With the holidays fast approaching, some people start to feel more charitable and friendly, which is normally a good thing. But police in Connecticut are warning drivers about how those happy fuzzy feelings are leading to trouble at rest stops in the state as drivers are being fleeced by scammers.
According to the Connecticut State Police, there has been a sharp uptick in reports of people approaching motorists and asking for money – but not before appealing to their generous holiday spirit.
“(They’re) saying that they ran out of gas, they don’t have enough money for gas, they need to make a phone call, their phone battery is dead, can I borrow some money so that I can make a phone call – 9 out of 10 times, that is a scam,” said Connecticut State Police spokesperson, Kelly Grant according to NBC.
The activity is occurring mostly on rest areas along I-95 and I-84. Police say that since the rest areas along those routes are fairly secluded in Connecticut, scammers and thieves are more likely to approach drivers since there are fewer potential witnesses.
Authorities are advising caution, but also saying they don’t want to dampen the giving spirit of the season. They are encouraging charitably-minded people to donate to established charitable organizations which can be found through reputable and respected services like Givewell and others.
Source: wfsb, ctpost, nhregister, nbcconnecticut
HaHaHa – I’ve been driving for 21 years and those same excuses for needing money have been going on for at least that long and CT is just now figuring that out? They forgot about the one where the bum is trying to get to FL to see his/her sick and dying mother but ran out of money trying to get there.
I always tell them “I don’t give money to people I don’t know”. They look confused, clam up, and walk away.
I don’t give money , but I offer food. You would be suprised how often I get turned down…
Nope…not surprised at all. You can’t take a burger to the liquor store and trade it in for a bottle of booze.
This is what I do as well. Get that guy in the truck stop saying he needs money for food, so I offer him some of the food I just got from the truck stop, and get turned down. So you know.
I have been approached with the ran out of gas scam many times. I offer to buy a gallon of gas and bring it out to their stranded car. Every time they come up with an excuse why that wouldn’t work. Once a guy was still driving his car and said he was going to run out of gas on a trip to see whoever. I had a labor job for the day paying fifteen an hour just to get the job done. He said great I’ll follow you there. First turn out of the gas station he went the other way. They don’t want to work when they can scam someone.