Scam artist beware

Warning to all Good Samaritans of HRM: there is a scam artist prowling your streets, looking to prey on your compassion and faith in humanity. She pulled her scam on me last summer, and recently tried to do the same thing to my friend as we were leaving a Moose Heads game. If you see her, she’ll likely be outside, in an area of heavy pedestrian traffic. If she approaches you, the first words out of her mouth will be something like “I’m in a real bind…” Then she’ll tell you some sob story about how her car was impounded and she has no money to get it out. She’ll offer to take your name and address so she can mail you the money she owes you. After I gave her my money, she asked me if I had a pen and paper to write down my info, but I had neither, and at that point I realized I had been scammed, and just walked away saying “keep the money”. This woman is in her late twenties or early thirties, approximately 5’9”, heavy set, maybe 170 pounds, with brown hair tied back, freckles and a pointy nose.
To the woman at large: I hope you don’t get arrested. I’m only warning people so they don’t lose their hard-earned money to you. But the police must know about you by now, and you must be getting pretty desperate to get your fix, whatever it is (drugs? gambling?) to pull that shit so close to the police station. I hope you feel sorry for ripping off kind-hearted people, and that you get the help you need. —The Good Samaritan

This article appears in Mar 8-14, 2012.