ProHo Gaffler strikes again?

dailyheights · August 2005

Check this out. Right now on An Englishman in New York:

Have you seen this (alleged) asshole?

(If you can't see the HTML below, click on "Profile" above and make sure "Always allow HTML" is set to "Yes")

"Last night my wife was conned out of $20 by an asshole. I think the asshole is the guy in the picture below... The man approached her yesterday evening, gave her a sob story about his mum being in a car accident and needing to borrow a bit of cash to pay for a tow truck. His story was a little more finessed. But that was basically it."

asshole

"When I came home last night and Sofie told me the story I thought it sounded familiar so I trawled my excellent local blog dailyheights and sure enough, there he wasÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Âthe alleged perp in question, pulling the same stunt back in April. The photograph above was taken by a dailyheights reader who was approached by the asshole (against whom certain allegations have been made) and she snapped this beautiful pic."

"So, if you live in Prospect Heights/Park Slope and this guy approaches you with his little sob story. Tell him where to go..."

daveb · August 2005

I've seen that dude before, pulling the same shit on some young lady on Eastern Parkway about a month ago.

dailyheights · August 2005

Paul updated the post: "My wife reckons that is the guy. And itÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s a bit of a coincidence that their ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…â€œstoriesÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‚Â are so similar." (Link)

anonymous · August 2005

That's the guy.
A few years ago my neighbor told me about this guy and described him to me. A few months later I was approached by him, and I told him about my poor neighbor that was conned by a pice of sh*t. He knew where this conversation was going and took off while I was giving him the third degree

anonymous · August 2005

Next time someone gets approached by this guy, they should beat him to the punch and give him his own scam story. I'd love to see his reaction to that.

emily · August 2005

"See, my friends and I...well, we run this website. It's getting really popular. And bandwidth ain't free, am I right? So, in light of the investment that this community has, however unwittingly, made in you over the years, we'd really appreciate a contribution for the hosting costs. Could you spare $20?"

innocent x · August 2005

I got a similar story (my mother just got killed in a car accident and I need some money to get a car to go id her body at the hospital) but different dude.

susan · August 2005

EmilyM wrote: "See, my friends and I...well, we run this website. It's getting really popular. And bandwidth ain't free, am I right? So, in light of the investment that this community has, however unwittingly, made in you over the years, we'd really appreciate a contribution for the hosting costs. Could you spare $20?"

Too funny, Emily! I'll try that if I see him. We were just saying we hadn't seen him around in a while, but I guess he's still out there.

pennysmith · August 2005

The version I got was "My mother just had a stroke and a car accident and I need money for the tow truck." He made a big deal about saying we were neighbors and gave me a nonexistent address "around the corner" from me. And on top of all that, I swear to god he was wearing a great big bright yellow suit just like Ali G. I swear.

Anybody else seen the yellow suit? I love the yellow suit.

t-fal · August 2005

why do i never encounter this guy? i am just dying to ask for his autograph and all that, being a local celebrity and all that. if i get it, i will totally post it.

anonymous · August 2005

Subject: Yea

This guy hit me up like 4 or 5 years ago. He's been running this scam for a long time.

urfman · December 2006

Subject: heeee's baaacckkk.

My girlfriend and I ran into him about a month ago at like 7am outside New York Methodist hospital on 7th ave in Park Slope. He gave us the sob story that his mother had a stroke, ran over two people in her car and when the police came, "they called me a black n****r." Then, (get this) he actually teared up and started crying. We gave him $5.

This past week, we ran into him in our neighborhood, Prospect Place bet Classon and Grand. He started telling us the exact same story! The same first line, "Pardon me, but do you know where I can find the number for a tow truck company?" After another line or so of his speech, I asked him if his mother was feeling better. When he gave me a confused look I mentioned that he had given us the exact same story a month ago in Park Slope. He started running when I mentioned the irony of the situation.

Man, I gotta hand it to him. That's commitment!

emily · December 2006

Wow, I'm amazed that he's still around! Obviously we're not doing a good enough job of getting the word out.

jack krohn · December 2006

I'm amazed that people still fall for this. If anyone ever asks you for money on the street, you can bet that it's a scam. I can maybe, just maybe, see giving someone a quarter, but $20? People that naive deserve to be conned.

bigguy · December 2006

I'm going to continue to avoid people that ask for money. But I decided recently that I'm going to start offering something to people that don't - like people collecting cans & so forth. I repect someone out there trying to do something and not bugging me.

tracy · December 2006

I am practically old enough to collect social security, but I remember when I was in my early twenties and lived in a walk up on the east side, some guy rang my doorbell and went into some incomprehensible spiel, the point of which was to produce a handout through guilt or embarrassment, or just wanting to get rid of him. I, however, am NYC born and bred so needless to say he did not get anything from me as I could detect he was a scammer. This shows that this has been going on for a long time and probably works well for some who have talent.

armchair_warrior · December 2006

i get these type of stories alot. once same guy came to me twice with two diffrent stories in one day lol.

deaner · February 2008

my roommate and i got duped by a guy on underhill but this photo is not him.

moufaisbad · February 2008

oh my god!
his poor mom!
she sure has been through a lot. you guys should be nice
:twisted:

c balla · February 2008

I'm almost certain it was this dude who told me to go bite myself after I refused to give him money a couple of days ago.

littleredmenace · February 2008

moufaisbad wrote: oh my god!
his poor mom!
she sure has been through a lot. you guys should be nice
:twisted:

Yeah. How many car accidents can one woman endure?

You know, there's a Rodney Dangerfield joke in there somewhere, but I can't find it right now.

underhill_mt · February 2008

I bet he's friends with the guy who rings our bell in the early morning to tell me a story about how last year I let him rake the leaves in the front of the house for $20. Every time I tell him that wasn't me, I rake my own leaves, and he tries to convince me that no, it's true, I really paid him $20. Then usually a few weeks pass and he comes back and tells me that his house burned down and he's trying to get to a drug treatment center in Louisiana.

Ridic. It's one thing for that douche to con people on the street. It's another to ring someone's bell.

completemusic · February 2008

I had this one grandmother in High School who died 6 or 8 times.
But she didn't drive.

liftandcut · February 2008

Last night my wife was conned out of $20 by an asshole. I think the asshole is the guy in the picture below...

This guy's wife is not too bright. Maybe it also comes down to growing up in this city or similar urban environment, versus coming from an perfect little town where everybody drives to the mall. I can't believe anybody would fall for this man's story. It's even more astonishing that this man's actions have caused such a stir. Get a grip, people. Jeez, this is New York.

ProHo Gaffler strikes again?

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