Confidence Trickster Gardiner Street

Jawgap

Arrow in the Knee wrote: »

I'm not from Dublin but it is a real eye opener when you see the amount of homeless on the streets all day and night on the bridges and at the doorsteps.

Not a great advertisement for Ireland when tourists see it around O'Connell street.

BTW there is so many chancers around with 'sob stories' and also the charity chuggers trying to get you to subscribe to their charity.

I don't know why we don't market the area as a Walking Dead open air theme park!

juke

I came across this guy in December outside the Mater on Eccles Street. He was very believable, rosary beads, blocked cash card, sister just died of an overdose, no credit on phone, needed to get home to tell family in Cavan, needed money for the bus. He just seemed very distressed, didn't react badly at all when I said I couldn't help - and so I felt terrible afterwards, because I believed him :mad:

MarkAnthony

I made the mistake of being a smug dick in Canada, a tramp came up to me asking in English, French and Spanish if I could help him out. I smugly asked "sprechen sie deutsch?" About the level of my German (well counting to five, ordering a beer and asking do you do it doggy). At which point he launched into full conversational German and followed me down the street.

4 languages and no job, me thinks a choice was made.

ToxicPaddy

There is one always standing around outside of Connolly station beside the Luas ticket machines asking for money. Shes early 20s, dark hair, about 5ft tall, pregnant and giving loadsa different sh*te about this and that, needing a hostel, get something to eat etc etc etc.

But I've also seen her pulling a suitcase around the IFSC luas stops asking for money to get the last bus to Cork, Waterford, Limerick etc as her mother is sick and then again as needing to get to a hostel as she has no where to stay etc.

If you watch, there is a mate of hers floating around in the background pushing a pram keeping an eye on things. Sure enough you will then seem them in a coffee shop later sitting down having a coffee and a chat.

I said it to a Garda standing down the street one day and he just shrugged his shoulders a walked the opposite way.. :rolleyes:

cbreeze

A similar character with the spiel of looking for money for a bus approached me and others waiting for a bus in lower abbey street before Christmas. This scammer's approach that he just needed 1.50 for the bus to Navan. He was in his late thirties, middle height, slightly built, fast talker, dark short hair and had a rural accent, neatly dressed with a blue v-necked jumper. He kept reinforcing his 'honesty' by continually swearing to god and crossing himself. He got nothing from our queue but I could see that he got money from a man in another queue.

If you have to stand and wait for a bus it is difficult to get away from them!

maryishere

Arrow in the Knee wrote: »

I'm not from Dublin but it is a real eye opener when you see the amount of homeless on the streets all day and night on the bridges and at the doorsteps.

Not a great advertisement for Ireland when tourists see it around O'Connell street.

BTW there is so many chancers around with 'sob stories' and also the charity chuggers trying to get you to subscribe to their charity.

I see the same around Dublin every day on my way to and from work too. Unfortunately it is a feature of many capital cities in Europe and elsewhere now.
Its the chuggers I hate the most though. There are over 8,000 charities registered for tax relief purposes with the Revenue Commissioners, but there are many thousands more groups, clubs and associations in the broader not-for-profit sector. These range from tiny, volunteer-run community groups to major international relief agencies. In such a big sector there is undoubtedly some overlap from time to time.

harry Bailey esq

An acquaintance of mine does something similar down at bursaras too. Dresses really well and says he's been mugged walking to the station from his workplace,was mugged,wallet robbed with bus ticket and cash gone. Needs to get to cavan/Newbridge or whatever commuter belt kip hes moved to, and says he needs a specific amount,lets say €2.40 or something to put to toward his pocket change for a ticket, often accompanied by a little joke about how the 'muggers' hadn't completely cleaned him out. He'll do it for maybe an hour and make anywhere between €10 and €80 and then trot on up Talbot St and drink it. He wouldn't do it every day but when he does it pays off, considering the minimum wage is around 9 quid.

Gomango

This guy is in action all day today Eccles street at entrance to euro parks. Blue jacket blue trousers. Picking on vulnerable elderly people. Still outside now. Called cops on him earlier they haven't shown up.

Gomango

This guy is an absolute shyster and very convincing. I watched him approach about 50 people today as I was in and out of the mater and had a view over eccles st. It's the guy described previously on this thread as " red face eyes going different directions"

I don't get annoyed or riled up easily but this creep really bothered me the way he approached anyone coming in and out of the mater, vulnerable desperate people who hearing a sob story I Ike his would go " sure that could easily be my Johnny" or going in to the get a procedure done would be looking for some good karma by helping him out.

This morning I met him tackling an elderly man waving his phone and passport in his face and walking after him aggressively. I walked between him and the man and said to him it was a scam out of side of my mouth he said thanks for that told him p1iss off and walked on his way.

He took 40 euro off a young couple with a baby I was chatting to lunchtime. Hes obviously getting enough people to make it worth his while.

On final occasion right at my car he stopped an elderly couple from the country gave them the spiel with the hands out crying sobbing; sister in the mater, money for bus home I stopped him mid flow went over to the couple said "mam, dad come on never mind that lad" they walked away from him to me and he shouted after me "it's none of your business ye four eyed pr1ck". Gave me great satisfaction and distraction from what I was there for.

MilesMorales1

Well, convincing. Most Dublin people wouldn't fall for it I imagine.

JackieChan

When you mention him showing the passport, it made me think of one con artist I've come across. This is the Italian guy with the "Armani" suits that was showing them at Brown Thomas or somewhere similar that he needed to shift before taking a plane back home.

This guy also showed me his passport. The first thing that struck me was why would anyone feel they need to show that to me....just screamed of con.

Then there was the guy on Thomas street that used to be looking for the fare to get to Kildare. I ran him to him several weeks later in the same place and he was still trying to get the money for the bus!! He looked young and respectable but I never give money to them.

I just completely ignore all the beggars,pan handlers,etc. A hell of a lot of it in Dublin. Funny most of them seem to operate 9 to 5 operation and are not homeless. Actually in my experience a lot of the homeless don't even beg.

Simon2015

Gomango wrote: »

This guy is an absolute shyster and very convincing. I watched him approach about 50 people today as I was in and out of the mater and had a view over eccles st. It's the guy described previously on this thread as " red face eyes going different directions"

I don't get annoyed or riled up easily but this creep really bothered me the way he approached anyone coming in and out of the mater, vulnerable desperate people who hearing a sob story I Ike his would go " sure that could easily be my Johnny" or going in to the get a procedure done would be looking for some good karma by helping him out.

This morning I met him tackling an elderly man waving his phone and passport in his face and walking after him aggressively. I walked between him and the man and said to him it was a scam out of side of my mouth he said thanks for that told him p1iss off and walked on his way.

He took 40 euro off a young couple with a baby I was chatting to lunchtime. Hes obviously getting enough people to make it worth his while.

On final occasion right at my car he stopped an elderly couple from the country gave them the spiel with the hands out crying sobbing; sister in the mater, money for bus home I stopped him mid flow went over to the couple said "mam, dad come on never mind that lad" they walked away from him to me and he shouted after me "it's none of your business ye four eyed pr1ck". Gave me great satisfaction and distraction from what I was there for.

If you see him again you should take a picture of him.

Gloucester

That same guy was stopping tourists yesterday on Mountjoy Square - seems to make quite a few Euro! Hate seeing him do it to innocent people! Plenty of Gardai patrolling the square today though so it seemed to keep him out of that area.proper shyster!

Gomango

Funnily enough the young guy that handed him the money was a dub, well he had a Dublin accent so from within the commuter belt. Unfortunately by the time I got on the scene I was too late to stifle the toe rag.

Gomango

Simon2015 wrote: »

If you see him again you should take a picture of him.

I did actually take a snap. Am I allowed post it though?

It's from a distance so you can't make his face out, he could be any of the generic tracksuit wearing troublemaking scum stumbling about the place. He's pestering a girl in the shot.

Gomango

JackieChan wrote: »

When you mention him showing the passport, it made me think of one con artist I've come across. This is the Italian guy with the "Armani" suits that was showing them at Brown Thomas or somewhere similar that he needed to shift before taking a plane back home.

This guy also showed me his passport. The first thing that struck me was why would anyone feel they need to show that to me....just screamed of con.

Then there was the guy on Thomas street that used to be looking for the fare to get to Kildare. I ran him to him several weeks later in the same place and he was still trying to get the money for the bus!! He looked young and respectable but I never give money to them.

I just completely ignore all the beggars,pan handlers,etc. A hell of a lot of it in Dublin. Funny most of them seem to operate 9 to 5 operation and are not homeless. Actually in my experience a lot of the homeless don't even beg.

Mate of mine actually fell for that years ago. Wore the italian stallion leather "armani jacket" out one night and never wore it again with the ball breaking he got.

Shint0

JackieChan wrote: »

Actually in my experience a lot of the homeless don't even beg.

A lot of the homeless do beg or tap and there would sometimes be turf wars about certain positions around the city which would be more lucrative than others although as you rightly say there are more people involved than just the homeless.

Sunny_1

juke wrote:

I came across this guy in December outside the Mater on Eccles Street. He was very believable, rosary beads, blocked cash card, sister just died of an overdose, no credit on phone, needed to get home to tell family in Cavan, needed money for the bus. He just seemed very distressed, didn't react badly at all when I said I couldn't help - and so I felt terrible afterwards, because I believed him

Same scam there today, very believable!

miamee

mikekerry wrote: »

similar story happpened to me yesterday just off middle abbey st,
A well dressed and well spoken guy in his mid 20's came up to me upset and said he was robbed and the cops offered to put him up for a night in a homeless hostel but he didn't want to stay there so they said he could stayin the generator hostel in smithfield but he needed 17 euro!
When I said the generator hostel has a minimum 2 night policy and I wasn't going to hand over 17 euro to someone I didn't know he got agressive similar to the prevoius poster. a strange individual.
He also showed me a phone which was switched off.

I had a guy approach me with a similar thing on Thursday on the way to get the bus, walking down Fishamble Street he came out of Temple Bar and asked me if I was from here. I thought he was a tourist looking for directsion so I said yes and stopped. Then he told me that his wallet and phone had been lost/taken in Temple Bar the night before. He had no money and the Gardaí had let him sleep in the station last night. They had found him a hostel for the night but it was a homeless hostel and that didn't seem like a good idea with his camera and laptop in his bag, did it? So he was trying to get the money together for a night in a regular hostel, it was €17 and someone else had already given him €3. When he mentioned the camera and laptop, I remembered someone posting here about a guy asking for money and adding you on Facebook to 'prove' who he was and that he'd get the money back to you (it must have been a different thread). Anyway, told him I couldn't help him with any money - actually he also had asked if I had a couch or spare bed for the night :eek: Maybe he was genuine but all my alarm bells were ringing. Chancer. As if the Gardaí wouldn't let him phone a friend or family member to book a feckin room/hostel for the night for him. :rolleyes:

Gomango

This sounds like your man:


Taken from Joe.ie:

http://www.joe.ie/life-style/women-in-dublin-warned-to-avoid-this-con-artist/554343

Reddit user Gapmunky uploaded a warning to the Ireland subreddit explaining that a South-African man has been scamming women by insisting he has been robbed and needs to borrow money until his travel insurance kicks in.

“I was walking home yesterday and around Christchurch a guy stopped me, looked like a normal well-dressed guy and not a scumbag or whatever so I listened to him.”

The poster describes the man as being caucasian, around 28-years-old, 5’9 and wearing a beanie. He's a drummer from South Africa and uses the fake name Shaun Cash.

“He said that he was visiting Ireland with his girlfriend and their stuff was robbed from the hostel they were in and they were screwed and needed a place to stay until their travel insurance kicked in tomorrow.”

“He sold the story well, even offered his Macbook as a deposit for trust and I even thought of helping with my place to crash but since I was going to Longford this weekend I didn't want to leave a stranger in my house with my housemates.”

The author of the post continues to say that they offered the man €60 as a similar thing had happened them once on a holiday. The man suggested he add him as a friend on Facebook so that they could meet up later to return the money. He offered the name ‘Shaun Cash’ and when the poster couldn’t find him through the Facebook mobile app, they insisted the man log in to Facebook on their laptop and make the connection.

“He did, and when he logged in, the Facebook name was different. This threw up red flags straight away for me and I was pretty sure it was all bull****. I decided to go along, and accompany him back to the hostel to meet his girlfriend who was 'starving' and he insisted it wasn't necessary.”
The poster writes that the man grew increasingly irritated.

“We got nearly all the way there when he said that he needed to get some food, and that subway was cheap. I told him centra was cheaper but he insisted and he said he just wanted to clear his head after all the stress and I said nope I'm coming with you,” writes the poster.

So he freaked out and said do you want the money back or can I just have five minutes to clear my head, I said money back and he threw it in my face and ran off down the street.”
What happened next made the Reddit user realise that this man was a serial con-artist.

Going home, the poster opened their laptop to discover the man was still logged in to Facebook.

“He forgot to log out, since I didn't give him a chance to. I had access to his whole account. I read his messages, and he has a bunch of messages from other people that helped him on the street, asking where he was, did he need more help, asking for their money back, saying they had his backpack/laptop he gave as a deposit.”

“Turns out he stays in hostels, robs people's laptops and backpacks and then uses this story again and again to scam people's good nature.”


https://m.reddit.com/r/ireland/comments/4ucs8q/beware_of_south_african_scammer_pretending_he_was/

Ciaran_B

I encountered that South African scumbag in Rathmines last year - some story as the post above.

miamee

That could easily have been him alright, the physical desciption sounds about right including the hat but he had a relatively neutral accent so I'm not 100% sure about him being South African. This must have been the story I read, I was convinced it was a post here!

MilesMorales1

I also know of that rathmines fella, approached me before.

Gomango

If you read through the reddit comments one of the posts has a link to a website with a photograph of the lad

mrsmags16

I worked in a busy urban A&E Dept last year. Was asked to see a patient who was suicidal because he'd just found out his daughter died of an OD. Felt very guilty as he had given her some heroin the previous night and felt responsible for her death etc. Nurses were all in bits consoling him and making him sandwiches and tea etc.
He was really believable I have to say.
Nevertheless I did a very quick hospital morgue checkup... nobody matching description or name given... Facebook confirmed daughter was alive and well 'being a full-time mad bastard' checked in at a party drinking Blue WKD only minutes earlier.
The minute I confronted him his expression and demeanour completely changed and he legged it.
Nurses were raging they'd been taken in!
I felt guilty for being so cynical but it just comes automatically now unfortunately.

themissymoo

Gomango wrote: »

“He sold the story well, even offered his Macbook as a deposit for trust.

“He forgot to log out, since I didn't give him a chance to. I had access to his whole account. I read his messages, and he has a bunch of messages from other people that helped him on the street, asking where he was, did he need more help, asking for their money back, saying they had his backpack/laptop he gave as a deposit.”

Is it bad that my first thought was "that might not be a bad deal depending on the laptop?"

Walter H Price

This stuff does my head in so much ... I rarely stop , but if they manage to i usually just ask out right if they are looking for money , if they say yes then i just tell them i don't carry cash , had my wallet nicked to may times so carry plastic only , then walk off.

One lad told me where the nearest ATM was and that he'd show me , had to admire the endvour there, but still told him to get fcuked

MilesMorales1

Not exactly confidence tricksters, but along Amiens street opposite Connolly station where I get the bus from there's regularly the usual crowd coming along asking people for money, often multiple times a day, and then they get shirty when you say no or you haven't got any money.

Rakish Paddy

MilesMorales1 wrote: »

Not exactly confidence tricksters, but along Amiens street opposite Connolly station where I get the bus from there's regularly the usual crowd coming along asking people for money, often multiple times a day, and then they get shirty when you say no or you haven't got any money.

If ever there was a street that deserved to be nuked from orbit...

I always get a chuckle at the fact that the big 'Fáilte' office is located on a street that is overrun with zombies day and night, and where drug dealing and use is done in plain sight without any attempt to hide it.

GuessWhoEh

mattaiuseire wrote:

Unfortunately for him I had nothing on me at the time and couldn't give him anything, and when I explained I couldn't help him right now and that I sympathised and thought he was genuine, his attitude became extremely aggressive and began shouting obscenities about him "of course being f*****g genuine" and "he wouldn't effing make this up" etc etc.

mattaiuseire wrote:

Word of warning to Dubliners!

mattaiuseire wrote:

I've just phoned Pearse Street and reported him and they're sending a car up now. Hope they catch the ****e and I wish I'd have memorised his name from last time!!

mattaiuseire wrote:

So I turns around and there's the same guy, same tears rolling down his cheeks, same nasal mucus, and he begins with, "I really need some help...", and then when he realises we've met before, he says, "Oh do you remember me from another time?" - still in his whimpering traumatised voice. When I said you're damn right I remember you alright, he started saying his sister had died and before he could go on I interrupted him and instead of threatening to call the Gards I just told him I couldn't help him once again, and once again he became very aggressive.

mattaiuseire wrote:

Anyway fast forward to today and I'm working a late shift today so my 'lunch' hour ended at 5pm and I'm walking back down Gardiner Street after having a bite to eat at home. I notice a woman in a hurry trying to get into her brand new Mercedes with some young lad bent over tapping on the passenger side window, crying and trying to open the passenger side door, which the lady had managed to lock by getting inside and seated before he could.

mattaiuseire wrote:

Wonder if anyone else has encountered this young chap on Gardiner Street.

I was sat outside the Omni Shopping center years ago. Minding my own business, some chap comes over with a sob story about his soon being in hospital with meningitis in Temple Street and course gave him €2 or something to that amount and I see him heading towards the bustop to go to Swords. Apparently they moved Temple Street to Swords