"I thought my friend knew him, but this guy had the gift of the gab, my mate had only met him moments before."
Yup. I nearly got caught by the "friend" trick.
Someone stopped me in town on a public square and asked directions. So far, so safe.
Whilst I was explaining, another guy approached us, saying he needed two people to witness a statement he had to make at a lawyer's office in the building opposite. It will only take a moment, he said.
The guy wanting the directions said he didn't really have time, but OK, as long as it's quick. I agreed as well and we both followed.
We didn't head for the main entrance, but a side entrance. I told my "friend", I don't like the look of this. He said not to be worried, there are two of us and one of him.
Something about the whole setup just seemed too smooth. My "friend" seemed to need too little persuasion initially. And he seemed to know where to go. And he had the right answers ready. So I fell back a step.
Good instincts, because inside the entrance a group was waiting.
By then I was about 2 yards behind my "friend". I turned and ran.
I'd just drawn money from an autoteller. It's possible I'd been seen and that that's what they were after.
But all in all, it was a good scam. Had their acting been just a little better, they'd probably have succeeded.
Last edited by resident; 18.05.2011 at 16:10.
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"I thought my friend knew him, but this guy had the gift of the gab, my mate had only met him moments before."
Yup. I nearly got caught by the "friend" trick.
Someone stopped me in town on a public square and asked directions. So far, so safe.
Whilst I was explaining, another guy approached us, saying he needed two people to witness a statement he had to make at a lawyer's office in the building opposite. It will only take a moment, he said.
The guy wanting the directions said he didn't really have time, but OK, as long as it's quick. I agreed as well and we both followed.
We didn't head for the main entrance, but a side entrance. I told my "friend", I don't like the look of this. He said not to be worried, there are two of us and one of him.
Something about the whole setup just seemed too smooth. My "friend" seemed to need too little persuasion initially. And he seemed to know where to go. And he had the right answers ready. So I fell back a step.
Good instincts, because inside the entrance were a group waiting.
By then I was about 2 yards behind my "friend". I turned and ran.
I'd just drawn money from an autoteller. It's possible I'd been seen and that that's what they were after.
But all in all, it was a good scam. Had their acting been just a little better, they'd probably have succeeded.
That sounds scary
Fortunately, I only got scammed once. Or actually, someone tried and failed: I took computer to a store to get it fixed. Lucky me, since I love to dangle among computer nerds, I knew enough to run out of the store before he could finish "you have to pay around 200 euros to check what is wrong".
Yesterday we had two chaps from Ireland turn up outside our office asking for directions.... ..
How do you know they where Irish? Get the Reg of the Car? Biz card name?
Never heard of this happening here, but in Ireland & UK forsure, they are just shown off very quickly!
Last edited by grealish; 18.05.2011 at 16:27.
Reason: spelling
That also surprises me here, I never heard of that.
Back home we have foreign teams that operate right at the highways, hail cars down pretending something wrong happened and they are in need and then they rob you, try to sell you something, etc. Drive away super fast before somebody catches them, always in nice, new BMW or Mercedes cars.
On that note, I hear on WRS that Geneva is really clamping down on street soliciting super organized gangs, using kids, etc. The 1st trials started, there are finally 1st convicted, the fines have been lowered so they would be payable. It was a looooong journey. Cornavin and surroundings might be hopefully a decent and safe place again.
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Back home we have foreign teams that operate right at the highways, hail cars down pretending something wrong happened and they are in need and then they rob you, try to sell you something, etc. Drive away super fast before somebody catches them, always in nice, new BMW or Mercedes cars.
What, there are criminal foreigners where you come from too?? I thought this was solely a Swiss phenomenon...
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What, there are criminal foreigners where you come from too?? I thought this was solely a Swiss phenomenon...
Yeah, the medias are super careful how they word it, though. They can't be direct. Usually mention accents, languages, license plates, etc. One could assume...from the words spoken in this and that language.
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How do you know they where Irish? Get the Reg of the Car? Biz card name?
Never heard of this happening here, but in Ireland & UK forsure, they are just shown off very quickly!
They had strong Irish accents... The car reg was WF09 XFY Black BMW X5
The van was a hire car. In Switzerland they apparently all have VD numberplates.
Why especially hire cars should come from Vaud I don't know, but a Swiss colleague told me it was usually the case.
Simples - because Vaud has (or rather had) the lowest car taxes.
These days it's Appenzell so most hire cars have Al number plates so watch out for those instead. It's easy to spot real Al cars rather than rented ones....real Appenzeller drivers normally need a couple of booster cushions.
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The Nigerian 419 advanced fee scam is extremely old and pre-internet.
As a youngster I recall being asked by my Uncle to translate a fax (he couldn't read English). It was a Nigerian scam.
Got a new version last week; from the "Nigerian authorities" saying they had caught some scammers, got the money back & were ready to repay me my $10million.
Funny but I am sure I would have remembered if somebody had robbed me of $10M.
Got a new version last week; from the "Nigerian authorities" saying they had caught some scammers, got the money back & were ready to repay me my $10million.
Funny but I am sure I would have remembered if somebody had robbed me of $10M.
I got the same thing this morning!
Seems we're on the same suckers list!
PS: The reply email address had a .kz top level domain name... seems the nigerians have moved to Kazakistan!
You get a job offer from some job agency or a company, paying reasonable money and you can work from home and hours of your choice. The main task would be to receive some funds and the transferring them to the said company's account.
Requirements would be that you have a mobile, internet access and you have to hold the account in YOUR OWN NAME. Then your employer would ask you to provide a copy of your id and your bank account details to them.
I mean hello??!! Who would transfer money in YOUR personal account without even meeting you?!
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