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Parked up in supermarket carpark this afternoon, chatting on the phone. Bloke drives past in a silver transit, pauses, winds his window down and waves to me. I open the my car door to speak to him, he tells me that he is giving away a small generator if i wanted it. I thanked him and declined the offer.
Perhaps I'm too cynical but it just seems too odd/ random to be a legit thing. I'll never know I suppose.
Not a scam - but it is the modern equivalent of asking a stranger to come and look at some puppies!!
Travellers selling stuff. might be stolen, might not, might be distracting you. Happens in service stations on motorways quite a lot. Most likely to result in a bait and switch where you end up with a box of generator parts.
I’m so anti trust I automatically say no all the time. Even in supermarkets if they ask if I want cash back I knee jerk to say no even if I wanted it. It’s probably safer that way though 🙂
Looks like I was possibly right to be cynical. Go me, I got out unscathed. 😕
Something similar happened outside my place of work. Someone selling cheap laptops out of their car (in our car park), their "customer" ended up with a laptop shaped cardboard box with a brick in it.
If it seems too good to be true...
His mate was probably cutting out your catalytic converter while you looked away.
It'll be broken or stolen. Probably both. Why else would they try to sell something to a stranger in a random car park?
More worryingly why did he ask you? Can't be too careful with these chancers, did they clock you as a tradesman that might have something worth pinching?
I was wearing a beany. I was in a Berlingo. He spoke with an Irish accent.
Stereotypes a-go-go...
B. A. Nana
...Someone selling cheap laptops out of their car (in our car park), their “customer” ended up with a laptop shaped cardboard box with a brick in it.
It is difficult to feel sympathy though. Anyone buying like that has surely got to know it's likely to be stolen goods, so they're fair game. 🙂
The way con artists scam someone is to make the 'mark' believe they're getting such an incredible deal - either because of the price, or because it's slightly shady but supposedly easy to get away with. Once the mark thinks they're getting away with something unbelievable, they'll overlook all the other problems with the scheme. Sounds like you dodged it 🙂
I've been stopped, a couple of times, by men with ven (sorry, peep show reference), offering me three piece suites, brand new apparently. The chaps in question may well have been from the emerald isle.
No idea who would say, yes, that's exactly what I was after, I'll take it?
Scam
I've had the “do you want to buy a watch mate” scam at a couple of service stations over the years and also in a B&Q car park I’ve been offered generator and power tools out the back of a van. Two days earlier on the radio there was a news item about a container of power tools being stolen. Funnily enough they got nicked after a concerned member of the public phoned the police.
I once got flagged down by someone who asked if I wanted to buy a chainsaw.
I do have a beard, I was wearing a check shirt at the time & was in my van...
If you're getting something for free then you're not the customer, you're the product.
Bullet dodged.
I do have a beard, I was wearing a check shirt at the time & was in my van…
I'm surprised they didn't try to sell you some artisan IPA.
No idea what was going on, but...
he is giving away a small generator if i wanted it.
Is not...
Why else would they try to sell something to a stranger in a random car park?
Doesn't anybody read threads anymore ?
^^^ I was thinking the same thing.
1/ establishing that you're the kind of person that's up to hooky goods
2/ then when you get there you're offered some other stuff as well
3/ the generator's not free actually 'it's a giveaway' is a colloquialism for dead cheap
4/ hang on, where's my van / wheels / tools gone while I was looking at that generator
5/ (SPOILER) last thing I remember is a rag being pressed over my face and now I'm strapped into a bomb vest / I've got a very sore bumhole.
These kidneys? Why yes....yes they are.....
Doesn’t anybody read threads anymore ?
Did they ever. However in this case I think the modus operandus is to hook the punter in with a giveaway then once interested shift the ground somehow, maybe by adding in an item to make it a sale - the details aren't really important. If this bloke was just dumping it then why not just dump it.
Other scams favoured by people with transits and accents from the emerald oil are to quote £10 for a tarmac job which becomes £10 a square metre when done, and to buy a car then bring it back for a refund the next day, having switched a load of parts overnight. Both in my personal experience.
I once had something similar where a guy was trying to give me a (crap and probably no longer working) laptop. I really don't know what he was trying to get from me. I did not take the laptop.
the generator’s not free actually ‘it’s a giveaway’ is a colloquialism for dead cheap
Your right it's true, but the OP said "giving" which is pretty different, and would cause confusion especially with literally minded people like myself.
Hopefully Ambrose can shed light on whether the van driver was selling the generator cheaply, or actually giving it away .
Hopefully Ambrose can shed light on whether the van driver was selling the generator cheaply, or actually giving it away .
He's presumably going to have no idea what the game was, because he was a) on the phone b) immediately " thanked him and declined the offer". c) signed off his OP musings with "I’ll never know I suppose."
Doesn’t anybody read threads anymore ? 😉
The guy definitely said that he was giving away a little generator. No suggestion of purchasing whatsoever.
A few years ago I was re-wiring a shop as part of a refit and a chap came to the door asking if anyone wanted to buy a flat screen TV. A few people piled out to have a look, the guy showed us a shiny new TV, brand new and boxed. One of my workmates decided to buy it, he was really chuffed with his purchase and opened the box to show everyone on site what he'd bought.
A TV box full of very large potatoes! **** knows how the guy switched the box but he was obviously long gone by then so we didn't get a chance to ask 😂