The front of some people!

[HeyWayne]

Couldn't believe this!

Was round at my parents yesterday and there was a knock at the door - dad went to answer it and was gone for several minutes - nothing unusual in that as often dad has people knocking at the door for him to look at their cars (he's a mechanic).

Anyway, he got back and mum asked who it was. Turns out it was some fella knocked at the door and was asking for money because he'd run out of petrol. Now my parents don't live out in the middle of nowhere - they live on a housing estate (quite a rough one by some standards, but it did me no harm - well, maybe a little bit. I digress), and there are shops with atm machines inside them just 100 yards from the house. My dad said to the guy that he wasn't giving him any money, but said he'd take him to the petrol station - some 5-600 yards in the other direction.

Mum said that she had the same guy come into the charity shop she works in on a few occasions.

I was mad when I found out. I was wearing a hoodie and had white trainers on and everything, I wished I'd of answered the door now. I can cut quite a manacing figure when I put my mind to it I'm told.

Mum then told me a story about a similar incident that a friend of hers had when an asian fella knocked on the door pertaining to be a relative of the people next door (also asian) and that he wanted to buy them a present or some such guff, and she ended up giving him around £100

I'm sure most on here are sensible enough not to be caught out by these scammers, but make sure your loved ones would react the same way.

[jackie j]

My ex OH parents live in a very large house and my son and his girlfriend live there as well. One night quite late my son heard what sounded like a baby crying and as no baby in the house he dismissed it for a while, the sound got louder so he went to investigate and found a complete stranger ( very young girl ) in the house with a very young baby demanding money from nan, he said what the f is going on and who are you, this girl was crying and saying she needed money for the baby. My son called the police as she was very distressed and saying all sortds of weird things. It turned out that the girl was baby sitting for someone and she couldnt cope went to the nearest house ( down a narrow lane with a long drive ) in a village where she must have passed other houses.
Nan was about to give her a lot of money but then she is suffering from senile dementia. I'm glad my son was at home cos I wouldnt like to meet him in a dark alley but he is the softest bloke and only looks threatning.

[zazen999]

I have to say in our last house we got all sorts coming round...so I either say 'I'm just on my way out', put my shoes on, walk round the back and straight in the back door - or say that I never do business on the doorstep and leave it at that. I say they can leave a business card and I'll discuss it with the OH when he gets home. Works every time.

[Two_Sheds]

Was round at my parents yesterday and there was a knock at the door - Turns out it was some fella knocked at the door and was asking for money because he'd run out of petrol. .

This scam was featured on The Real Hustle the other week .. your guy has just copied it. Was he carrying a billy can as a prop to look more convincing? You should report this to the plods and the local press.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/realhustle/
The other scam they did was to dress a Con as a businessman and put him near a rail station. He would act like his wallet had been nicked and he needed a couple of quid to catch a train to work .... he was "earning" £100 a day !

[Jardiniere]

luckily dont seem to have this here...however would just say
Je suis desole monsieur mais je ne parle pas francais..........
works against beggars, telephone sales etc......

[bobleponge]

We dont have the door knocking thing yet (mind you, I live absolutely miles from the nearest petrol station so if someone could show me a broken down car I would probably drive them to it) but there are certainly scammers and con artists around these parts. On the day I came back to work I was reading in the local paper how an elderly lady had been done out of thousands of euro's by a young couple and a baby.
Can be an unpleasant place at times, this wonderful world of ours.

[SarzWix]

We had this constantly in the last house we lived in - there was a couple & her brother living in a house at the end of the row who were addicts of practically every substance you can think of (and some you wouldn't dream of!). They had managed to buy the house because some poor fool knocked the lass over (she was probably off her face at the time anyway) and she got compensation. Not a day passed without one or another of them knocking on the door - milk, petrol, a lift somewhere, a slice of bread, a bit of sugar, some tea-bags... At the start people helped them out, but it soon became obvious that the whole street was keeping them fed whilst their benefits went up their nose Thankfully, they all disappeared after a couple of months and the (trashed) house was put up for sale. If I hadn't have had a large dog, I think I'd have been quite scared of them.

[Mikey]

We don't get any callers at home, not even on haloween, and I'd made chocolate sprouts especially., I guess we need to move. I know you can get signs that say no callers without identification and all, can you get signs that say stop and chat here!!

[FionaH]

My brother has a sign that says no hawkers etc... and no religous zealots. He jokingly refused to let me in when I asked him to be Godfather to my son

[Snadger]

We live quite a way off the beaten track but some time ago an old woman in a dirty mack and a headscarf and a shopping bag in her hand knocked on the door and broke down in tears with a story about coming to clean her Sons house who was away on holiday and shutting the door on the sneck to leave and then realising she had left her keys and purse inside the house.
Apparently she only lived abou a £3 journey away on the metro and as her Son was home tomorrow she would come back, retrieve her keys and purse and come back with her borrowed metro fair!
She was crying all the time she recited this story so I sat her down and gave her a cup of tea to settle her nerves.
I sent her on her way with the £3 and mentioned to my OH that I'd either done an old lady a good turn, or been swindled out of a small amount of money.
Of course she didn't return the next day with the money and I forgot about it.
About a fortnight later I read in the paper about a 70 year old woman who had been arrested for scamming people!
She used the same story on every punter,and was probably on about £20 an hour!
The beauty of the scam was that it was a small amount, so didn't immediately set any bells ringing.
I'm sure she must have had an onion in her hankie to give those tears and she could probably have made a lot more in an acting career!