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-   -   Beware: New type of Scam/Con in Bangalore (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street-experiences/209905-beware-new-type-scam-con-bangalore-4.html)

Bangalore had a lot of con stories over the years apart from the pattern narrated in this thread.
One such pattern I remember is, in the vicinity of the Hosa Road/Jail road areas, there were a couple of guys on bikes who used to stop cars on the pretext of their car hit the bike and extort money from the gullible car owners. This method used to turn violent at times and after a lot of complaints and media attention this pattern stopped. But I heard similar stories happening on Blr - Mysore road around Mandya in the last 2-3 months.

If we bring the pattern of the conning mentioned by the OP(and highlighted by others facing the same man), to the attention of Police, media and Social media and widely circulate the photo along with the method of con, I am sure this will stop as the man will have nowhere to hide.

Sometimes, I feel cops may be aware of this and may be hand in glove with the man to share the booty.

I faced a similar scam on the Bangalore-Hyderabad highway about 3 years ago. This was after the last toll where a bike rider was targetting KA registered cars going to Hyderabad. He was mentioning a similar sob story of losing all documents, money and mobile phone while doing a South India trip starting from Bellary. He tried to speak in Kannada and once he realized that we didnt now the language switched to English.

We asked him to try options such as calling some one from home from the toll booth or some hotel nearby and wait for them them to come and pick him up before leaving the place.

Looks like a common scam at that location which could be replicated across the country!

Similar thing happened to me but i was on my Bike then. My phone was ringing and it was my mom. I stopped the bike and answered the call. She was asking about my whereabouts and i told her i will be reaching home soon. As soon as I kept the phone a guy came near me and asked a weird question. Which way is Hubli. He was speaking in Kannada which was my mother tongue. I was taken aback and told him to go to railway station and get a train. He said no, he will go walking all the way from Mumbai to Hubli and told me that he had lost his bag and all money somewhere. He said Someone had fooled him and took all his money. It was late, i felt pity for the guy and thgt i cud help him. I took 300-400rs and gave it to him telling that go to the train station and go home. I later on realised that he had conned me as he might have heard me talking to my mom in kannada and then prepared a story accordingly.

Since then im very much alert of such fraudsters. You will meet thm everywhere at train station, roads, markets etc. Recently i was traveling in a taxi to Mohammad Ali road in Mumbai, at a signal a lady came begging for money for her husbands last rites/funeral. I didn't even blink. As the signal got green n the car moved ahead the driver told me she has been doing that since a long time. So yes please be aware of such fraudsters and dont get trapped in their emotional talks.

N thanks to the Team BHP community for alerting about the different modus operandi that these con men operate.

This is happening around New Mumbai area too, happened with me just before Airoli bridge.

A man came to my window saying his car had some issue, i asked him which car he answered Chevy Cruze, i said i owned the Cruze too i never faced any issues with the car. However he asked for some money to get home/mechanic etc, i told him you wouldnt have serviced your car well, looking at you you its surprising you own a Chevy Cruze, and did a lot more leg pulling before we drove away.
I was in my Toyota Fortuner with 4 other friends from my MBA college returning after a pleasure trip from pune hence we took the situation lightly & made fun of him instead.

Another incident in the same area this time the subject was that there is a child inside the car & the car is locked, we answered break the window, why you want money/lift etc ?

Stay Safe !

Experienced all above tricks one or the other time in my last 20 years stay in Bangalore.

latest was last Wednesday, after HSR signal towards silk board, stopped my car waiting for someone to join. Immediately about 30 years tall guy appears-same story, wallet lost, mobile lost-need 300 Rs urgently. I politely refused and said, can do a UPI transaction if I get his mobile number. He said he need money, cursed me and walked away.

Second incident was a month back, near my office in BTM. One guy approached me on the road, said he is a security guard in an adjacent building, seen me many times it seems, shared the happy news of his son scoring high (hard to believe) percentage in PU exams, and want to present his son a bicycle for going to college, asked 5K contribution.

Feeling fishy, suggested him to meet me in my office, as we have a micro charity setup to help the needy. Asked him to come with original documents. he said ok, and never seen him again.

One before that was in January, around 11 PM near Channapattana (Mysore-Bangalore road) When stopped the car, a guy in Auto approached, asking for 50 Rs as fuel is about to be over. Checked the auto and it was full with his own family- paid 100 bucks and moved on. Not sure a hoax or genuine case still.

I too had a very similar incident an year ago. It was in Koramangala too, near Indoor stadium signal. I just lowered the window only by an inch. He was not happy with that and was making signs to further lower the window to have an urgent conversation. He was making helpless/frustrated faces as well. He was a middle aged man dressed in formals.

One can observe that these conman always approach solo car drivers. Solo drivers need to be extra vigilant. They usually approach people in Traffic signals. The 120 second signal time is what they take to con people. They have a well rehearsed story to quickly narrate and force the driver to take a quick decision (before signal turns green) to part with some money. I hope they don't have any other violent tricks up their sleeves.

My Story is slightly different. On 14th January 2018, I was at the Majestic Bus stand in Bangalore at around 10.15pm and was waiting for a specific bus driver to turn up. I had some parcel to send to my hometown. I was waiting at the place where buses which go to shimoga are parked. Suddenly a guy in his late 30s with beard approached me. He had a worried look on his face and asked me a technical question on ATM PIN. His problem was apparently due to the ATM card getting blocked due to wrong PIN or something like that. I was not interested but still decided to help him after he pleaded. When I started explaining him the possible scenarios in which the card could get locked, he said he had no money to go back to his hometown and has got stuck here. I felt pity for him and decided give him 500 Rs knowing very well that he could even be cheating. I didnt care because i thought his case was genuine and he even took my phone number and told me that as soon as he reaches his hometown, he would recharge my phone number with that much currency. Being a soft hearted person, I said "okay, no issues, take your own time, reach safely first". I put my hands in my pocket and pulled one 500Rs note but unfortunately, two notes came out and he, all of a sudden said he hasnt had dinner and he is a sugar patient. He said it would be great if i can give him that extra 500 Rs also. He repeatedly took God's name and said if he cheated, bad things would happen to him. All in all, i gave him Rs 1200/- and wished him safe journey and asked him to take care of his health. It was 10.30pm already and i finished my work and left Majestic bus stand.


While returning to home, I kept thinking what if he had conned me. I decided to wait till the next morning. There was no news on the next day morning. After a couple of days, i was convinced that i had been duped. I was willing to let go of Rs 500 which i initially decided to give him. But what hurt me the most was the excess Rs 700 that he managed to snatch from me the moment he came to know that i am a soft hearted person.

Since the age of 16, I have been staying away from my parents due to education/work etc and have managed lots of such situations single-handedly with ease. Many a times, I have narrowly avoided getting duped by scamsters. But getting cheated at the age of 38 to such a man was too much for me. I sat in my pooja room, prayed hard for the early death of the cheater. I prayed for his death because if that is the only way to save many innocents from being cheated by him, then so be it.

I too have come across this "Hindi Malum?" group ~10 times. I dont respond and just walk away.

Have encountered some of the con-men described above, but didn't bite the bait & have successfully escaped all those attempts.

But this particular guy got the better of me:Frustrati

The guy looked like a mendicant, typically the ones who are devotees of Shirdi ka Sai Baba -- a long kurta, green lungi, bandana on head, some peacock feathers etc.

The guy asked for "alms for orphan kids" after tak-tak on driver-side window, don't know what got me - generally I don't entertain these kind; if the person is too old / with a baby I usually give them some food, not money.

I had already parked the car & gotten down due to missus suddenly demanding some shopping on the wayside. The "mendicant" took advantage, came near me & reiterated his plea. Gave him Rs.50/-, actually to get rid of him. He recited some "mantra" etc., and gave me Rs.100/- plus a locket which he claimed is silver. Now I was taken aback, told I can't accept money from you. He insisted & started walking away.

I summoned him back & returned him his 100; now he asks me to "touch" whatever money is in my pocket just on his "jhola". Like a fool I do that -- (luckily I don't carry much hard-cash around so all I had was Rs.500/-) and before me knowing, it's in his hands !

I urge him to give me my money, he somehow makes that 500 disappear into his wherever and preaches to me -- "Sai aapka bhala karega, bhookhe bachchon ko khilaane ka paisa hai yeh, wapas nahin maangna" -- and gets going.

Me = ulloo :Shockked:

Lesson learnt: Check a person & his plea thoroughly twice/thrice before parting with your money; this guy violated my trust, so I've been on guard then on. Maybe a genuine guy may fail my scrutiny and lose out on some timely help (God forbid), but I don't want to become ulloo anymore!

Last week i was walking around the More Mall (Total Mall) and few chaps in their early twenties approached and and asked me for 1000 Rs Cash and instead they will PayTm the money to me. I just walked away saying that I dont have a PayTm account.

Sure that this is a Con job.

These are the kind of stories which made me stop helping strangers on road.
Around 7-8 years ago I was visiting Jaipur, i was in 1st year of college and was traveling alone for the first time. When I was waiting for a bus a man came to me and asked me for 20rs as he lost his wallet, I would not have given him the money but he spoke in English and that convinced me that this case could be genuine, after all why would a scammer learn English for Rs20. After a few weeks the same thing happened to me in Delhi, a man came to me and asked me for 20 bucks in English and we have him the money. In about two months 2 more people approached me in Delhi with the same story but by then i had realized that this was an scam.
These kind of experiences have made me heartless, if anyone on road asks me for help I simply refer them to the nearest police station. I am thankful to this thread as I learnt a few new scams and updated my knowledge.

Wonder how would Jack Reacher manage in India :D

I have faced another kind of scam in Electronic City and Nagavara. Both of these had absolutely identical modus operandi (however, both of these happened when I was on foot). A family of three - a young man, with his supposed wife and supposed kid, will approach you and say in Hindi - "I have come to Bangalore from <some random state in North India> for work but the person who offered me the job is nowhere to be found. I don't have money to go back to my home town. My family is hungry too. Please help with Rs 300-500."

In the first case, when I offered to have the guy's family fed at a nearby restaurant and buy his family bus tickets to Majestic, he refused and kept insisting for money.

I gave a 50 to the first one (thinking he might really be in distress. Luckily though, that was all the cash I had in my wallet) but the second one had an earful from me just when he had started insisting for money.

Why would that driver wait for the signal to turn green and move the car away from the woman before he can tell you the truth? If he is genuine he could have told it while the woman was still talking to you. May be he is from the same group and thought since plan a didn't work, he can win your trust by talking this and get an extra tip at the end of the ride.

Faced a similar incident while I was waiting at a signal at Banjara Hills. An Auto stopped next to us and asked me to help him with 3000 as his child is in Hospital and he is unable to arrange funds. I was doubtful about the authenticity, but why will a auto wala ask for Money. I asked my wife to give him 300 and told him this is what I've for now. Not sure if I was victim or helped him?

No i don't think so, maybe he was afraid. You see such fraudsters don't work alone, they have a criminal gang behind them. Otherwise how would a person(fraudster) carry on such a fraud for a long time at the same place? Maybe the taxi driver was working in the same area and if he calls such fraudsters out, he may get beaten up or they might thrash his car.

In Mumbai criminal gangs control the beggars, eunuchs and such fraudsters. Unless you pay money(haftaa) to these gangs you cant work there and in return you get security from these criminal gangs. Even signals are sold as begging areas and this was Mohammad Ali road, home of the D company.

And about the tip... this is Mumbai and people pay the meter. It was a normal taxi (Kaali Peeli) and normally people dont tip but pay the exact fare. This is well understood by everyone here, both the passengers and drivers alike. I hope I was helpful and have cleared your misunderstanding. :)