Community Post

Towing Scam Guy is Back

About 10:30 tonight (Friday) the guy who claims to have just moved to the neighborhood and needs money to call LincolnTowing came to our house. I think it’s the same guy people posted on here a couple months ago. Black male, slim, denim jacket light facial hair. I told him to leave and he got irritated but did walk off. This was around 26th south and Washington. Keep your eyes open!!

0 thoughts on “Towing Scam Guy is Back

  1. He was at our house about 3 weeks ago at 25th and Dearborn. But didn’t get to far into his story as he pointed across the street to where he lived, and I said this, “You don’t live there.”

    He was off his game that day!

  2. He’s been around here since when I moved here in 2005. The very first week I was here, he came to my house, asking for $0.50 so the tow truck wouldn’t tow his car away. What a laugh!

  3. The scam was more elaborate when it happened to me. He claimed to be visiting his former Wife and her daughters across the street, and that they had just been in a terrible car accident and were in the hospital. He asked for gas money to get there. I had never seen this guy, but figured it was possible that he was here visiting for Christmas. I actually only had quarters for my laubdery, and gave him about $8.00. About 20 minutes later he was back and wanted me to give him a jump on his car battery. By that time I was a little suspicious, as he seemed more interested in who was in my house than the “accident”, so I told him to meet me at his car ( down the block). When I left my house he was standing on the corner, not near any cars. I stopped and with my window mostly closed, asked where the car was. He stepped into the steet and tried to force the car door open. At that point I was pretty shaken, and drove off. I did call 911, and as usual, found no interest from our finest. I l;ater found there had been no car accident, my neighbor and her daughtyers were fine, and had had no visitor for christmas.

  4. “stepped into the street and tried to force the car door open”
    wow, well that changes things …for me at least. I always figured he was just an over-exuberant slimy type, not necessarily a (dangerous) criminal. Sure it was the same guy we’re talking about?

  5. My story with him was also a bit more interesting than the standard tow truck story. He said he was working with the gay coalition of something something and went on to tell this story about rainbow clothes and other things that made NO sense and finally said he needed money for a tow truck. I got suckered the first time being new to Seattle and all (2006). The 2nd time my husband got suckered with the “I got locked out of my house down there and need 2 dollars for the locksmith” – he should have known better.

  6. My neighbor came over about 3 weeks ago and told us about a guy who had rung his door bell at 2am on a Friday night. He didn’t open the door just talked through the glass to the guy and got the same story, just moved to the neighborhood and needed the number for Lincoln Towing. He was pretty shook up with the whole thing happening at 2 in the morning. I has heard of the scam from reading CD News, but hadn’t heard of the guy making his way down here or showing up in the middle of the night. Happened at 12th & John

  7. Back when I first encountered this one, it was money for oil for an oil change. The next time it was money for an oil filter. Apparently the oil change was happening over the course of about 2 years (time in between scam encounters). I don’t remember it being the same person both times. I imagine this one will go down as a classic in this neighborhood — will we still be seeing this post 10 years from now? Hopefully Ernie’s extremely aggressive encounter is not the norm.

  8. This has been going on for years. New guy, same scam. Used to get them knocking on my door at 26th & Washington all the time right after I moved in. It tapered off after a while, though.

    Gotta get that crack money, lol.

  9. I got suckered a couple of times, too. Back when Central Towing owned the building at 20th & Olive, guys would claim they needed $7 or $8 to get their car out of hock.

    The scary one was in the middle of the night (of course) when a young woman asked to use my phone to call her grandmother. I lived alone at the time and talked to her thru the peephole (it’s a little door in the door.) Boy was she mad when I offered to call for her but no way was I going to open the door. I’ve always wondered who and how many were lurking nearby to rush in once I opened the door.

    This reminds me of the scary stories told at the campfire. Now that I’m all creeped out, it’s midnight. Whooowaaahhhahhahhhahhhahhh.

  10. Your first story sounds like a mash-up of what seem to be the two most common scams- needing $ for the tow/impound fees AND the “I’m your new gay neighbor and my boyfriend just locked us out so I need $ for the locksmith…” I’ve heard both of those at 26th/Spring- but thankfully, haven’t experienced the middle of the night, aggressive version.

    When I first moved to the CD in ’93, we were approached a few times with a story about needing $ to buy milk for the baby- sometimes complete with stroller down on the sidewalk. My offers of food, including baby food, were always rejected.

    As I think about it, the cons almost always claim a connection to the neighborhood- as if they know we’d help a neighbor. In some twisted way, that makes me feel a little better. Of course, they also lie about where they live, as if we wouldn’t know who lives on the block. Hmmm.

  11. I got this same one. He came up to my back door (21st and James) and told me he and his partner (who worked for Microsoft) had just moved in on 20th and had been locked out and he needed money for the locksmith. There were new houses on 20th and James, so it seemed reasonable. I gave him $5.00. It was past midnight on a Friday night. He gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Seemed harmless.

  12. My husband and I after being attempted-scammed a few times decided we will never ever ever under any circumstances give out money at our door. If people would do this without falling for a scam that fateful one time, eventually we’d stop seeing repeat attempts by the same person in the same neighborhood. Easier said than done though.

  13. If this is so prevalent again, how hard is it to ask the guy to wait and then call the SPD non-emergency number and give them his location?

    I’ve had a whole menu like this scam tried on me many times, and I told them to get the hell off my porch and earn an honest living. My, how their cheesy nice-nice demeanor changes then! Leeches.

  14. so the same thing happened to me a few weeks ago – i meant to log on an post this here earlier. anyhow, i did not open the front door, but made him talk to me through the door instead. he said he lived in the condos next door and needed money for a locksmith. i realized that there were no condos next door and a locksmith would let him in to get his wallet. so i told him we don’t keep cash in the house and then i reported it to the police. they didn’t really seem to care, but said they would send a car through the neighborhood. this seems to happen alot, and the guy does seem harmless, but what if he wasn’t and someone did open their door?

  15. I did open the door (never again though) but I was holding my dog who was growling…doesn’t trust strangers…we trained him well…The guy didn’t like the fact there was a dog and did seem to back up a bit…

  16. I’ll shoot them no questions asked….2 am in the morning asking for money what a joke!!!!

    god bless america and the right to bear arms!!!!!!

  17. We also had someone fitting this description make an odd visit to our place a couple months ago. He said he’d just moved here with his lover and they just moved into a house around the corner. Apparently his partner was away on business and he’d locked himself out of his house. He said he called a locksmith who was currently at his house and he was $4.00 short for the bill. He said he could repay me once he got into his house and offered to leave the bag full of books he was carrying as collateral. I got suspicious after noticing that his bag appeared to be completely empty. I eventually just told him I only carry plastic and he left.
    What’s scary is it almost seemed like he had been watching us and our house for awhile because he referred to me and my partner…who was upstairs and nowhere in sight.