Behold the Power of the Interweb! It all started innocently enough, with Susan asking in the Daily Heights Forums whether anyone had been accosted by The Panhandler with the Mother who has Wrecked her Car. It didn’t take long to determine that this guy, who we’ll call the ProHo Gaffler for short, has probably defrauded hundreds of people in Prospect Heights, and as Set Speed reported, also in Fort Greene. Somebody else said they thought they saw him at Blue Ribbon eating oysters and drinking a martini with a girl. So we offered a $25 bounty for an actual photo of this guy, thinking this was a total longshot and, heh heh, we would never have to pay out.
Well… now we have this report from HJC (a.k.a. “11238”), who claims she just saw the Prospect Heights Con Man: “I was getting my car at the garage on Underhill between Prospect and St. Marks, where he came up to the passenger window and started the whole story. He asked me if I knew where to find a tow truck, because his mother had a stroke. He then went on saying that he works at NBC and that he can get me tickets to a concert. He asked for $15.00. Meanwhile, he is going on and on and on, and all I am thinking is, how the HELL am I going to get his picture? So finally I just asked what time it was, and looked at my phone and snapped.”
Heaven forbid that DAILY HEIGHTS act as judge, jury and executioner on matters as serious as “who’s scamming who” in Prospect Heights… but now we have Susan in the comments below making a positive ID: “That’s the guy!” she says. The rules of the contest were as follows: To claim the reward, the photo must be independently confirmed as “that guy” (as in, “Hey! It’s that guy! The guy who said he could get me Letterman tickets!”)
So congratulations, 11238, you win! We are preparing a special OVERSIZED CHECK (just like you see on all those Jerry Lewis telethons) to present to you next Thursday at the Daily Heights Real-Life Happy Hour.
“I cannot believe I saw him today. I am PSYCHED!” 11238 said in the aftermath. “The best was that I wanted to bust the guy after I took the picture, but I was so happy I got it, I just said ‘NO!’ and drove away.”
Links:
Con Man Says Supersize Me [set speed]
The Panhandler with the Mother who has wrecked her car [Susan in the Daily Heights Forum]
Reward for Photographic Evidence of the Panhandler [Daily Heights]
OK, this guy has been at it since at least 1999. I remember encountering him in front of my apartment on 8th Avenue between Lincoln & St. John’s. I remember him because he must’ve worked at NBC back then, too, ’cause he told me he could get me tickets for Saturday Night Live (about 20 years after it was funny, at that).
That’s the guy! This is great -11238, you’re awesome! I’ll be at happy hour this Thursday to donate my portion of the bounty in person.
Unbelievable, and highly admirable. Shouldn’t DH be getting some press for this? I think this has got to be a first. Made my day.
Wow, this is too funny. 11238 totally deserves that title.
Yup, that’s him.
In the version of the story he told me (and my visiting sister) about two months ago, he tried to evoke pity by saying he’d gone to the police and some racist cop called him a “damn [N-word].” He was so deep into his performance, I actually thought he was going to shed a tear in front of us. I think I just smirked at him through the whole spiel.
I may be nuts, but I used to live in Carroll Gardens, and I have this vague memory of the guy plying his trade there a couple of years ago. If he’s gone as far afield from ProHo as Ft. Greene, I suppose it’s possible.
Nuggets
The “amazed, appalled, and inspired” edition. On the “doing something about my slacking tip,” notes from the Feminism & Hip Hop Conference over at Julianne’s. From that post, I discovered the Hip Hop Feminist e-group and got a reason to…
I’m so glad to know this guy isn’t for real. He got me a while ago in front of NY Sports Club on Boerum Place, and used the same mother in an accident story, and the racist garage people, and the evil police, and the crying mother in the LIC Hospital down the street. He was such a good actor, I was somewhat convinced. But I don’t bring my wallet to the gym, which I told him, and then he wanted to come to my house and get my money! He should work in Hollywood instead.
This guy tried this with me last summer when I was doing some yard work in front of the house–sans the spiel about getting me tix. His mother had a stroke *while driving her car* and hit “a couple of kids”–really, he didn’t have an exact number. Gave him the no, and just a few weeks later he hit up the gf with the same line: “you told me this story three weeks ago.” He turned and walked away without a word.
i’ve been hit. believe i came across this fellow (sans glasses) this morning on dekalb near bedford. story has changed, though. he’s now a stranger to the neighborhood (claims to be from alabama but has NO trace of an accent and seemed pretty knowledgeable about the pratt area) and is in town taking photographs of the gentrification of the clinton hill/bed stuy neighborhoods. supposedly left his day planner (and digital camera & related accessories) in a car and is now without money. told him to call the taxi & limo commission or at least walk a few blocks east to the police station. of course, he was prepared for my advice and told me that he’d unsuccessfully tried both options already. quickly followed by plea for money to get back to his bed & breakfast in sunset something or other. seemed like a nice enough guy, though. if he really was legit, well, i wish that i could’ve helped him out.
I tried to offer him use of my AAA card to get the tow truck and he rejected me. I thought I was being helpful! That’s when I was like, “dude, this is one better than 15 bucks! A tow truck would cost you 80!”
But then, the first trip i came to NY on my own as a teenager I remember a homeless guy asking me for money to buy a meal, and when I gave him my piping hot leftovers, he spit at me and wore. Ah, New York.
Ah teh gaffler got me last nigth for $10 in Bedstuy. I was talking with people at work about him and it turns out some of our interns from Pratt got defruaded as well. I searched for scams in brooklyn and your website came up. Well atleast I have the comfort of knowing what really happened.
this guy is a real deal con ARTIST. he got me back in september right in front of my apartment in prospect heights. after buying the story and offering 7 bucks he actually asked me to go to the atm up the block! YEAH RIGHT. this is when i knew something was up and told him that i dont take strangers to the bank. i was born and raised here and have encountered only one other artist this slick. he sells fake id’s by grays papya/barnes & noble around W4 street. my ex and his friend wound up giving away 200 dollars to this guy.
I woman started a spiel with me today on Washington and Prospect Place about how she’s up here trying to work because her son was in a 4-wheeler accident. Has anyone got that one?
that is awesome! he tried the bit with my boyfriend at me last summer. we were on 8th ave. in park slope and he told us his mother had been in an accident on 8th ave around 15th st. he also said the cops had called him a “black n” i think he offered us tickets as well. we didn’t fall for it (and we were annoyed because he took like 10 minutes to ask us for $20, and quite frankly, we would have been more likely to give it to him if he had just been up front about needing money). the freaky part was when we got towards 15th st, there was an ambulance there, so we were afraid that he might have been actually telling the truth. it’s nice to know that he really is just a con man.
Strikes again! Bed Stuy near the Franklin stop. He’d like you to know that he works at news 4 and that when the accident occurred an officer at the scene called called him a racial slur. Figured since he was taking so long tell me about the whole thing – the tow truck, the mother, the kids, the officers & the fake crying that maybe he had some ulterior motive.
He was in full force last night. Clinton at betwen Fulton and Atlantic. Well, near Fulton. Same deal as above comments. Had paper with notes on it too (badge numbers, prices, etc). He is dodgy as hell. The fake crying did him in I think.
He’s in East Williamsburg now. He seemed like a nice guy. As horrible as his story was, I wanted to believe him. Didn’t give him any money though. I’m not that dim.
Just to add one more confirmation – same stories as above, first during a TORRENTIAL downpour just outside my apt near Willoughby and Waverly. As soon as he hit the fake tears I’d had enough, said said sorry and went inside. Next week, saw him on clinton ave near dekalb and gave him an earfull.
The funny thing is, I gave $20 to a guy with exactly the same story on Bergan near 3rd Ave about 10 years ago. Don’t remember the face, but the story was identical – I even remember he said he’d get me a jacket for whatever news channel it was he worked for, I think CBS. I wasn’t any more fooled then than now, but I said I’d never give it up for that one again.
Anyone else remember a similar story from around that time, ’98 or ’99? Could it be the guy?
Encounter at Franklin & Dekalb… definitely the guy in the picture above, but now as a very queeny fashionista. His story clearly didn’t make any kind of sense – it was obviously made up, but also ridiculously elaborate and well performed (something about a fashion shoot at the Brooklyn museum and wigs and makeup left in a car service car…). I can’t explain why I gave him $8 anyway. I was confused by the over the top persona, and the fact that he seemed so out of place in the neighborhood. It almost seemed like one of those hidden camera shows where they demonstrate how strangers treat each other in different social situations. Guess I’m an idiot for giving someone the benefit of the doubt.
Damn! I just got scammed right outside my apartment on Grand and Lex! In 2010! All of the above details were the same for me with the addition of the fact that his mom hit two Hasidic women, he showed me his welfare ID card (I forgot to remember the name! So dumb), and he said if i give him $21 he would come back in 30 minutes and ring my bell and give it back to me because his wife is coming by. And his maxed out his ATM. When i came home and told my wife the details she pointed out that he opened with asking me if i knew where to get a tow truck, and then a few minutes later he needed only $21 more for the tow truck that he already knew about… I feel like such a sucker. I think i gave him the money because of my subconscious white guilt, like i was showing him that not all white people are out to get him like that bad cop who called him the n-word! Im such a sucker!….