Dear readers:
I was walking on Motzei Shabbos with a friend on President Street and Troy Avenue when suddenly a man holding two black bags very forcefully bumped into my friend. The man, pretending it was unintentional, dropped one of his bags which contained glass bottles.
I immediately remembered that a friend of mine was a victim of such a scam, only two blocks away. Even before the man could perform his act I informed my friend in Hebrew that this man was about to ask for money, and that’s exactly what happened.
This man bent over and pulled out a shard of glass which had a label of a supposedly expensive alcoholic beverage, and then proceeded to ask “how can we take care of this?”
Thankfully I had already heard about this scam, so we just walked away from him without any further incident.
The man was a black male in his late 30’s to mid 40’s, wearing eyeglasses at the time of the incident.
After asking some of my friends, 8 people who live in my area said the same scam was attempted to be done on them as well.
Please be aware of this scam. Don’t fall for it. If it happens to you either walk away or offer to call the Police or Shomrim/Shmira immediately.
happened to me too.
Thanks for warning the public
This happened to me over a year ago, don’t know if it’s the same scammer. But I fell for it:(
Happened to me As well, he asked me to take him to the closest liquor store to buy him the same expensive bottle.
Thank you for sharing
I politely told him that he bumped into me and it is his fault. He wouldn’t let go, all along demanding cash. I offered to call the police and have them determine negligence….
Needless to say, he left fairly quickly
This happened to my sister and she gave him Money:(
Guy bumped into me on Schenectady and Eastern Parkway – near the subway. Wanted me to pay $70 for a bottle of wine, And I wasn’t going to pay that. I asked him to show me where he bought it and he took me to a store with an ATM. I knew then that he was a scammer so I gave him my change and left.
Happened to
My brother right after shabbos
Ask him if he has change for a nickel!!
We have cameras on president email [email protected] with time date location and description and will try to find him.
This happened to me this past Wednesday night as I was walking home from the train. I gave him money bec I was scared. However, in hindsight I think for all those reading this maybe say I’ll call the police to help us figure it out. The person will likely run off bec they know it’s a scam.
Same incident happened with me on Eastern Parkway near Nostrand Ave around three weeks ago
This happened to me two weeks ago, I didn’t know it was happening so much. Hopefully people will be aware and call the police next time.
Happened to my son too.
I’ve heard of people doing this scam with eyeglasses as well.
The “intentional bump” by the scammer into the potential victim, is actually an assault and battery. The demand for money is an attempt fraud. Call police, make a report and PRESS CHARGES!!!
If this happens to you, Don’t be a victim, forsure don’t give this criminal anything but Call 911 right away, Tell the Police that you want the guy arrested for both these reasons on the comment above, Its intentional so its 100% a Assault, don’t let the police talk you down from pressing charges, If this happened outside a house/building that has Video Camera’s than that would be even better to have the assault charges even stronger, And most important lets Not “just let it go” because if you “let it go” you don’t pay the guy but if you… Read more »
Over a week ago, happened to me, I figured it was a scam, but I felt too intimidated to say no, was afraid of violence…
This just happened to me at the corner of Schenectady and Eastern Parkway. Luckily I had read the article and so just walked away.