"Crying Amtrak Girl" scam

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I would never give money to someone like that. If I really did want to help, I would buy them a ticket - with my credit card! (I'd even give them a ride to the station! How many think that they would refuse? :huh: ) If it's legit, they would use the ticket. If they try to get a refund, it would be refunded directly on to my credit card! ;)
 
the_traveler said:
I would never give money to someone like that. If I really did want to help, I would buy them a ticket - with my credit card! (I'd even give them a ride to the station! How many think that they would refuse? :huh: ) If it's legit, they would use the ticket. If they try to get a refund, it would be refunded directly on to my credit card! ;)
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Trust me, knowledge of how Amtrak ticketing works is no match for knowledge of how backend financial systems operate. A true scammer would probably be able to undo whatever safeguards you tried to employ to protect you from fraud. Give them an inch and they'll take a mile. Not to mention that the article says she's accompanied by others who keep a distance but would presumably move to action if you tried to help in any other way besides handing over cash. I don't understand why anyone would contribute to panhandlers. If she needs to get home to her parents then let mommy and daddy pay for that ticket. Some girls can cry at the drop of a hat; it doesn't mean anything on its own.
 
I used to often give my lunch leftovers to a panhandler who sat outside my office every day when I worked in Boston. He was generally quite appreciative.

I have no problem with helping those who truly need it.
 
To each his own when it comes to panhandlers, I usually don't contribute but there are exceptions based on the situation,just like everything else in life! (absoluteism is the last refuge of scoundrels! )Back in the day when I used to live in airports and on planes :rolleyes: (ugh!), there were "specialist" panhandlers that worked airports, well dressed, polite,clean cut etc. etc. that would pull the old "Ive lost my ticket and wallet/purse etc. (both femalkes and males can play this racket), have to get home for my poor grandmas funeral, anything would help yadda yadda!! <_<

I agree with the_traveler in that if a seemingly real emergency/tragic transportation situation came up @THE TRAIN STATION" I'd probably offer to purchase a ticket on my AGR MC for the reasons he mentioned! Nothing new, con men and women will always be with us, there's a bunch running for political offices everywhere! ;)
 
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amamba said:
I used to often give my lunch leftovers to a panhandler who sat outside my office every day when I worked in Boston. He was generally quite appreciative.I have no problem with helping those who truly need it.
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Well food is kind of hard to turn into anything else. An ex-girlfriend of mine got me into the idea of handing leftovers to folks on the street, so sometimes I'll do that if I'm in such an area. However, I think panhandlers are just a symptom of a much larger problem. Instead of increasing our social safety net we keep hacking away at what little remains. Thus, people who need help don't get it and they end up on the street. Meanwhile we still pay social security to rich people. Why? They don't need it, so maybe we should stop handing it over. Not to mention that any system which requires a continuous increase in the productive population to subsist is a exercise in futility. Eventually there will be shortfalls as population numbers decrease such as in the post-Babyboom period. Couldn't the architects of Social Security figure that out?
 
The part of the story that really caught my attention was the part where they reported that she is typically accompanied by a dark Chevy or red Toyota near by. Sounds like a bigger deal than just a sham. Definitely seems to be criminal.
 
Everytime I'm in NYP it seems that someone just happens to be "two dollars short" there train ticket home. Usually when I offer to buy them a ticket they just refuse. A few times they take me up on it... and I do buy them a ticket (it's always NJT it seems.. so no big bucks). I'm all for helping people in need... but I also don't like liars who say they need a ticket when they don't.
 
This is a pretty common scam. I've been approached several times by people in downtown Chicago offering a sob story about not having enough money to get home and needing some cash for a train ticket or gas for their car. Usually the story invovles some family member who is with them and sometimes having money stolen from them. As a matter of fact, I was approached by the same person twice on two different days with the same story. The Davis girl seems to be a pretty good actress. So be careful, folks, not every hard luck story is true.
 
I've been hit up in a gas station for enough money to buy gas to get home. Last time, I asked how far home was, sized up their car and guestimated how much gas it would take, then pumped x gallons in their tank myself.

Didn't take much, if it helped them, all well and good.
 
I was on 163 to PHL in January and a mother came aboard crying saying she needed $78 to get RGH. She said I need it for the silver meteor. I did some quick thinking I knew 97/98 don't stop in RGH and 97 leaves NYP at 315pm. 163 gets in around 4. 97 was running late that day. A guy sitting next to me pulled out a 20 dollar bill. I politely said to him "it's a scam when she passes I'll give you more information." I then told him that the next train to RGH is in the morning and the train she claimed to be taking didn't stop there. People should really think it through also if they wanna do this.

Steve
 
Personally, the only reason I would give someone anything more than food, is if that person was female, and I was interested in some sort of longer term involvement with them. I might buy them a ticket on NJT, since NJT tickets are non-refundable, but probably only if I happened to have a ticket to that destination in my wallet at the time.
 
The third comment in the linked story says it all.

It should be noted that her name is not Amber, but in fact Jill Johnson, of Vacaville. After this story came out, someone identified her on Daviswiki.com, and posted a link to her, as well as her brother's myspace pages. There are clear pictures of her with and at least one of her accomplices (identified as Caleb Holcomb). Seems like big brother has a criminal background as well, as he turned himself in this last Fall for a series of credit union robberies in the area.
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daxomni said:
Meanwhile we still pay social security to rich people. Why?
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Well, since you asked...

According to an NPR story on the history of Social Security, the original proposals for SS ran into trouble because they were deemed unconstitutional. The Supreme Court and other Powers That Be ruled that any program of wealth redistribution is in violation of our constitutio--money taken from people could not benefit individuals, but must only benefit society as a whole. Therefore, Social Security was set up such that people pay in to the system and get something vaguely like their own money back in the end. Thus, rich people get paid SS not because they need or don't need it, but because not paying them would be unconstitutional redistribution of their deposits into the system.

Yes, it's a Ponzi scheme, but it juuust managed to make it over the line of constitutionality, and heck, it was easier than going through the hassle of a constitutional amendment, right?
 
volkris said:
Yes, it's a Ponzi scheme, but it juuust managed to make it over the line of constitutionality, and heck, it was easier than going through the hassle of a constitutional amendment, right?
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Your perspectives are always so interesting. Absolutely bughouse, but interesting nonetheless.
 
Oddly enough, I was in Las Vegas a few months ago and am back again today.. a guy who asked me for 50 cents last visit asked me again this time. I guess my 50 cents last time was not enough to get him into a new life after all..

Ed :cool:
 
Around here since there are no commuter trains it's always a couple of bucks they need for the bus (and whenever they ask, there is always a liquor store within eyesight). But when I'm in Dallas, it's always a couple of bucks for the DART where there's a serious problem of homeless people riding the trains all day. At least security at Union Station generally does a good job of keeping them out, especially around Texas Eagle times.

Either way I usually nip the situation by asking, "no, I was just going to ask if you have some change I can use for the phone?" That gets them every time :)
 
I usually help people with some change (a buck or so) if my initial reaction is that they aren't lying. I know I have been scammed probably many times. But I'd like to think that once in a while the person is really hungry or needs gas money to get home, etc. I used to give out gift certificates to a local fast food place to people who said they were hungry. That's a bit of a hassle though and perhaps a bigger waste of money because I'd have to give at least $3-4 to feed someone. It's a difficult thing to try to determine who is really in need and who isn't.

Dan
 
AT LAUS, I was approached several times with 'I need $$$ to get to ..." stories. I assumed they were all bogus and told them I could not help them. Some of them were even dressed pretty well.

Chicago also has many pan handlers outside the station.

I guess I am a cynic when it comes to this. I have given money to 'nice' pan handlers, who do not push or have some sob story. If they are holding out a cup or say something nice like "have a nice day" or ask you how you are doing, I am much more apt to help. After all, you attract more flys with honey (or is it bees?).
 
Earlier this year I was at LAUS for a couple of hours waiting for the Southwest Chief. During that time, I must have been approached six or seven times by people with well-rehearsed stories. Nobody appeared disheveled or down-and-out, all were polite, and everybody wanted between $15 and $40 to get to nice, middle-class destinations.

One guy who approached me said he needed money to get a ticket to Redding and said he was in the Army and on leave. I turned him down, just as I had turned down all the others. During the next hour, however, I saw him go to the Amtrak counter three times and walk away looking pretty dejected. So, I gave him $60.

I'm not up on how one travels on leave -- or whether servicemembers are able to obtain tickets in an emergency under these circumstances -- but the guy's trips to the counter were either genuine or remarkably well rehearsed.
 
lthanlon said:
Earlier this year I was at LAUS for a couple of hours waiting for the Southwest Chief. During that time, I must have been approached six or seven times by people with well-rehearsed stories. Nobody appeared disheveled or down-and-out, all were polite, and everybody wanted between $15 and $40 to get to nice, middle-class destinations.
One guy who approached me said he needed money to get a ticket to Redding and said he was in the Army and on leave. I turned him down, just as I had turned down all the others. During the next hour, however, I saw him go to the Amtrak counter three times and walk away looking pretty dejected. So, I gave him $60.

I'm not up on how one travels on leave -- or whether servicemembers are able to obtain tickets in an emergency under these circumstances -- but the guy's trips to the counter were either genuine or remarkably well rehearsed.
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Did he have military ID?
 
Acela150 said:
I was on 163 to PHL in January and a mother came aboard crying saying she needed $78 to get RGH. She said I need it for the silver meteor. I did some quick thinking I knew 97/98 don't stop in RGH and 97 leaves NYP at 315pm. 163 gets in around 4. 97 was running late that day. A guy sitting next to me pulled out a 20 dollar bill. I politely said to him "it's a scam when she passes I'll give you more information." I then told him that the next train to RGH is in the morning and the train she claimed to be taking didn't stop there. People should really think it through also if they wanna do this.
Steve
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A similar thing happened to me last year at Market East Station in Philadelphia. I was approached by a woman who had her three year old daughter with her. She said she needed money for a ticket to West Chester, because her daughter had medication that she left at home.

The only problem was that the last train to West Chester was September 19, 1986!
 
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