I could kick myself. A young woman politely stopped me in food store parking lot, needing money

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

68. That is exactly what I meant by be aware of your surroundings.

Last edited Thu Apr 10, 2014, 09:41 PM - Edit history (2)

What you observed is what I seen time and time again, where they operate as a team or in pairs. The situation where a store patron was hit over the head with a small blunt object than robbed of wallet,money and credit cards and identification actually happened> As it so happened police investigators got the information on the criminals at another grocery store same company.The victim didn't know the make/model of the car or year of make but was able to give the color/condition of the car and a description. By the days end the crooks were caught but not before activity showed up on at least two of her credit cards. But do you know what ? At that same grocery store a Safeway the provided the information, the video surveillance showed the crooks car filling up at the pumps, and the gas bill was paid by a credit card and a safeway discount card of a kind hearted person believing a good deed was done.

Imagine a cop being put in a position to have to question the kind hearted unsuspecting lady about possible prior connections/affiliations to the perpetrators.

Being cleared of any suspicion and than being brought into what came about as a result of the act of kindness, than further being brought into the facts about scamers. The lady who was robbed was treated for head injuries, trauma at the hospital. She was hit with a 6 inch by 3/4 " threaded gas pipe galvanized ,black in color ,filled with b b's out of shot gun shells and capped at the ends with galvanized 3/4 " caps ,easy to conceal.They make pipe bombs that way too.

So the scumbags drove off and immediately ran up charges in her credit line.

It also pays to be aware of the kinds of things that go on in the world of those scamers.

With the unemployment situation being what it is today nation wide, you can believe those scamer stories are more-so heart felt to the unsuspecting victims.And scamers know that.

And not enough of are caught before the worst case scenario happens. As a rule,drug addiction/abuse is somewhere in the mix or at the bottom of it.

There is this story about a woman who wrote a heart felt letter to JFK back there in history, and she said in her letter that she and her family were too poor to afford a television set and they could not fallow the elections like everybody else because of that.

Kennedy read that letter and responded himself so the story goes, and he ordered up a good used television set and had it delivered to their home. The next letter was very nasty, all the money you Kennedy's got and you send us this piece of junk.

So thats the story, was J.F.K. a man of wisdom ?

You have to know how to protect yourself and your family from those predators, and being aware of your surroundings is part of that. Knowing how predators operate is another part of it.

Predators don't want you to think about it, they want to capture you in their whirlwind of false emotions and react with money in the form of kindness quick like ,before too much attention is drawn in your/their direction. Some people shop daily and those scamers know that too, believe it they watch everything. They don't want somebody that knows about their scam operation telling somebody they are scamming it's a scam.

Lastly, I keep a change jar where my donation to DU is collected up. This year there was more in it than the other years, when I cashed in the change ,the food drive was on at the food banks, I bought 5 ten dollar bags and a money order.There was a line of people there, I said to the clerk, not bad for a change jar hua ! He said yea and really good this time of the year for those in need. I believe if you want to make a difference ,make the difference where you know it will make the difference. I don't believe that random spontaneous donations to persons in the streets is very well thought out.

One can make ones self believe one has done something good for someone other, but that is not always the case. One could very well be feeding one others crack pipe. $30 or $40 dollars in generosity divides up nice for a pair of crack heads.

Bottom line, if you don't know what goes on in the streets,where it's at and what it's about, you really have to be careful. But hay, isn't that life in the big city ?

Veterans services has fund drives, homeless shelters have fund drives and organizations that offer housing assistance and job placement services also have fund drives.

Catholic charities provides services and financial assistance for just such a situation as mentioned in the original post. They got there ,spent it all ,than got stuck, isn't something a little odd about that ? I mean if one were to stop and think about it in logic. Because if you catch that red flag at the beginning, than the story might not seem so convincing after you have detected a number of flaws and inconsistencies .

In day light they use selective targeting.People they think will be he the least likely to cause complications for them.Get them caught than run off. Under cover of dark they ask any passers by.
The night stalkers wear dark clothing as cover to make it difficult for surveillance cameras to make positive identification of the clothing. And those scammers know where those cameras are and how those cameras are positioned.

if you know that too, as some people do, you can tell by parking positioning some times,than you are better positioned to get an angle on the pan handlers . Supermarket parking lots, mall parking lots are just where cars are hit by people in a hurry, so if you want your insurance to remain at your current cost, you will want to park your car in an area of the parking lot where you know surveillance is optimal. To know that all one need do is ask.

The store will prefer the cost damages to your car fall upon the hit and run driver as does your insurance company. Even if your car or truck is an old car or truck you want to protect it too, as well as keep your insurance rates down. What you can do is find out where store managers park their cars if the store is hesitant to give up the information about the best parking areas in their lots.The best security surveillance that is. Sometimes they don't like to inform customers which areas are lacking or the cameras are not operating for whatever the reasons. I mean think about it, supermarket parking lots are notorious for cars getting whacked, how many times will that happen to an employee before those premiums go up into the sky ? And the store won't keep paying for it either. Maybe once they will for a shift manager ,but after that they are on their own.And if the insurance company knows you work at a supermarket and drive to work, your first claim will bring rise to your payment with a quicknss. That leaves surveilance as your friend and informer.

A bit off topic ,but you know. If you don't do all you can to protect yourself, your family and your assets from those predators,who will ?