Irish Rail cracks down on "tissue packet" scam

Foxhound38

http://www.thejournal.ie/dart-scammer-tissue-paper-3357182-Apr2017/

So the idea is, a group of scammers gets onto the train and puts tissue packets on the seats. If someone touches them, they claim that they need to give them money for the tissue packet.

Why do people not just tell them to politely fcuk off?

osarusan

That's the worst scam I ever heard of.

"You touched those tissues, now you owe us money."

It's just intimidation, so why the need for tissues at all?

Jack the Stripper

Masturbating getting popular on public transport maybe?

Conchir

I get the dart twice a day. To say there's any intimidation involved with this is just untrue. A person (almost always a woman, once it was a guy) comes along, puts the tissues on the seat, then a minute later comes and picks them up. The most I've ever needed to say was "no", and usually I haven't even needed that.

Obviously this has just been my experience, but I've seen it a lot over the past year or so and it's only ever been slightly irritating at the very worst, no more.

silverharp

local scroats? or a Roma innovation? good to know either way hadn't heard of it, forewarned and all that.

VinLieger

Do people actually fall for this ****e?

Parchment

This was a big thing on the tube/metro back in the day.

osarusan

Conchir wrote: »

I get the dart twice a day. To say there's any intimidation involved with this is just untrue. A person (almost always a woman, once it was a guy) comes along, puts the tissues on the seat, then a minute later comes and picks them up. The most I've ever needed to say was "no", and usually I haven't even needed that.

Obviously this has just been my experience, but I've seen it a lot over the past year or so and it's only ever been slightly irritating at the very worst, no more.

I can't question your own experience of it, but others see it differently:

If you touch one of the packets, the sellers will say you will have to buy the packet. In many instances, the beggars become aggressive and people feel they have to part with their money.

Spokesman for Irish Rail, Barry Kenny, said that the company is aware of the scam and has been in contact with gardai and rail security over it.
So far, I believe some people have been arrested by the gardai over this but I'm unsure of the exact number. We were having some trouble around the Maynooth line for a while. But now, we would have seen a shift onto the Dart line.


Essentially, it's a criminal gang posing as beggars. It would be sporadic enough but there have been arrests arising out of this behaviour.
Irish Rail has also been using its own security to deal with the problem. But there are issues that security have to contend with.
These people can become quite hostile. When passengers decline to buy the tissues, there can be a lot of intimidation.

It's an old scam - leave a trinket and a card and then aggressively ask for money if someone acts interested in it.

Samuel T. Cogley

Saw this once the other day and I get the DART daily. Thought to myself someone is going to give out about this in our modern day of snowflakes.

AH you rarely disappoint!

Perhaps a Southside thing? I usually go as far as GCD and the one time I saw them was coming in from Glasthule.

CPSW

Seen this last week actually, a load of Roma's got on at Connolly Station going northbound and worked their way through the carriages.  Didn't acknowledge them as the approached.  Very surprised at the amount of people who were engaging with them.
 
Same type of scam happening on major roads at traffic lights.  Cars stop and they walk the line with air fresheners, trying to get you to open your window and give them to you then come back looking for money.  Happened to me at the exit to the Blanchardstown Centre from the N3.  Again, I didn't acknowledge them, they knew to keep moving on. 

Absolute nuisance

padd b1975

I see this on The Tube regularly enough in London.
Usually its a small card that's handed out with a brief sob story on it, there's certainly no intimidation of passengers-you'd need to be pretty brave to try it on certain lines!!

Not for the faint-hearted at certain times of the day.

Parchment

padd b1975 wrote: »

I see this on The Tube regularly enough in London.
Usually its a small card that's handed out with a brief sob story on it, there's certainly no intimidation of passengers-you'd need to be pretty brave to try it on certain lines!!

Not for the faint-hearted at certain times of the day.

Its always the tourists who engage on the Tube. Just ignore them and they move on.

biko

It's racist to oppose these beggars/robbers. They're only making a living like...

VinLieger

biko wrote: »

It's racist to oppose these beggars/robbers.

Apparently its racist to even describe or identify them too........

Lyle Lanley

Pretty regular on public transport in South America. It's not a scam there though, just people selling stuff.

Samuel T. Cogley

biko wrote: »

It's racist to oppose these beggars/robbers. They're only making a living like...

It's not racist at all they're generally Roma, for a proper annoying little bastard you need a paddy scumbag. :pac:

George White

One on the 11-40-ish service at Sydney Parade, I told everyone it was a scam. The saleswoman clearly either had or feigned a lack of English. Some D4 did not believe me, saying "it's a way of life. It's a business." I told him the Irish rail and the police were trying to stop it. I took a photo of the saleswoman and when I eventually got off at Pearse, the information booth/security guy managed to then call Sydney Parade, and the woman was thus asked to leave.
I do tell them, as they often sell supermarket own-brand tissues, especially the Lidl ones that you can buy a six-pack for a euro themselves, to annoy them.

hungry hypno toad

biko wrote: »

It's racist to oppose these beggars/robbers. They're only making a living like...

Be careful, antifa will be beating up DART passengers next.

hungry hypno toad

Iarnrod Eireann should try checking their tickets.

A Battered Mars Bar

Happened to me. Roma put the tissue's down. I grabbed them, opened it and blew a load of snot into the tissue. What you gon do about it eh I said. Big man I am and they all scarpered away with my snotty tissue.

MysticMonk

George White wrote: »

One on the 11-40-ish service at Sydney Parade, I told everyone it was a scam. The saleswoman clearly either had or feigned a lack of English. Some D4 did not believe me, saying "it's a way of life. It's a business." I told him the Irish rail and the police were trying to stop it. I took a photo of the saleswoman and when I eventually got off at Pearse, the information booth/security guy managed to then call Sydney Parade, and the woman was thus asked to leave.
I do tell them, as they often sell supermarket own-brand tissues, especially the Lidl ones that you can buy a six-pack for a euro themselves, to annoy them.

Not all heroes wear capes...*swoon*

George White

Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »

It's not racist at all they're generally Roma, for a proper annoying little bastard you need a paddy scumbag. :pac:

The Eastern Europeans are quiet, the Irish ones are shouty or droning, "Spare chay-enge for the ho-em-less, ple-ass!" "Shut up!".

Beyondgone

No single male will ever have the balls to crack down on the rose sellers. "I'm not worth a single rose??" - smart scammers sell roses. Tissues are for the amateurs.

pauliebdub

It's extremely common in Spain, pretty much every train I've ever taken has some sad chance placing tissues on the seats, just ignore them. Count your blessings that it's not "musicians" subjecting you to awful singing and then asking you for money.

Messengers

Hadn't seen this before and was getting the train to Malahide. Guy put the tissues down and it had a note. I picked it up and read it, something about being impoverished.

Guy came back and asked if I'd like to buy them, "no thanks,"I replied. "Ok have a nice day sir" was his reply with a smile, before leaving.

Never felt so intimidated in my life.

Beyondgone

pauliebdub wrote: »

It's extremely common in Spain, pretty much every train I've ever taken has some sad chance placing tissues on the seats, just ignore them. Count your blessings that it's not "musicians" subjecting you to awful singing and then asking you for money.

The worst chancers are the drivers, claiming you have to pay them more money or they won't drive. That lot have some cheek.