Sounds like you handled this better than most. Approaching his vehicle could have cost you much more than a few bucks...
Thanks for the heads up. The coming holidays always brings out the dirt bags to try and take advantage of someone's good nature to try and help.
Bottom line? Always be prepared by carrying your choice of protection. You never know when you will need a gun and its too late to get one if you ever do need one.
 
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