“Don’t talk to strangers” is something many a child will remember hearing from their parents, but once we become adults, we sometimes let our guard down, especially when emotions are involved. Unfortunately, one man originally from California let his guard down and sympathized with a random stranger in New York. This mistake cost him $900. One could make the argument that the victim was “stupid” or “gullible,” but he agrees with said comments in his post on r/jacksonheights. The scammer started out by saying “how he needed to pay child support so my emotional instincts kicked in and wanted to help him out,” the man recalled.
The scammer, who went by the fake name “Tyshon,” stopped the man by claiming he needed help with a simple deposit. The two then walked to a bank together before Tyshon started depositing checks at an ATM, one of which was fake. Once it bounced, “he physically reached over and started pressing buttons on the screen,” withdrawing $900 from the victim’s account before he could react. The man explains what the scammer was doing: “The point of this was for me to send him my real money before I knew the checks were fake and would bounce back.”
Fortunately, the victim who lost his money knew exactly what to do and went straight to the 115th Precinct to file a police report. He also managed to take a photo of the scammer before he strolled away after successfully stealing the money. Sadly, it was just his back, but this wasn’t the first time this so-called Tyshon had lured people to an ATM to scam them.
“This same guy got me in August! 114 completely blew me off and so did my bank though so I wasn’t able to get my money back,” exclaimed a commenter. A few others told OP that they, too, encountered this scammer in NYC. What’s worse is that Tyshon stalked the victim by constantly calling him, likely trying to intimidate him into making another mistake.
Hopefully, the victim’s bank gets him his $900 back, but his story is a good reminder that “A little common sense goes a long way.” As one commenter claims is their motto for these situations: “Your emergency is not my urgency.” No matter how dire someone’s situation might seem, there is never a valid reason to trust a complete stranger’s story.
