What was the scam?

GhostWKD

GhostWKD

GhostWKD

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Banbury, Oxfordshire
Just wondered if the good people of OCUK GD section could help out perhaps.

On Saturday night we were out for a meal & drinks for a friends 30th birthday. There was a large group of us and a group of less desirables who came and sat on a table near our group (strangely 5x females, their male counterparts sat at the far end of the pub).

Towards the end of the night they would wait for someone from our group to walk past and then call them back and try to hand them a debit card, saying that they had just dropped it. This happened to two of our group before someone picked up on it and a lot of shouting to/fro ensued.

Just wondered if anyone knew how this scam/con actually would have played out had someone believed it was their card which they had dropped and taken it?

Intrigued more than anything as I just can't work out what they would gain by giving someone a random card? Not convinced the guys down the other end of the bar weren't involved as well mind. Tried googling and turned up nothing directly matching what I witnessed.

Over to you GD :p
 
Probably a way to get into your wallet later in the evening.

Excuse me, I think you have my debit card, the girls handed it to the wrong person.
 
Yea appears a distraction theft; they hand you a card, you start thanking and make pleasantries meanwhile their mate pick pockets you.

However for them to try it with two people of the same group of friends, certainly doesn't sound like a bunch of professionals :p
 
Ah maybe not as elaborate as I first thought in that case. Think that makes sense tbh - they didn't seem the smartest bunch as you say so anything beyond basic distraction is probably beyond their capabilities :p

As we left they were refusing to leave and demanding to be served (long after last orders) and as we pulled out of the car park the police arrived - quite glad we'd left by that time

Also before anyone mentions it, I doubt they'd have a letterbox :p
 
Similar techniques are used to try and get a peak at someone's wallet to see if they are worth robbing (some carry wads of cash) but sounds a bit weird if they tried it more than once. Sounds bit more like they were drunk and someone thought it amusing - bored, intoxicated people can do some weird things to amuse themselves.
 
The other one is they'll wait for you to pocket it and go for a smoke or leave, at which point the boyfriends will have an excuse to get rather pushy and try to simply do you out of your wallet for "robbin their girl bruv".
 
Step 1 - see group of blokes getting drunk

Step 2 - figure out where they keep their wallet, if it is in a coat pocket, jacket pocket, on their person

Step 3 - When night gets rowdy/people are at the bar/toilet/smoking area pickpocket easy wallets from persons or from items left at the table


Or

One i have seen is that they run drinks on the cards most of the night. Throughout the night they try and get you to take the card you think you dropped. some people take it because many cards have the same design and others are just drunk and the idiots think they can run a few free taps on it. Later they kick up a fuss with the barman while your at the bar, quote the end card numbers and accuses you of nicking it. If you deny it, they tell the bar bloke to check one of the receipts in the till if they match. You then pay their drinks or get the police called by the barman.
 
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was it a nice resturant? don't normally get riffraff like that in a decent restaurant and assuming it was as it was a 30th?


Also were they foreign?
 
HAz said:
was it a nice resturant? don't normally get riffraff like that in a decent restaurant and assuming it was as it was a 30th?


Also were they foreign?
Click to expand...

Because no one ever stole anything, or tried to rip each other off in Merry Olde England, did they? :rolleyes:
 
Wifi/Bluetooth enabled card chip reader thingy maybe?

I could be thinking to much into this...
 
She wrote her phone number on the card and tried to give it to you without attracting the attention of their partners sitting at the other end of the bar.
 
The man at the bar was a pimp, the girls were human traffic'd into the UK, there was a note attached to the card with a plea for help.

They ended up causing a scene to alert the Police and free themselves from the tyrants grasp.

Taken 4 - Feb 2017 - Oxford
 
Seems like an odd scam. I mean why a debit card, something that has your name written on it pretty boldly. Unless you're absolutely baked and past the point of no return you're just going to glance at it and "nope", like you did. And surely anyone that's drunk enough to not notice the name difference on a card they probably don't have is easy enough to just pickpocket normally?
 
TBH they came across to me as most likely being from a local traveler site

Was just a local pub with family/friends of all ages etc - the two people they tried it on were 1) my friends FIL and 2) girl in her 30's (or 20's...)

JT - that's where I started out but the more I think about it the more I think most likely just a distraction/extortion trick of some sort
 
J.T said:
Wifi/Bluetooth enabled card chip reader thingy maybe?

I could be thinking to much into this...
Click to expand...

This is a myth.
There is no device that can clone cards wirelessly, there is also no device that can use your card just by touching your pocket, unless that itself has been stolen from a registered account. (and then the bank should be informed and blocked way before anything else happens)

Banks didnt spend many years with the tech to have it fail on such a basic flaw.
The Which findings which triggered all this, was a lot of bs.
 
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