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SCAM ALERT: Watch out for guy who will ask if you speak English


Waking life
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Oh my, the blonde guy is still at it!! We were in OSJ on Sat. night (Oct. 30, 2010) waiting for the trolley when this scam artist approached us with the same line, "Do you speak English?". I had read about him on this blog and quickly replied, "We've already heard about you!" and he suddenly walked off as quickly as he appeared. My husband was shocked that I was so rude to a total stranger. I explained I had read all about him on this site, but DH was disappointed I didn't give him a chance to rattle his tale another time to see if he had changed anything. Thanks to CC members for keeping us updated on scams such as this one!;)

Edited by wavyls
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  • 1 month later...

Probably time for a bump of this post. Guys like this scammer are everywhere. What I find funny is I was accosted by scammers with similar stories in both Seattle and Memphis over the past 2 years, and the physical description of the San Juan scammer fits them both!

 

I really don't mind giving a couple of bucks on occasion, depending on circumstances, but if they try to reel me in with an elaborate lie, forget it. The ones I get a kick out of (but don't donate to) are the ones who have signs such as "spare change for a bottle of liver disease" (seen in downtown Portland Oregon).

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Lily and I were walking down a small side street in Old San Juan after dinner and he came up to me and gave us the whole scam speech about his Dad being mugged and the police were no help and he justy needed some money to get a cab....

 

I'm a tough guy and hockey player and could have said No! Lily kept saying it had to be a scam... but I gave him $20 anyway which is chump change to me and I didn't feel it was necessary to cross-examine his story.

 

Now, if he had been asking for $20 for a religious cause... I would have decked him right there!

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  • 4 weeks later...

After living and working in NYC for several years, I think I've become immune to this kind of stuff. The only time I get tempted is when the person is with a child. On the subway once this woman had a baby and said she had lost her job and was homeless. She had a bunch of jewelry she was selling, that was when I felt bad and gave her something. Otherwise I say, "no thanks!" and walk away, avoiding eye contact. I actually had a guy follow me several blocks asking me for money, I had to duck into a store before he'd stop following me!

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  • 4 weeks later...

We were in San Juan 2/5/11. This guy came desperately across the road. "Do you speak English?" I said yes. He began his spiel with the warning of not crossing the bridge near the fort. He said this is the dangerous area of the island. He and his father were down there and were mugged. His Dad was hit over the head with a gun and is in the hospital. The police are not helping him at all. He was looking for $8 for cab fare. Thank goodness I had heard about this guy before meeting him. I said, Hey, I read about you on the internet. People are talking about you. He appeared to have meth scars/scabs on his face from picking. He said, You may not believe me, but I sure didn't do this to myself. He then went on his way, off to warn other people of his fake story. Sad that so many people get sucked into his lies.

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i think the poster was talking about his hometown or somewhere else. there is no costo in san juan.

 

FYI, According to the Costco website, there are 4 Costco's in Puerto Rico. The closest is 5.6 miles away from the center of San Juan.

Edited by girljerk
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  • 3 weeks later...

Anyone going there soon?

I would love someone to stop him in his speal and say " look I am not going to give you money but, you have been doing this for years so I know you are getting money. What do you get on a average day?"

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We were walking in Old San Juan before getting on the Victory Mar. 6 and the guy approached us and asked we if spoke english- well I couldn't beleive it because I had read all about him!

 

I never did tell my husband about him because I never thought we would see him. So my husband says yes we speak english and the guy says well my name is John Ripka!! and he starts saying something and I said Yes and you need money for a taxi because your father got beat up!! He turned away REAL quick and said I wasn't going to say that! He left so fast it was funny- my husband looked at me like what did you just do??

 

So he is definately still at it! I sorta wish I didn't say anything so he could go through his story!

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Wow...He's been doing this for years now...this guy needs to start paying taxes on what he makes off of unsuspecting tourists! I run into him every time I'm in Old San Juan... he must be really drugged/messed up though because I've met him about 8 times now...you'd think he'd recognize me like I recognize him and not even bother. :rolleyes:

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  • 2 weeks later...

I told my friends we were travelling with about this guy... I was so disappointed... The ONE occasion that we go to breakfast at a different time and he approaches them and does his spin...

 

He was outside The Intercontinental .. (so away from his usual hunting ground) My friends let him go through his script ) As soon as they said .. Wow, nice to meet you, your quite famous on the internet he was gone in a flash...

They said his face was quote scared and it looked like fresh wounds, they wondered if it was self inflicted or if he got someone to give him daily knocks...

 

Another scam, this time it was both my husband and friend.. They were in SJU and a fairly large man approached asking if they were Canadian, then flashed $5 Cdn and asked if they could change it for US.. My husband was going to but friend felt something was odd and said we don't have any cash on us... He then followed them into the restroom of The downtown Sheraton.. Followed very quickly by a security guard, as soon as he entered the guy left (He's known to them) Seemingly it's a guise so he can see where on your person your wallet is.

 

For people who haven't been to SJU before, despite this I still feel it's a very safe city to walk around so don't be put off just be aware of scams..

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  • 7 months later...

Thanks for the heads up folks! It amazes me that so many people will put forth such an effort to pan handle. If they'd put half that effort into legitimate work...but then that's the idea, isn't it! Sad, sad, sad!

 

Have to go see Damian on Glee - back later!

 

Would someone tell me about Bon Voyage - how do we contact, where do they deliver, etc. Thanks.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I am sooo glad I read this thread before our cruise on Nov. 27th! My husband and I had a fantastic day in OSJ and were having a great dinner at Punto de Vista and talking about how much fun we'd had. He was congratulating me on how all my research had paid off (the Segway tour, the excellent food at Punto de Vista etc) and how prepared for everything we were.

 

I said "yeah, I was even prepared for this scam artist I read about on CruiseCritic". He kind of laughed but I didn't go into any details. After our meal and several mojito's later, we were crossing the street from the restaurant to the pier when this tall, slender white male came up to us. (He was actually pretty well dressed and looked very respectable). He started in with his story and all of a sudden it hit me - OMG, that's HIM! I immediately started telling him how famous he is on the Internet and how excited we were to meet him and asking if he'd take a picture with us. I told my husband "this is the guy - it's him, it's really him" and my crazy husband starts yelling 'Cool, chest bump, chest bump" at him. Wow, I have never seen anyone turn around and run in the opposite direction so fast in my life, it was like he had wings! We totally cracked up all the way back to the ship and decided that running into that guy like that was the perfect way to end a really fantastic day. So we got on board, went up on deck and had another mojito in honor of him, lol!

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My DH, our friend and I were sitting on a bench near the Old San Juan dock admiring the ships and were just getting to our feet to go back aboard and 'HE" approached us. He started his speech about just having arrived in San Juan and I interrupted and said 'and your Dad was injured and your money was stolen.......'. He wasn't the least embarrassed and mildly shrugged his shoulders and walked away. He was clean, dressed decently and my DH was speechless that I had spoken to him that way. He was amazed when I told him I had learned about the scam here on CC.

 

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The same scam happens here in Albuquerque during the state fair. At least they are not violent when we turn them down for begging money. I never get out my wallet because the scammer could grab it and run. I use a wheelchair sometimes and can't chase anyone.

 

If anyone asks me if I speak English, I just say NO and keep going away from them. Don't speak to strangers.

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He also operates in the Condado area. He is dressed like a tourist, often in a nicer Hawaiian shirt and does not look homeless, but occasionally he has visible bruises/abrasions/sores to go along with the story of his being beat up along with his father. We live in SJ and were taken in after we first moved here. We haven't decided if the occasional bruises come from actual street fights, or if he has a disease since sometimes he has very visible sore type lesions. This guy cannot be homeless, he is simply a low life panhandler that obviously does well enough to be clean, have nice clothes and be out drinking quite a bit. If you are here long enough you can tell a clear difference between those who are homeless and those who are shameless like this guy. I wish they would get him off the street...give your money to a real homeless person on the island, or at the very least to the homeless cats and dogs via an organization :)

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How is it so many people see this guy and nobody gets his picture.

 

He might be passing by the rest of us and we don't even know it cause he doesn't give the story.

If you had a picture would you seriously walk around looking for a criminal?

 

What would be wrong with passing by him and not knowing that you did?

 

There seems to be a presumption here that this person is not dangerous. These stories indicate that he is a criminal but the fact that there are no posts which indicates he is vicious doesn't mean he isn't.

 

When we ran into this person, even though it was before we read about him here, as soon as I realized his story stunk my instinct was to get away from him as soon as possible!! If I ever ran into him again I don't think it would be a good idea to chat with him about how I know he is a criminal nor would I ask for his autograph or photo. I wouldn't think it wise to put a desperate criminal on the spot.

 

I also notice there are different descriptions of this person on this thread. It is very likely that this is a con scheme used by several different people or even a gang. We once ran into what seemed like a similar con scheme by a motel along the interstate while on a road trip; the perpetrator had a story about being in trouble and needing money that was different but similar in many ways and smelled about the same as the scheme discussed here. Similar schemes are probably being perpetrated at tourist spots, hotels, airports, rest areas, etc. all over the place by con men.

Edited by Lsimon
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If you had a picture would you seriously walk around looking for a criminal?

 

What would be wrong with passing by him and not knowing that you did?

 

There seems to be a presumption here that this person is not dangerous. These stories indicate that he is a criminal but the fact that there are no posts which indicates he is vicious doesn't mean he isn't.

 

When we ran into this person, even though it was before we read about him here, as soon as I realized his story stunk my instinct was to get away from him as soon as possible!! If I ever ran into him again I don't think it would be a good idea to chat with him about how I know he is a criminal nor would I ask for his autograph or photo. I wouldn't think it wise to put a desperate criminal on the spot.

.

 

No I wouldn't be intentionally looking for him but it would be a nice idea for those that want to avoid him and not have to wait for the story to start especially if he is dangerous. Spot him down the road so you can go a different direction or walk on the other side of the street.

 

Might also help the police catch him if they care enough to do something about it. Picture is better than peoples verbal descriptions especially if everyone here is talking about the same exact person.

 

I'm not saying pose with him an say cheese but with so many zoom lense cameras someone could surely get a picture from a safe distance.

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