The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

A woman approached my daughter outside the Walmart on 96st Street in Owasso earlier this afternoon.  The woman claimed she needed gas money to get back to Tulsa and she had only a dollar.  Lyndsay said she was very convincing, with tears streaming down her cheeks.  But Lyndsay has met scammers before - more on that in a moment - and she was wary of handing over any cash.  Daughter is kind-hearted, not dumb.

She was in a gas station well after dark sometime last fall when a man and a woman approached, saying they needed a ride back to their home.  They gave an address that's pretty much just pasture land out north west of town - not that Lyndsay knew it at the time.  She declined to drive them, so they asked for money.  Again, she declined.  But they gave her the creeps.  She called me.  I called Owasso PD.  The dispatcher said they'd already had some calls and an officer was dispatched.  Before he arrived, however, Lyndsay watched as they crossed the street to the bank parking lot where they got into a car and left.

Now, I'm sure there are people out there who genuinely need help, but there are also so many scammers I'm going to turn down people who really need the help.  There's no easy way to separate the two groups.   

Had a woman come to my door with that story, that she ran out of gas on 244 (about 3 miles away).
The lack of familiarity with the geography was apparent, but what stuck in my mind the most was that she began the conversation with "First, are you over 18?"
It was a few years ago, and I called around the neighbors to compare notes.

We had a man one time in Incredible Pizza's parking lot ask us for money. It was in a poorly lit part of the lot. His story was that he and his family were on their way back to Arkansas from here after a funeral, and they did not have money to buy gas. My first question in my head is that why did he not ask family for money. Second, he came out of nowhere, there was no family in a car nearby. We declined to offer him help and drove away. The pieces of his puzzle did not fit together.

Ask them for a dollar first....Shuts them down every time.....

I've been approached many times on things like this.  The one that stand out the most in my head was in front of Barnes & Noble on 41st where a guy was asking me to buy him and his family some food.  Of course, no family around.  I've also had them show me business cards and many assortments of "proof" that they are telling the truth.

Feed the strays and they stick around.  Stop, and they move on.

Apparantly you have not had the pleasure of meeting "Pee Wee"

I've gotten this "I need a dollar to get somewhere" story many times before.
The best was when I got it from a guy down town.   His expression was great after I gave him the you tried this on me 6-months ago look..

I had the same story about Arkansas on Friday in the Whole Foods parking lot from a little old lady.   I said sorry, she moved on to the next car. 

Had a variation of this happen to me in Dallas recently at a hotel parking lot while I was checking in.  
Nicely dressed couple said they were stranded and needed a place to stay for the night but because they got a special "discount" from another hotel chain they could only use cash.  
They used a lot of "religiosity" in their speil.  
Mentioned it to the desk clerk and she said they work a number of the hotels in the area.

I had the same type story played on me at the QT truck stop in Catoosa.
I was coming out after paying for my gas and a scraggly looking guy asked me if I could help him and his girlfriend with some gas money because they coasted into the parking lot out of gas.
He stated they were just a few blocks away from home and pointed to this old beater of a car next to a pump with a scraggly looking girlfriend who was turning around looking at us.
I'm not real sure if I was played or not, but I gave him a five and left. Whats your thought on this routine of parking next to the pump ?
Did he get me or was I a good samaritan ?

Just a few blocks from home sounds like a short walk to me.

Never given any of them money, but have offered to get them there gas (go in pay/go get a gas can and pay) or buy food, only two people have ever taken the offer.

My theory is they need food or gas not money and I am more then willing to help someone in need, but I don't give up cash directly. Maybe I was "scammed" those two times, however two times out of hundreds of times isn't bad odds.

I was asked for some gas money at a car wash several years ago.  I declined.  A couple weeks later at the same car wash, the same person started to approach me again but must have recognized me or my car.  No second request as I remember.

They are all this:


Was in my junk folder just now and thought of this thread.

If I wasn't already married, Thoya Emmanuelle would become Thoya Recycle Michael.

Absolutely.  This scam is used all over the country.

These are all common scams.

I got hit up in a parking lot yesterday by some gal, about 25 or so, just walking through the parking lot and asking everyone she could walk up to for a dollar.

When she asked me as I was loading the groceries in the car, I just grinned and said that Wally World had just cleaned me out.  She just moved on to the next person.

Business takes me into the c stores in several states.  There is rarely a day goes by that I don't get asked at one of them for money --to buy gas, to feed the kids, or so the family can continue their journey to the next stop and get back home.   

One gal stepped in front of my car while I was stopped a stop sign  with her young daughter one day, and wouldn't move.  She told me she needed a dime to round out the bus fare for her daughter because the doctor's office was downtown, and the kid was suffering from some rare disease.

She stopped me later at a c store, and said they needed money for a coke for the daughter because it was so hot.

The ones sitting at the off ramp stop signs or street corners with the signs are my favorites.  They are dropped off early in the morning by someone with a van, and then picked after rush hour.

I couldn't do that,  without a port-a-potty.

I saw a pan handler that frequents 41st street bridge over I-44 that drives to the parking lot of Commerce tower and then goes to scam motorists. I know for I had an office there that faced the intersection and was looking out the window one evening before I was going home. I saw the panhandler leave in his GEO Tracker about dusk when rush hour was done. Saw him a few more times after that.

There also used to be a fat guy with a metal pole for a leg who panhandled the same intersection and now he's moved up to big time at the 71st street / Highway 169 intersection, usually the east side. Must be better loot there with all the shoppers and diners passing through. Has to fight the Ultimate Electronics sign holder for curb time.    

I have wondered for years what the pecking order system is for this group, and how the various corners and off ramps are assigned.

It would seem by now that there is a move to get a union vote for the "workers".

Give this guy a dollar for creativity:

(http://media.2leep.com/1941-220.jpg)

One of the local newstations did a piece on this several years ago. Don't remember which station. Found out the people at I-44 and Sheridan and Lewis were collecting for a church but the signs they carried said they were homeless leading you to believe the money was for them. I've noticed a woman at I-44 and Lewis with a bucket that clearly states its for a church. Over this past summer I was at the light at I-44 and Lewis long enough to see a guy who looked like rolled around in the dirt there go over and get into a newer Chevy parked across the street, start the car and turn on the A/C to cool off.

You're already helping these low-life grifters by paying taxes for their "entitlements". They just spend all their money on drugs, and you're helping them support the pusher, probably at the expense of their children.

Nice job bumping a 3 month old thread.

That was for Guido, BTW...

Ahhh, the pungent, fetid stench of a troll.

Nothing to see here.  Move along.  Move along.

Take it easy on the forum cop. He's just doing his job, pathetic and sad that the job is.  ;)

Can't be any worse than being an attorney...

I hate it when scammers use God's name to scam. I have been approached before a few times and when I start hearing God's name to get money I am done listening. God deserves better than scammers using his name wrong. How sad. But I like what I read from some posts, I don't mind helping a person in true need and the best way is to offer to buy the thing they need, not give money. And common sense, lots of common sense.