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RT @NiemanLab: Good morning! The Pentagon adds WikiLeaks to its list of "enemies threatening the security of the United States" http://j
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it's not about not wanting to come to detroit, it would be more people coming to chicago.
Wow, what a great comment. Why even bother leaving a comment like that. Ignorance in this country is rampant and that is a huge part of the problems we are having.
Evanston ...
Only in a flight of fantasy. JackHugh
does it come to small towns?
I read your blog, Mike, and it's good. You sounded the alarm back on Jan. 23; good for you. Nice won ton soup story, too!
What a great discussion on this page! I wonder where this disaster will land up. It deserves full airing but will probably be glossed over like most things. I guess Chicago goes by the saying, "Make no small plans," but Chicago has amended it to say, " - make grandiose plans."
The pigeon drop scam is a perfect example of a scam. The theft takes place by means of exploiting the victim's gullibility and greed. The victim willingly hands over the money. With your incident, the perpetrators use a distraction to trick the victim into focusing his attention on the distraction so they can (this is the difference) steal his wallet. Stealing someone's wallet is not a scam, it's theft. So in my opinion, it's a theft with a preceding diversionary act. When your wallet is stolen, it's stolen, not swindled. In the pigeon drop, you are swindled.
To the extent that they "scammed" this guy into thinking there was a legitimate emergency, it was a scam. But the bottom line is, it was a theft.
I would add that in the past there have been scams on the CTA trains. "Three Card Monty" and the "Shell Game," to be specific. Let's see if they show up again.
Well, if you guys want to think that this was a scam, I guess if you run into a shell game guy you will think it was an incredible experience, like some kind of Ponzi scheme. Yeesh.
Saw something similar to this on the Brown Line at the Chicago stop a couple months ago, minus the fake "foot getting stuck" thing. A couple guys got on, reached around for whatever they could grab and got off before anyone realized what happened. By the time the pickpocketed woman near me discovered her wallet was missing, we were nearly to Sedgwick and they were long gone.
Seems like a scam to me. Set up a situation, get others to fall for your con and some how profit from it. Admittedly this scam is a little cowardly and not all that clever. He is basically a pick pocket that needs to get his victims distracted before being able to take anything.
Hi @qstrian,
I have a few in the archives but this is the most recent one that a rider spotted.
If anyone sees a scam/pickpocket scheme/shell game, please let me know.
I know the CTA doesn't track these specific games/scams/schemes so the only data available is anecdotal.
Thanks,
Tracy