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

Waking life

By Waking life,
in San Juan, PR

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Tiger55

Tiger55

Posted
Posted

We ran into this fellow last week in Old San Juan, one street behind the casino near the pier. Girlfriend stopped to listen as soon as he started rambling I told him 'sorry heard about this scam' and walked off. The only real description I can give of this guy is he had cauliflower ears, like he was a wrestler or something at one time....shouldn't have gotten mugged with that type of background:D

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  • 3 weeks later...
UBR_G33K

UBR_G33K

Posted
Posted

Met him on day 1 in San Juan! He approached us just as described right down to the little band aid on his cheek and I recognized him right away. "Do you guys speak English?" was his opening line and a dead giveaway. I immediately asked if his father was doing OK and you could tell he was a little annoyed. I offered him $10 to take a photo with him as he was an internet celebrity but he just turned and walked away. The best description I can give is that he VERY closely resembles Ryan Stiles from the American version of Who's Line is it Anyway. Do a Google image search for him and that's pretty dead on. Tall, lanky, American accent, wearing shades.

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cmdchiefthom

cmdchiefthom

Posted
Posted

This is a remarkable thread. I've been all over OSJ going back to 1996, and never had any kind of negative issue. In fact, my young son bought a fake Rolex from one of the street vendors. I'll be back the first week of April and will be looking out form him just because of this port!:eek:

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sail7seas

sail7seas

Posted
Posted
Met him on day 1 in San Juan! He approached us just as described right down to the little band aid on his cheek and I recognized him right away. "Do you guys speak English?" was his opening line and a dead giveaway. I immediately asked if his father was doing OK and you could tell he was a little annoyed. I offered him $10 to take a photo with him as he was an internet celebrity but he just turned and walked away. The best description I can give is that he VERY closely resembles Ryan Stiles from the American version of Who's Line is it Anyway. Do a Google image search for him and that's pretty dead on. Tall, lanky, American accent, wearing shades.

 

 

Tall, lanky, American accent, clean and neatly dressed......

 

That is how he appeared to me when we saw him just about a year ago.

 

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  • 1 month later...
frito58

frito58

Posted
Posted (edited)
Tall, lanky, American accent, clean and neatly dressed......

 

That is how he appeared to me when we saw him just about a year ago.

 

 

He must be doing well , he was ragged looking back in in 07 and again in 09 LOL guess business has been good:rolleyes:

Edited by frito58
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maydaybaby

maydaybaby

Posted
Posted

Well, this guy is making a real profession out of this scam -- my husband & I got taken for $8 last month in OSJ. It must be working well for him, because his story is the same one posted by the original poster back in 2009! Too bad I didn't catch this thread a little sooner... Oh, well. We felt at the time that it might be a scam, but $8 was a small gamble to take when it might have been someone truly in trouble. Live & learn...

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CHERRYBRANCH

CHERRYBRANCH

Posted
Posted
Well, this guy is making a real profession out of this scam -- my husband & I got taken for $8 last month in OSJ. It must be working well for him, because his story is the same one posted by the original poster back in 2009! Too bad I didn't catch this thread a little sooner... Oh, well. We felt at the time that it might be a scam, but $8 was a small gamble to take when it might have been someone truly in trouble. Live & learn...

 

 

Has anyone be able to "capture" a photo of this guy? It seems with all of the many people who have come into contact with him someone would have been able to snap a picture, even if it is of him running away.....:) I agree, I would rather be out the $8 knowing that I tried to help someone. At least we know our heart is in the right place!

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frito58

frito58

Posted
Posted

I am going to try in April we are staying in one prime areas in the Condado area if we see him my wife is going to be ready . I will be sure to dress as tourist so he won't miss me LOL. But I think if you go back a few pages someone posted a picture

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disneydave

disneydave

Posted
Posted

Was there last spring on the eclipse and while I was Ina shop he caught my wife, son, and daughter and started into his speal. I got done and found him full into his story; so since I had heard his story listened for a minute and then told him to get lost as I had heard about him.

So he takes off And my wife starts giving me the business while I cannot help but start laughing. After she gets over me being "rude" I tell her the story and we all have agood laugh.

 

that being said had some friends in osj last week and they ran into him.

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Joy2Day

Joy2Day

Posted
Posted
Wonder how many people pay him just to get him to go away!!

 

We did .... just last week. My husband and I were walking on the back side of the capital building. It was mid-afternoon with no one else around and we were looking at a map to find a specific restaurant when a clean-cut man approached us. He asked if we spoke English and gave us the spiel: "He and his dad had wandered in to wrong area ... had been jumped ..... dad was getting medical treatment ... Sheraton concierge was more helpful that local police .... He needed $6 for boat fare at Pier 10 ....." We just gave him $6 to go away ....

 

And this can happen anywhere, not just San Juan. We have pan-handlers in Omaha, too. My favorite was the guy that approached a friend and me one evening as we were heading for dinner and asked for $5. When my friend asked him what he was going to spend it on, he told us cigarettes. Well, at least he was honest about it. :-)

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  • 3 weeks later...
frito58

frito58

Posted
Posted (edited)
We are still waiting for PICTURES...does this guy really exist or is it Island Legend???

 

LOL well he is a legend :eek::D I have met him twice I know someone posted one of him once , it may have been in a review of a cruise.

Edited by frito58
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frito58

frito58

Posted
Posted (edited)
I'll be in OSJ next week. Forget about a tour of the city... I know what my San Juan excursion will consist of. I WILL get a photo of this guy. I'm excited. I feel like I am hunting for Bigfoot. :D

 

LOL Well dress like a tourist and hang near the Sheraton OSJ and you have a great chance . Look for a tall white thin man coming toward you . If his first words are " do you speak english ' your in there. Good luck. But be careful he is like a baby deer on the pictures I have heard he will smiley-scared007.gif

 

 

OH I just notice your from WI the first time I met him thats where he said he was from said he and his dad were trying to get home after he had been robbed .

Edited by frito58
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  • 4 weeks later...
MrSchwump Great Review Rare

MrSchwump

Posted
Posted

A week ago Sat, before our cruise, we were on our way back to our hotel and paused in a souvenir shop. I was waiting for my fellow travelers when I heard a guy say, " Do you speak English?". I knew it was him! Same spiel as always, he and dad walking, dad beat up, took all their money... My response was, "That's too damn bad." and walked away. My brother- in- law said he cussed at me but I didn't hear him.

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Oaktree

Oaktree

Posted
Posted

There must be an organization of scammers! In Memphis, an older woman with grand-son

in tow, asked for food money, then headed for liquor store! Kroger parking lot in

Cincinnati, man asked me for $20 for gas, wife & new baby need ride home, mother-in-law has broken leg, his car out of gas. Told him someone in Kroger would call agency to

help him. Became angry, walked away and went to another person.

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cakerbakermom

cakerbakermom

Posted
Posted
I'll be in OSJ next week. Forget about a tour of the city... I know what my San Juan excursion will consist of. I WILL get a photo of this guy. I'm excited. I feel like I am hunting for Bigfoot. :D

 

 

Just wondering if you caught a photo of this dude!!

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cruise4kicks

cruise4kicks

Posted
Posted

:p I've been approached by this guy so many times that I now make it my mission when I'm in San Juan to HUNT HIM DOWN just for the sheer entertainment!

 

Last time I saw him he started with the spiel, I let him get to the end, then I said, "You know, I've been here several times before, and always I meet you, and always your dad got beat up. You must have the most rotten luck in the world." He just turned and walked away! :p

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sail7seas

sail7seas

Posted
Posted

I told him he was 'legend' on the internet. :)

 

He apparently had heard it before as like the others said, he walked away. :)

 

He must make a really good living doing this as he's been at it a long time. :eek:

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