QUOTE
This is important information to get out to the Jewish community... Its a little long but DEFINITELY worth reading through- if it doesnt happen to you it is likely it has happened or will happen to someone you know!
A couple weeks ago I was on the A train and I was approached by a middle aged Israeli man (about 50, about 5'5 or 5'6-ish, Israeli accent, grey hair) who recognized that I was Jewish and started up a conversation with me in Hebrew. He told me he is in America now because his mother just had heart surgery and they are leaving back to Israel that very day. He told me it was so lucky he ran into me because he just went to the bank that day and his ATM expired and he needed to pay for his sick mother's prescription meds at the pharmacy and he had 1200 shekel he needed to exchange- would I help him? (According to his story because his ATM card was expired they would not allow him to exchange money yada yada) We were "coincidentally" getting off at the same stop at 59th and he "conveniently" knew exactly which bank to go to. When we get to the bank he does the calculations and figures that its about $320 which he tells me to take out of the ATM. I say, nooooo, you give me the shkalim and I'll exchange it for you. He says, oh, you must have misunderstood, I dont actually have the shkalim here, my wife has it with her at the pharmacy down the block. So I say, lets go to the pharmacy. He says, no, actually shes at the pharmacy in Queens. He assures me if I give him $320 he will send me the exact amount in dollars or shkalim whatever I prefer. He writes down all his info on a piece of paper, along with his mother's name for tehillim (good move) and even shows me his ID. He tells me how special it is that we are part of such a cohesive nation and that he can be so far from home and yet find family (apparently thats me) who can help him in the middle of NYC. I finally tell him that I simply cant give him that money without any guarantee or collateral and he tells me that he is not upset with me but feels so sorry for me that I dont trust my fellow jew. When I explained that I just didnt know him he said he felt sorry for me that I hated all Jews, Israeli's, the land of Israel, and puppies. (Fine, not puppies but he may as well have said that too.) He walks away, I call my friend in tears unsure whether I had done the right thing. NOW HERE IS THE PART TO PAY ATTENTION TO: She told me that this man is well known for targeting young Jewish students and professionals and he uses variation of the same story- his son is sick, his wife is sick, but there is pretty consistently a "misunderstanding" where his target THINKS they are just exchanging money but really he doesnt have the shkalim on him. After this happened I tried to spread the story by word of mouth and found 6 (!!!) people who I know personally who have been approached by this man and several who have actually given him money. And these are just people I know. Just from the people I have spoken to, he has made approximately $600. Just a last comment- this man is INCREDIBLY persuasive. If I was reading this I would definitely say to myself, "Im not stupid enough to go with a stranger to a bank and fall for that". Yet, 6 other people I spoke to, INTELLIGENT and EDUCATED people, did the exact same thing. He is very manipulative, very persuasive, and appears non-threatening. I invite anyone who this has happened to, or who knows of someone this has happened to, to respond to this post so we can guage how prevalent this actually is. And hopefully, if enough people become aware of this, we can prevent this sleazebag from targeting anyone else.
~Leyat
818-644-1384
A couple weeks ago I was on the A train and I was approached by a middle aged Israeli man (about 50, about 5'5 or 5'6-ish, Israeli accent, grey hair) who recognized that I was Jewish and started up a conversation with me in Hebrew. He told me he is in America now because his mother just had heart surgery and they are leaving back to Israel that very day. He told me it was so lucky he ran into me because he just went to the bank that day and his ATM expired and he needed to pay for his sick mother's prescription meds at the pharmacy and he had 1200 shekel he needed to exchange- would I help him? (According to his story because his ATM card was expired they would not allow him to exchange money yada yada) We were "coincidentally" getting off at the same stop at 59th and he "conveniently" knew exactly which bank to go to. When we get to the bank he does the calculations and figures that its about $320 which he tells me to take out of the ATM. I say, nooooo, you give me the shkalim and I'll exchange it for you. He says, oh, you must have misunderstood, I dont actually have the shkalim here, my wife has it with her at the pharmacy down the block. So I say, lets go to the pharmacy. He says, no, actually shes at the pharmacy in Queens. He assures me if I give him $320 he will send me the exact amount in dollars or shkalim whatever I prefer. He writes down all his info on a piece of paper, along with his mother's name for tehillim (good move) and even shows me his ID. He tells me how special it is that we are part of such a cohesive nation and that he can be so far from home and yet find family (apparently thats me) who can help him in the middle of NYC. I finally tell him that I simply cant give him that money without any guarantee or collateral and he tells me that he is not upset with me but feels so sorry for me that I dont trust my fellow jew. When I explained that I just didnt know him he said he felt sorry for me that I hated all Jews, Israeli's, the land of Israel, and puppies. (Fine, not puppies but he may as well have said that too.) He walks away, I call my friend in tears unsure whether I had done the right thing. NOW HERE IS THE PART TO PAY ATTENTION TO: She told me that this man is well known for targeting young Jewish students and professionals and he uses variation of the same story- his son is sick, his wife is sick, but there is pretty consistently a "misunderstanding" where his target THINKS they are just exchanging money but really he doesnt have the shkalim on him. After this happened I tried to spread the story by word of mouth and found 6 (!!!) people who I know personally who have been approached by this man and several who have actually given him money. And these are just people I know. Just from the people I have spoken to, he has made approximately $600. Just a last comment- this man is INCREDIBLY persuasive. If I was reading this I would definitely say to myself, "Im not stupid enough to go with a stranger to a bank and fall for that". Yet, 6 other people I spoke to, INTELLIGENT and EDUCATED people, did the exact same thing. He is very manipulative, very persuasive, and appears non-threatening. I invite anyone who this has happened to, or who knows of someone this has happened to, to respond to this post so we can guage how prevalent this actually is. And hopefully, if enough people become aware of this, we can prevent this sleazebag from targeting anyone else.
~Leyat
818-644-1384
I've been approached too in Midtown.
Smile, say I wish I could help and walk away.
. Different story but same guy. He did the exact same thing to me, I want a piece of him so badly.
