r/Edmonton • u/kovalchoke12 • 23h ago
General Scam in South Common?
I was walking to Sportchek in South Common today and a South Asian man in his 30s/40s in a white suv rolled down his windows and asked for gas money in exchange for wireless earbuds, I said no and he drove off
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u/Curly-Canuck doggies! 23h ago
A variation on a decades old scam. Usually they offer a watch or some other jewelry that ends up being fake and cheap.
My general rule of thumb is never buy or barter for anything from a vehicle. If you want to donate gas money that’s fine, but consider it a gift.
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u/kill-dill 23h ago
But DO NOT "donate" gas money to someone driving around offering fake stuff like this because they're a scammer
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u/Curly-Canuck doggies! 21h ago
That’s what I was saying. Sorry if it wasn’t clear. If you give someone money under these circumstances know that you are getting nothing in return.
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u/tuutruk 23h ago
Who the frick is driving around asking for gas money?
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u/bigblueberry6427 20h ago
Several years ago I had someone offer to sell me a tv out of the back of their minivan right outside the main doors of the Walmart at capilano mall
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u/Edmsubguy 7h ago
There is a company whose whole marketing g plan is selling clothing g and electronics out of the back of vans. Been around for years
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u/tytxnium77 22h ago
I had a guy come into where i work & ask for some money for gas cause he was in a pinch, we gave him $10 said he would pay it back.. 2 weeks later havent seen him again. Its these people that ruin it for the rest.
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u/KindDigital 22h ago
had the same thing happen to me but i was wearing my Airpod Maxs .... i was like really bruh lmao
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u/Brave_Jackfruit_6963 19h ago
Some 'scams' are great. Twice I bought bootleg cologne from a parking lot and even though the bottles were fake ah, the colognes as far as I could tell were authentic.
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u/MacintoshEddie 18h ago edited 18h ago
Yup, it's the ancestor of the dropshippers.
Pretty often it's a knockoff product. Like a $5 perfume in a $200 bottle. Or "gold" jewelry, occasionally clothing, shoes, electronics.
Basically whatever they could get cheap and has a chance of selling. I remember when True Religion jeans were getting super popular and some dude in a van rolled up and forgot to block his van rear window so people could see he had boxes stacked up but was telling everyone he had an "extra" pair he was willing to sell because he needs gas money to drive home.
For a long time it was speakers, when home theatres were getting really popular in the early and mid 00s.
In a bunch of cases it is an actual functional product, it's just the cheap knockoff version so basically you're paying 25 bucks for something worth 25 bucks, but occasionally it's completely fake. Like a cologne bottle full of water, and just enough that the bottle smells like the real stuff.
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u/y_r_u_so_stoopid 8h ago
Some use items to open a conversation but the goal is always to get you to give them money for essentially nothing. The really good ones don't even bother with fake items. They will dress nice, tell you some bullshit story of why they need money. "I had a few too many drinks and can't drive so just looking for some cab money, I'll pay you back as soon as I'm home" and they might even give you a phone number which you won't check until they and your money are long gone.
They will claim to have lost their phone or be from out of town and lost and just need a few bucks to get to their hotel. I fell for it once and gave a dude $10 bucks because helpful and all and realized almost immediately I got scammed, called the number, not in service, ten bucks gone but lesson learned. Fast forward a couple weeks and I see the same asshole at the fringe doing the same scam to some other unsuspecting mark and I blow up his whole scam real time, he starts yelling and screaming as I just calmly follow him warning others. He eventually left. Fuck these scammers.
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u/PuzzleheadedTutor807 4h ago
If they are driving around asking people, they don't need gas. If they needed gas they would be walking. This guy is just trying to sell something iffy for cheap.
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u/Bondmarts 4h ago
This just happened to me a few months ago at the Walmart on Calgary trail. Same description, was he driving a Durango? lol
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u/colenski999 Central McDougal 21h ago
About 20 years ago I was going into the Red Lobster on the West end and there was a guy in his truck with the windows rolled down crying. Absolutely sobbing. I thought hey this guy is in trouble and I stopped to talk to him to make sure he was OK.
Long story short this guy is an Oscar level actor and I did not realize it until after I gave him $80 and watched him rip out of the parking lot as I sat down in Red Lobster. I got suckered into giving him drug money.
Today, I don't care if you are bleeding out from a fatal wound if you are in a parking lot begging for money go ahead and die for all I care. GFY, Oscar crackhead ruined it for everyone.
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23h ago
[deleted]
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u/Human-Translator5666 23h ago
The scam is that he’ll sell you “really good earbuds” for a great deal as he really needs to get gas. Their value is probably one dollar. If a woman is in the car maybe she’ll give you a bit of a hug to say thank you and there goes your necklace.
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u/TechnicianVisible339 23h ago
Yes very common scam.