Posted by newshound August 25, 2009
Unfortunately, a friend of mine was gullible enough to buying one. The group was driving a blue Dodge Durango........

Bright friends you got there doggie, buying a cardboard box without opening thinking there is a PC in it.

tell your buddy I got last week's powerball ticked, I have not checked it yet, but I'm sure it is a winner. I'll sell it to him for $32,000

I just tell them they can go to Western Union, Walmart, or a bank and ask for help. They can have the money wired to them from home, and for way more than if they get some tid-bit from others in public.
If they don't accept your advice, then you know it is a scam. Nobody has any business traveling in public without a cell phone, cash and credit cards, and vehicle with drivers license (be it bike, motor cycle, or automobile). You always will need a credit card and drivers license to use money transfer services. This is why I think Walmart ought to become a bank because it can offer cash relief services to nearly anyone of very limited financial means. I'm sorry, I am just going to refuse to give strangers even $5 for gas or to get food. If you are that stupid to put yourself in such a helpless position, or simply don't know better, realize that the people you ask are going to react negatively with suspicion aware that such requests could mean they are on the verge of being robbed or assaulted. I was lucky during my recent encounter at Walmart because the people seemed harmless enough, and I truly did not have enough cash at the time to help them. What was more disarming was they didn't accept my advice to ask Walmart to contact their relatives to wire the money to them. Heck, sorry to "preach to the choir" on such a simple subject matter, but I believe it is very unkind and unfair for anybody to put local residents in such an awkward position, and further it seems rather dumb and foolish not to carry basic items like money and cell phone out to go shopping since that is what you need for being there anyway.

My wife was taking my kids for a walk one morning and as soon as she came out of the garage a lady in a white car stopped and said, "my mother was just taken to the hospital in Lexington and I need money for gas. Can you help me?" I think its funny when someone is needing gas money and they're driving around in their car.

The one I like best is the one where, several years ago, a man put a vending machine on a sidewalk. On the vending machine it said, "Please insert one dime." When people inserted a dime, they received a little note that said "Thank you"............actually I thought it was pretty neat and never considered it a scam, since it didn't promise anything, etc., but the guy got in a lot of trouble when people complained about losing a dime. ha ha

I was approached by the Walmart gas scammers a few weeks ago out in the parking lot. After I turned them down, I saw them approach a new couple. Immediately I ran down to this new scam attempt and warned them off. Then I contacted Walmart management but the kids had long since vanished. We all need to look out for ourselves as well as out for others in public.

thanks for that snopes link. my guess it was a bunch of kids trying to make a quick buck...taking advantage of someone that english is their second language.

Another one that is going around Frankfort. Not someone selling fake goods, but selling a fake story. I was approached the other day in the Wal-mart parking lot by a guy that gave me a sob story about his mother and him being stuck at Taco Bell and needed money to get from here to Louisville to go pick up his little sister. He said they were on the way from some southern state and ran out of money. I declined and then alerted a Wal-mart employee who informed me that he had been run off from the parking lot the last several days. People will do anything to get a free buck.

I refer you once again to my post #4

of course it makes sense, people are gullible (to put it kindly).

see: http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/emptybox.asp

What is going on here in town?? We are on hard times and everybody is getting desperate. Scam jobs like this are prevalent everywhere. Strange people will come by your house and offer to do yard chores, pass themselves off as plumbers, painters or lawn care services, or "honey-do" fix-it uppers. The City Commission and Fiscal Court ought to establish an Office of Consumer Protection in their law departments to investigate and set up public relations and public educational programs to identify and advise neighborhoods of such scandalous practitioners. Frankfort is one with a very transitory population due to turnover in state government so these types can blend in more easily than in our neighboring communities like Lawrenceburg, Georgetown, Versailles and Owenton. Our local police have good detectives and "sting" operations. As far as this one goes "laptops in paper-filled boxes" this is really bizarre, almost incredible, and too much of a hoaz. Until our local agencies should partake of establishing boards or organizations to effectively address such situations, and maybe the banks and financial institutions can participate, then all must beware individually, and exercise the common sense to send con-artists on their merry way and contact police. Perhaps a special 3-digit phone number like 611 ought to be established so any witness or suspecting witness can warn authorities of such scams and protect their fellow resident. This is tantamount to "theft by deception" and I urge our community to respond to such intolerable and outrages ongoings. I have lately been hearing, reading and have once or twice nearly become the victim of sales scams like this myself.