Rip-off merchants and revenge

[chveik]

that's not how I picture a successful career in crime

[Jockice]

obviously the guy must be a cunt but calling the cops for that is a bit weird.

I'm not sure if you're referring to my OP but if you are I'm almost lost for words. Almost. But I'm going to rant anyway.

Here's something I haven't mentioned in this thread (although I can prove it if anybody's doubting me). The time the bloke ripped me off he did it by pretending to be disabled and in pain. As someone who genuinely is disabled and in pain I felt for him - and fell for it. Now he may not have known that when he approached my car, although when he realised that I was (blue badge in the window, crutches in the passenger seat, wheelchair in the back seats, mobility scooter in the boot, plus my slurred speech. And I told him I was disabled when he said he was) it didn't make the slightest bit of difference to him. I was there to be taken. He even had his wife 'help' him back to his car.

Now when he approached me on Saturday there was no mention of disability and he seemed to be strolling freely around the forecourt. I watched him for around 15 minutes and his 'severe back pain' seemed to have been miraculously cured. Now he probably has a selection of stories a) to give a bit of variety to his life. Otherwise it would get dull conning people by the same method all the time. And b) I suppose it will make him harder to catch if witnesses give conflicting statements. And I'll just repeat, he had a 25-grand van. Which I somehow suspect isn't one of those free cars us crips get from the government. After rigorous tests to prove that you need it.

So, sorry (and also sorry if your post wasn't aimed at me) he's not some sort of loveable rogue. He probably makes hundreds if not thousands a day doing this sort of thing, which is basically conning nice people. When he did me he asked me for 70 quid but I gave him 40. Now multiply even the smaller figure several times a day (minus diesel costs from travelling the 15 or so miles between each service station of course), Bingo! Even if he only does it at weekends, when his kids aren't at school. Mind you, they won't be at school at the moment and nobody will question why so he may be doing it full-time. Even more money.

The last I saw of him on Saturday he was talking to an old bloke probably approaching pension age, who appeared to be on his own. Another easy target it seems. Bet he doesn't try it with fit healthy groups of lads.

He also has his wife and children with him to make him look genuine, so he's training his offspring to be liars and cheats too. Plus his behaviour first time is exactly the sort of stuff that makes some people think that real disabled people are all fakes who are ripping off the system. So yes, it is fucking personal. I have no regrets whatsoever about informing the cops and putting his picture on social media. I'd do it more if I could.

And yes, to anyone asking. It is a criminal offence.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/artist-who-conned-strangers-out-of-300-for-petrol-money-sentenced-for-fraud-a4141701.html
https://metro.co.uk/2015/11/15/fraudster-jailed-after-he-tricked-people-by-pretending-to-break-down-on-the-motorway-5503588/

Incidentally, I did get ripped off by a genuinely disabled person a few years ago. But that's a different story.

[buttgammon]

A few weeks ago, a woman asked me for a euro for the tram. We were on the tram at the time.

[holyzombiejesus]

Does anyone remember the punk who used to hang around Manchester with a bit of card that read 'bus fare 30p'. His shtick was that he couldn't speak (don't know if the word 'mute' is still used) but there were loads of rumours that people had heard him ordering a pint in The Salisbury

[Jockice]

I'm starting to feel guilty about dobbing this bloke in now. He may be a career criminal who selects the vulnerable as his victims but you know, there were Nazis. And that.

[NoSleep]

I'm starting to feel guilty about dobbing this bloke in now. He may be a career criminal who selects the vulnerable as his victims but you know, there were Nazis. And that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQZNsr29WBA&feature=youtu.be&t=969

[earl_sleek]

I'm starting to feel guilty about dobbing this bloke in now. He may be a career criminal who selects the vulnerable as his victims but you know, there were Nazis. And that.

Nah, I hope the cunt does time.

[Poobum]

I hope he's force fed honey and milk until he shits himself, is strapped inside a couple of boats and dumped in malarial swamp.

[Ray Travez]

Does anyone remember the punk who used to hang around Manchester with a bit of card that read 'bus fare 30p'. His shtick was that he couldn't speak (don't know if the word 'mute' is still used) but there were loads of rumours that people had heard him ordering a pint in The Salisbury

If it's the same guy, his name was Deaf'ead. He was deaf from birth and couldn't speak well, though he could make himself understood. Once asked my mate if he could try on his sweater, tried it on, it fit, he made a 'thumbs up' sign and walked off wearing it. This was a nice black mohair jumper, and they were supposedly friends, though maybe not after that. He used to go to The Ritz on a Monday. I thought he was a cunt.

edit- not just a cunt, a person who is so obviously a cunt that you don't need a second opinion. My memory of him in The Ritz is that he would go around trying to intimidate people into giving him drink, or money to buy drink. Money with menaces. I've got a vague memory that my mate said he had some kind of problem that meant his life might be cut short at any time. The problem wasn't 'being a massive twat', but a physical thing related to his deafness.

[Sebastian Cobb]

The real theives were the people running the service station amirite?

[holyzombiejesus]

If it's the same guy, his name was Deaf'ead. He was deaf from birth and couldn't speak well, though he could make himself understood. Once asked my mate if he could try on his sweater, tried it on, it fit, he made a 'thumbs up' sign and walked off wearing it. This was a nice black mohair jumper, and they were supposedly friends, though maybe not after that. He used to go to The Ritz on a Monday. I thought he was a cunt.

edit- not just a cunt, a person who is so obviously a cunt that you don't need a second opinion. My memory of him in The Ritz is that he would go around trying to intimidate people into giving him drink, or money to buy drink. Money with menaces. I've got a vague memory that my mate said he had some kind of problem that meant his life might be cut short at any time. The problem wasn't 'being a massive twat', but a physical thing related to his deafness.

That's the guy! Wonder if his life was cut short or if he just decided to stop asking for money for booze or 'bus fare'.

[Kryton]

Fuck him Jockice, you did the right thing. He's preying on vulnerable people and probably thinks he's invincible 'cos he's been getting away from it. A visit from the filth will probably shit him right up.

[Ray Travez]

That's the guy! Wonder if his life was cut short or if he just decided to stop asking for money for booze or 'bus fare'.

...and got a job in a bank...

I've got a friend who might know, he's still in touch with a few people from that time. I'll ask him next time I speak with him.

[Kryton]

Not in any way the same, but many years ago I visited India and got involved in a weird, scary situation involving a group of guys trying to blag me into 'moving jewels' for them.
I've recently found very similar stories on the internet involving the same guys, in the same location, with the same tactics.

Scam artists and gangsters basically, preying on tourists. Not quite the same thing. But it was weird reading about them.


--

My second story involves being scammed by the same guy twice (but not a third time!) when I was much younger. I worked in retail/leisure/hospitality involving three different jobs (over a long period of time).
He always looked/dressed differently too and used distractions. His scam was basically buying something with a tenner, then chatting to you about something, then confusing you by offering a £2 coin for something extra and knowing you were distracted, he'd claim he'd given you £20. he was always polite. It's basically the stuff Derren Brown warned us about. Offering money, talking, distracting, offering to make another purchase and just saying oh put the change in with the rest.

He got me once when I was a teenager working in a smalll video store, got me again when I worked in a leisure centre (but to be fair the second time I admit I wasn't paying attention). I didn't even think it was the same guy as it was like 10 years apart, so forgive my stupidness.

A few years ago I was working in a cafe and I noticed the cunt coming in. I remembered him and prepared myself and he pulled the exact same fucking trick. Same distraction, dual purchase, asked for bigger change and claimed he'd given £20.

Well luck would have it, the till had no notes in it and I gave him the biggest shit eating smile and told him he was obviously mistaken since there's no £20 in the till, but luckily the camera would have caught it. I pointed at the camera which he hadn't noticed and told him to come back when we close to 'rectify the mistake'. He got really angry for a few moments and then stormed out shouting 'I'll fucking come see you' and I just cheerfully said, make sure you do. He didn't come back.

Reported it to the police but since no crime was committed they weren't even arsed.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

^ This post completely fulfils the remit of the thread title. Well Done,  Kryton!

[dr beat]

I was a teenager working in a smalll video store,

He was Phil Oakey? Say it ain't so!

[Sebastian Cobb]

Not in any way the same, but many years ago I visited India and got involved in a weird, scary situation involving a group of guys trying to blag me into 'moving jewels' for them.
I've recently found very similar stories on the internet involving the same guys, in the same location, with the same tactics.

Scam artists and gangsters basically, preying on tourists. Not quite the same thing. But it was weird reading about them.


--

My second story involves being scammed by the same guy twice (but not a third time!) when I was much younger. I worked in retail/leisure/hospitality involving three different jobs (over a long period of time).
He always looked/dressed differently too and used distractions. His scam was basically buying something with a tenner, then chatting to you about something, then confusing you by offering a £2 coin for something extra and knowing you were distracted, he'd claim he'd given you £20. he was always polite. It's basically the stuff Derren Brown warned us about. Offering money, talking, distracting, offering to make another purchase and just saying oh put the change in with the rest.

He got me once when I was a teenager working in a smalll video store, got me again when I worked in a leisure centre (but to be fair the second time I admit I wasn't paying attention). I didn't even think it was the same guy as it was like 10 years apart, so forgive my stupidness.

A few years ago I was working in a cafe and I noticed the cunt coming in. I remembered him and prepared myself and he pulled the exact same fucking trick. Same distraction, dual purchase, asked for bigger change and claimed he'd given £20.

Well luck would have it, the till had no notes in it and I gave him the biggest shit eating smile and told him he was obviously mistaken since there's no £20 in the till, but luckily the camera would have caught it. I pointed at the camera which he hadn't noticed and told him to come back when we close to 'rectify the mistake'. He got really angry for a few moments and then stormed out shouting 'I'll fucking come see you' and I just cheerfully said, make sure you do. He didn't come back.

Reported it to the police but since no crime was committed they weren't even arsed.

First one sounds like an analogue version of the 419 email.

As mentioned before, I worked in a bookies as a student. And 'fraudsters' were something we were supposed to be militant about, they even had a most wanted page of the known ones, much helped by the fact every Ladbrokes had a head-height matchbox sized box with a pinhole camera on the doorframe over a decade ago. Some of the known ones used comedy specs and wigs.

They used to drill it in to us that they were villains, and if we fucked up we'd get a mark against us. Looking back I side firmly with the chancers. They weren't elaborate scams, just slow counts and ambiguous bets.,let them take what they can, the real theives were the shareholders and the industry.

In some ways I feel these low level grifters might provide a parable to some, almost a valuable service to people who could get hit by a 419 or any actual legal scam like endowment mortgages or ppi.

[Brian Freeze]

...and got a job in a bank...

I've got a friend who might know, he's still in touch with a few people from that time. I'll ask him next time I speak with him.

I'd be interested to hear about him too. Gave him 30p as a very wide eyed twelve year old on first trip to Manchester from the sticks.

[Jockice]

Once asked my mate if he could try on his sweater, tried it on, it fit, he made a 'thumbs up' sign and walked off wearing it. This was a nice black mohair jumper, and they were supposedly friends, though maybe not after that. He used to go to The Ritz on a Monday. I thought he was a cunt.

Vaguely similar thing. I mentioned in another thread how my family never went on proper holidays but instead I was sent up to stay with relatives in Scotland. It was okay but the ones I usually stayed with were an aunt and uncle whose son was slightly younger than me and an only child so a bit spoilt.

On one visit in my late teens I had this really nice green and white hooped t-shirt. Not quite a Celtic top (who both my cousin and I support) more a sort of Breton thing. I was very fond of it. About ten minutes before my departure he appeared wearing it. The cheeky bastard had got it out of my bag and put it on.

So, I was left with a dilemma. Demand it back, probably get into an argument, maybe be accused of selfishness as his mum and dad had been looking after me (although they - especially my aunt - always sided with their son in previous rows, eg the melon incident) and feel shit for the entire several hour journey back. Too much hassle. So in the end I just said: "I take it you like my t-shirt then?" I should have known by then that sarcasm is a total waste of time on him. He made no effort to remove it or even explain himself. As far as he was concerned it was now his t-shirt.

I went back to the shop in Sheffield I'd got it from to see if they still had it in stock. Of course they didn't. Probably a very minor thing and a long time ago but it still rankles.

(A similar thing happened circa 1990 when I visited former schoolmates in London and had a freebie Stereo MC's t-shirt (when they were considered cool and underground) that one of them tried to snaffle. He didn't put it on though, it just mysteriously jumped out of my bag to make it look as if I'd accidentally left it behind. I made sure it went back into the bag on this occasion. It's a tough life being  a style icon you know.)

[Jockice]

Mind you, having said that, while visiting another schoolfriend in London I  - without his knowledge. I think he'd popped out to the shop or something - nicked his copy of American Psycho to read on the train home. I never finished it but I think I still have it. No-one is innocent. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. Etc.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I stole a couple of copies of 1984 from English lit. Swapped one of them for a copy of The Wasp Factory a pal nicked from their lit class.

Should've palmed some Steinbeck as well really.

[Huxleys Babkins]

A few weeks ago, a woman asked me for a euro for the tram. We were on the tram at the time.

I had a lovely little scam going on in Poznan one holiday. You could get on the tram and pay on the machine in the carriage. There was no human interaction beyond sporadic guard patrols. We used to only take short trips, so the chances of ever meeting a guard were minimal, so we'd sit by the machine and if we spied him we'd pretend we'd only just got on, didn't really understand the system and buy a ticket there and then.

Must have had about 20 free journeys in the end.

[Icehaven]

When I worked on the checkouts in Safeways a father with his two young sons tried the old trick of paying for something with a tenner then trying to claim they gave me a twenty. It was a few days before Christmas so the shop was absolute pandemonium, the queues were enormous so we were clearly under pressure to keep them moving as fast as possible, plus the cunt Dad even got one of the sons to hand over the money then do the talking for extra likelikhood I'd sympathise and just give in and not do what we're supposed to do when there's a dispute over change, which is get a supervisor to close the till and count the money to check if it's wrong, which is obviously a huge ballache when it's extremely busy, particularly as everyone else behind them in the queue then has to either wait or go to another checkout. I felt bad for the kids but the Dad was such an obvious little rat and he knew I knew exactly what he was up to, so the checkout was closed and they were politely asked to wait in the cafe while the supervisor checked the till, which was right, and when she went to tell them they'd long gone.

Grand scheme of things what's a tenner to a defunct supermarket, but using/teaching your kids to scam like that is vile, and it was as likely going in a fruit machine or to his dealer as it was going on Christmas. I just hope he didn't take it out on them

[Kryton]

^ This post completely fulfils the remit of the thread title. Well Done,  Kryton!

Thank you sir!

[Kryton]

First one sounds like an analogue version of the 419 email.

No idea what that is, just googled it. Fraudsters are cunts, but I don't think it's a 419. I think his scam is much older. Just basically patter, distraction, result.

I always wonder why, if people have such charisma/deceit/charm or whatever, why aren't they trying to sell yachts to billionaires, shady invoices claiming tax on company pencils for 10 grand? Sneaky backdoor HR implementations of a chap who not only doesn't exist, but is 25k a year richer than me.
The thing with billionaires is that money in the grands is fuck all.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I always wonder why, if people have such charisma/deceit/charm or whatever, why aren't they trying to sell yachts to billionaires, shady invoices claiming tax on company pencils for 10 grand?

Perhaps they posses the same character traits but lacked the privilege to get into the same circles? If you're down and out maybe it's all you can aspire to, then you get turned over a few times, maybe a criminal record and that's the doors closed, vicious cycle.

Personally I think a genuine sleazy grifter deserves more grudging reverence than a sales man, corporate fraudster or lying politician. Still the same confidence tricks but on an industrial scale for much vaster sums.

Consider being skinned for a gallon of petrol a life-lesson, you've probably had much more taken off you by the same people in legal, corporate settings employing the same techniques.

[Hand Solo]

My second story involves being scammed by the same guy twice (but not a third time!) when I was much younger. I worked in retail/leisure/hospitality involving three different jobs (over a long period of time).
He always looked/dressed differently too and used distractions. His scam was basically buying something with a tenner, then chatting to you about something, then confusing you by offering a £2 coin for something extra and knowing you were distracted, he'd claim he'd given you £20. he was always polite. It's basically the stuff Derren Brown warned us about. Offering money, talking, distracting, offering to make another purchase and just saying oh put the change in with the rest.

He got me once when I was a teenager working in a smalll video store, got me again when I worked in a leisure centre (but to be fair the second time I admit I wasn't paying attention). I didn't even think it was the same guy as it was like 10 years apart, so forgive my stupidness.

A few years ago I was working in a cafe and I noticed the cunt coming in. I remembered him and prepared myself and he pulled the exact same fucking trick. Same distraction, dual purchase, asked for bigger change and claimed he'd given £20.

Well luck would have it, the till had no notes in it and I gave him the biggest shit eating smile and told him he was obviously mistaken since there's no £20 in the till, but luckily the camera would have caught it. I pointed at the camera which he hadn't noticed and told him to come back when we close to 'rectify the mistake'. He got really angry for a few moments and then stormed out shouting 'I'll fucking come see you' and I just cheerfully said, make sure you do. He didn't come back.

Reported it to the police but since no crime was committed they weren't even arsed.

This is a well old con there are many variations on, but mostly involve complicating a transaction and confusing the shopkeeper. It's confusing enough in the clip, but imagine some fast-talking wanker giving you some story at the same time, you wouldn't know what's going on.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

Elton John did it in one of his " Viz" comic strips.

[Pingers]

Perhaps they posses the same character traits but lacked the privilege to get into the same circles? If you're down and out maybe it's all you can aspire to, then you get turned over a few times, maybe a criminal record and that's the doors closed, vicious cycle.

A lot of crims lack the imagination to shit other than where they eat. When people I was supporting in an old job got nicked for shoplifting at Primark I was always disappointed - aim higher!

[Sebastian Cobb]

A lot of crims lack the imagination to shit other than where they eat. When people I was supporting in an old job got nicked for shoplifting at Primark I was always disappointed - aim higher!

It always saddens me when I see a security guard in a fucking poundland.