I just received this email from a reader. I believe that I’ve heard about this scam happening in another neighborhood some time ago. I guess the scammer must need money for the holidays.
Just wanted to report a scam that seems to be going on in the South Stuy/Bed Stuy neighborhhod. A man walking a bicycle on the sidewalk brushes shoulders (or slams in to them) with someone walking the other way. Drops a bag with a glass bottle in it–claims that it is a bottle of alcohol and that he is bringing home to his girl/family/whatever and then tries to intimidate the other person to give him money to replace it etc. This happened to us on Thanksgiving eve on our way to the Black Swan. Because it was so close to Tday and I had visions of “when keeping it real goes wrong” in my head (and wanted to avoid a fight between the hubby and the shithead)-we handed over some cash to avoid the confrontation from escalating. The crazy thing is the very next day our tenant relays a similiar confrontation a couple of blocks away–same MO–guy with a bike and a bag/slamming shoulders, etc. The physical description was exactly the same as well. The fellow doing this is about 5’7″, stocky, wears a big poofy black jacket which he likes to unzip during the confrontation, walks a bike and slams sholders with an unsuspecting passerby and then tries to extort money. We have alerted the local beat cops but think it would be helpful for you to post something about this to try an prevent this scam or maybe even get this guy off the street.
Sounds like this guy is quite the busy little scam artist. Has anyone else had this experience?
Yup, I know a few people who have fallen victim to this silly crime. It’s a straight intimidation tactic. Awful.
Best thing to do would just be to call the cops. Then see how fast he’ll go running on his bike.
That guy has been pulling that scam for at least a year – there was a post on The Local about him a while back. Can’t believe he hasn’t been busted. Oh, wait – yes I can.
This was going on in Clinton Hill a few months ago as well!
I thought I saw it on the Clinton Hill Blog, but I wasn’t sure. I guess he’s working his way east.
I saw that on Clinton Hill blog a while back too.
This happened to me over the summer, on Dekalb. I offered to pay him some money, but not $40 for the bottle of Jameson he said I broke. We got into a big argument and he made veiled threats. It was an unfortunate situation.
On franklin there was a woman doing this, accompanied by a man with a bike… A young lady ran to me for help while it was happening… I wasn’t about to start scrapping over it though, so she ended up handing over $13 (they claimed their bottle was worth $17). What makes this an effective scam is that you actually can’t prove that you DIDN’T knock the bottle down, and calling the cops would be unwise as the perp could simply assault you and bike off… And it seems young ladies who are new to BK are the prime target…
Just stay away from sketchy people… Like arms-length at least…
be safe y’all…
This has been happening to me for a long time, up in Harlem too. It’s ridiculous. Don’t pay the people any mind.
Look out for other scams around holiday time the Water Company does not need to come into your house to check your water they do ot from treating stations on certain blocks .You can change over to another electric company beside C0N ED by looking on your electric bill you do not need to let them in to look at your bill.IT CAN BE A BIG MISTAKE
This was happening last winter on the block of Lafayette between Nostrand and Marcy–one of our tenants got fooled by it and gave the guy 20 bucks.
The guy tried it on me and I told him to f**k off, he scurried away.
This happened to my roommate a year ago, at Skillman and Dekalb, except it was just two guys, no bike.
I don’t get it. If HE slams into YOU, isn’t HE responsible for replacing the bottle?? Am I missing something or am I just a jaded New Yorker?
This has happened to my roomate, her boyfriend, and two of my good friends, all separate incidents and all on Bedford Ave a few blocks north of Fulton.
Yup. Happened to me on Thanksgiving at the same location. Someone beat the shit out of him.