Almost got scammed tonight

Steoob

Hey all,

I work in a restaurant on Washington street and tonight I had a guy come in who had a dublin accent and grey hair, early fifties, normal looking chap. Came in after serving hours and started up a conversation about what time we finished serving. After I answered he asked if I could change 3 20's he had for a 50 and a ten. Normally I wouldnt do this but because he seemed like a fairly decent bloke I did, and he said he wanted to put it into a card.

So i took the money and gave him the 50 and ten, and while I was doing this he asked if I could also change a 2 euro coin to 2 singles, which I did, then he muttered, what about the 50? I noticed the 50 was gone from his hand and I straight away assertively said "eh i definitely gave you the 50" and he replied no no I wanted 2 50's for one of the singles. He definitely mentioned nothing about 2 50 cent coins so I just said ya whatever, gave them to him and he left.

Obviously completely trying to catch me out, which he could have done if I wasnt paying close attention because I've had this kinda crap before from Roma gypsies in a cafe I used to work in.

Worth a mention anyway, keep an eye out for him. Would be nice to hear of similar experiences.

darkdubh

Steoob wrote: »

Hey all,

I work in a restaurant on Washington street and tonight I had a guy come in who had a dublin accent and grey hair, early fifties, normal looking chap. Came in after serving hours and started up a conversation about what time we finished serving. After I answered he asked if I could change 3 20's he had for a 50 and a ten. Normally I wouldnt do this but because he seemed like a fairly decent bloke I did, and he said he wanted to put it into a card.

So i took the money and gave him the 50 and ten, and while I was doing this he asked if I could also change a 2 euro coin to 2 singles, which I did, then he muttered, what about the 50? I noticed the 50 was gone from his hand and I straight away assertively said "eh i definitely gave you the 50" and he replied no no I wanted 2 50's for one of the singles. He definitely mentioned nothing about 2 50 cent coins so I just said ya whatever, gave them to him and he left.

Obviously completely trying to catch me out, which he could have done if I wasnt paying close attention because I've had this kinda crap before from Roma gypsies in a cafe I used to work in.

Worth a mention anyway, keep an eye out for him. Would be nice to hear of similar experiences.

Was he a shortish sized fella?

fryup

Steoob wrote: »

Hey all,

I work in a restaurant on Washington street and tonight I had a guy come in who had a dublin accent

there you go:rolleyes:

nhg

I hope you checked that the notes he gave you weren't duds

METS 1B

I hope you didn't offend this gentleman with your peasantry!

aujopimur

Feckin' Dubs, we'll have to start frisking them as they enter Cork.

Steoob

darkdubh wrote: »

Was he a shortish sized fella?

Yup, about 5'6"

nhg wrote: »

I hope you checked that the notes he gave you weren't duds

Nah the notes were fine. I think he's running a no risk operation.

METS 1B wrote: »

I hope you didn't offend this gentleman with your peasantry!

Couldnt really have offended him, I was assertive not insulting. Infact it was only after he left that it really dawned on me what he was trying to do

One of the oldest scams in the book, the sad thing is he probably hits the jackpot every so often.

EyeSight

i worked in a shop on patrick street and this exact scam worked on a girl working there. usually if the customer continues to argue you would have to close the till and count all the money in it to see if it all adds up

Sometimes in similar scams they work in twos too, a second person, seemingly independent of the first person chimes in claiming to have seen you not hand over the note or backing up the person who claims to be due change from a 50 and not a 20 :rolleyes:

darkdubh

Steoob wrote: »

Yup, about 5'6"

Nah the notes were fine. I think he's running a no risk operation.

Couldnt really have offended him, I was assertive not insulting. Infact it was only after he left that it really dawned on me what he was trying to do

He fits the description of a fella with a Dublin accent who's been around a few years.He'd be around town bumming from people telling them he's homeless and promptly spends his hard earned cash in the bookies.He used to be harrassing me when I was collecting for charity in town a few years back,probably saw me as competion with people giving him money but I never took any nonsense from him and always sent him packing.Nasty piece of work.

UnknownSpecies

Had a guy try something like this on me during Christmas. Usual story, shop is packed and I'm just trying to get through the huge queue of customers. I serve this one guy and I notice he has three €50 notes in his hand, he's practically jamming them in my face. So he buys stuff worth around €100 and then wqalks away. That was grand. About 5mins later he was back, waving his receipt at me saying that he thought all the stuff he bought added up to €150 and that I had short changed him as he insisted he handed me three €50 notes. It was a good thing I noticed how he was trying to make sure I saw him holding all three fifties because I know he only handed me two and some change during the transaction.

sardonic

Often see a guy on his knees with a placard saying he is hungry on Patrick Street. Bit extreme to be honest.

Steoob

Ya that guy is a bit off-putting alright

Ronan cork

i'd a chat with that lad one day and he's actually fairly sound. he stays in a hostel in the city and doesn't claim welfare. he kneels there until he has enough for his room, some food and 4 cans then goes home. the lads in the hostel confirm the 4 cans thing and have never seen him drunk. he gets moved on by the guards after a month or so and is back about a month later. i have more of an issue with the drunks that claim off the welfare and then beg and harass you for change when that runs out.

OP, if you have camera footage of him make a copy for the guards and they may be able to build a case against him. an innocent mistake is rarely repeated...

BarneyMagee

Yea, you need to be wide alright. I got caught in a shop years ago.

As usual it was very busy.
Guy asked for €5 lotto and gave me a €100 note. I gave him back 1 x €50, 2 x €20 and 1 x €5.
Straight away he puts the €50 into his back pocket but I barely noticed. Was focusing on next customer.
Then he says "actually I have the €5 here" and takes a €5 note from another pocket and adds it to the 2 x €20 and 1x €5.
So I take out a €50 from the till and hand it to him and start taking the €50 in change. He then hands me back the €50 I have just given him saying "no, I want to get the €100 back."

I hadn't even thought about what I was doing at that point. Just going through the motions. But all of a sudden I have €100 in notes and think fair enough and hand him back the €100 note.

Eventhough I paused as I handed it back, not being sure if what I was doing was right, I still handed it over. It was very busy and the next customer was handing stuff to me. Even afterwards I had to think about it a few times.

I've since heard there are multiple versions of this and different ways to pull it off.

evilivor

BarneyMagee wrote: »

Yea, you need to be wide alright. I got caught in a shop years ago.

As usual it was very busy.
Guy asked for €5 lotto and gave me a €100 note. I gave him back 1 x €50, 2 x €20 and 1 x €5.
Straight away he puts the €50 into his back pocket but I barely noticed. Was focusing on next customer.
Then he says "actually I have the €5 here" and takes a €5 note from another pocket and adds it to the 2 x €20 and 1x €5.
So I take out a €50 from the till and hand it to him and start taking the €50 in change. He then hands me back the €50 I have just given him saying "no, I want to get the €100 back."

I hadn't even thought about what I was doing at that point. Just going through the motions. But all of a sudden I have €100 in notes and think fair enough and hand him back the €100 note.

Eventhough I paused as I handed it back, not being sure if what I was doing was right, I still handed it over. It was very busy and the next customer was handing stuff to me. Even afterwards I had to think about it a few times.

I've since heard there are multiple versions of this and different ways to pull it off.

http://revision3.com/scamschool/shortchange

wrmwit

BarneyMagee wrote: »

Yea, you need to be wide alright. I got caught in a shop years ago.

As usual it was very busy.
Guy asked for €5 lotto and gave me a €100 note. I gave him back 1 x €50, 2 x €20 and 1 x €5.
Straight away he puts the €50 into his back pocket but I barely noticed. Was focusing on next customer.
Then he says "actually I have the €5 here" and takes a €5 note from another pocket and adds it to the 2 x €20 and 1x €5.
So I take out a €50 from the till and hand it to him and start taking the €50 in change. He then hands me back the €50 I have just given him saying "no, I want to get the €100 back."

I hadn't even thought about what I was doing at that point. Just going through the motions. But all of a sudden I have €100 in notes and think fair enough and hand him back the €100 note.

Eventhough I paused as I handed it back, not being sure if what I was doing was right, I still handed it over. It was very busy and the next customer was handing stuff to me. Even afterwards I had to think about it a few times.

I've since heard there are multiple versions of this and different ways to pull it off.

Something similar happened to me in the last place I worked in. What I do now is count the cash into the customers hand so we're both sure that the change is correct.

grenache

OP, we had two incidences where i work of what seems to be the same guy (early 50s, Dublin accent). The first time he came in last summer, he bought a bottle of water and a bar of chocolate. Think it came to around €2.30. So he hands me a 50 note and i give him back the change. Then he says wait, that he has the change in coins to pay for it, so i give him back the 50 and he gives me the 2.30 in coins. So he's standing there for ten seconds and looking at me, and asks "where's my 50?" I told him that i gave it back to him but he's there showing me his empty pockets. Now this is where he put the doubt in my mind, but i was sure i gave it back to him. I said i would check the cameras, which proved me right of course. "oh sorry about that" he says, as he pulls the 50 from his back pants pocket. Absolute scum these guys are. The saddest thing is he came back again just before Christmas and tried the same scam with a part-timer, only this time was successful.

darkdubh

grenache wrote: »

OP, we had two incidences where i work of what seems to be the same guy (early 50s, Dublin accent). The first time he came in last summer, he bought a bottle of water and a bar of chocolate. Think it came to around €2.30. So he hands me a 50 note and i give him back the change. Then he says wait, that he has the change in coins to pay for it, so i give him back the 50 and he gives me the 2.30 in coins. So he's standing there for ten seconds and looking at me, and asks "where's my 50?" I told him that i gave it back to him but he's there showing me his empty pockets. Now this is where he put the doubt in my mind, but i was sure i gave it back to him. I said i would check the cameras, which proved me right of course. "oh sorry about that" he says, as he pulls the 50 from his back pants pocket. Absolute scum these guys are. The saddest thing is he came back again just before Christmas and tried the same scam with a part-timer, only this time was successful.

Does he have a kind of surly expression?He might be the begging guy I mentioned earlier but I think he's a bit older maybe late 50's pushing 60.

grenache

Steoob wrote: »

Hey all,

I work in a restaurant on Washington street and tonight I had a guy come in who had a dublin accent and grey hair, early fifties, normal looking chap. Came in after serving hours and started up a conversation about what time we finished serving. After I answered he asked if I could change 3 20's he had for a 50 and a ten. Normally I wouldnt do this but because he seemed like a fairly decent bloke I did, and he said he wanted to put it into a card.

So i took the money and gave him the 50 and ten, and while I was doing this he asked if I could also change a 2 euro coin to 2 singles, which I did, then he muttered, what about the 50? I noticed the 50 was gone from his hand and I straight away assertively said "eh i definitely gave you the 50" and he replied no no I wanted 2 50's for one of the singles. He definitely mentioned nothing about 2 50 cent coins so I just said ya whatever, gave them to him and he left.

Obviously completely trying to catch me out, which he could have done if I wasnt paying close attention because I've had this kinda crap before from Roma gypsies in a cafe I used to work in.

Worth a mention anyway, keep an eye out for him. Would be nice to hear of similar experiences.

Had this same guy back in to me yesterday where i work on the northside. Think its the second time in 6 weeks he's come in and tried it on. The exact same routine as what you mentioned above - looking to swap three 20s for a 50 and 10. I don't know why i obliged him because i knew his face from before (and Dublin accent was a dead give-away) so i knew he would try to pull some kind of scam. Gave him the 50 and 10 and went to serve another customer. After i had finished, he is there, hands out wide with just the 10, asking "where's my 50?" To which i replied "don't even try it!". He knew that i had him rumbled again, so he made up this bull$hit excuse about looking to swap €2 for two 50c and 1 euro coins.

His method is simple, it's all about distraction, i had served another 2 customers and he was still at the counter, looking to swap more coins/notes. I sent him on his way with a dirty look. He's so sneaky. I've printed off some pictures of him and shall be passing them onto the guards. A friend of mine works in Washington St and he said the same individual tried the same scam on him only last week. I really want this scumbag to be caught.

the beer revolu

He's been at the same scam in The English market too this last week.

Xantia

A camera looking at the till with a rewind would help as well

mikeym

People like him should be reported to the Gardai.

And then the Gardai could mention him on crimewatch on Rte to warn retailers about scammers like that man.

ncmc

He pulled the exact same stunt in the shop my husband manages in the city, same story, looking for a €50 and a €10 for three €20's. He caught the guy that served him. What's sad is that the company have warned staff not to give change as they've been caught before and the policy is to dock to staff member if they are scammed. So this scum bag has managed to take the money out of some minimum wage workers pocket.

grenache

the beer revolu wrote: »

He's been at the same scam in The English market too this last week.

Do you know which stall?

moc moc a moc

I heard about a similar scam from a guy I used to work with in Venice around the time of the Euro changeover. An American became known to the locals for trying the same crap and getting away with it a few times due to the increased confusion with the currency changeover. Eventually he tried it one too many times in the wrong establishment and he was invited to the back office to retrieve his money, as large notes 'were no longer permitted to be refunded from the till'.

They took a hammer to his knees and threw him in the canal behind the shop. Luckily for him, the police boat found him before he drowned, but he wasn't spotted in Venice again!

the beer revolu

grenache wrote: »

Do you know which stall?

Sausage stall and Sandwich stall.