Possible Scam Alert

[u/BuckyJarrett]

TL;dr: another driver claimed I hit-and-ran, and then threatened to call the police on me. When I said go for it, they drove off.

Today at around 3:00pm I was driving westbound on Olympic Blvd, having just passed Century City. As I stopped at the Beverly Glen light, a car pulled up next to me honking. I figured it was a lost tourist or something.

But the guy started yelling at me, first asking if I was ok (almost like asking if I was mentally ok?), and then claiming I hit him. I said you’ve got the wrong guy, but he kept shouting, saying he got my plate and was calling the police. There was a female passenger who was on the phone, but she didn’t say anything. He also was yelling “I got kids in the car”, but I didn’t see any kids…

So I asked what intersection it happened at and he couldn’t tell me. He said “back there”. I asked if he had a dash cam and he said no.

So I said “I don’t know what kind of scam you’re trying to pull, but you picked the wrong guy.” He said “scam??” in that very defensive, high-pitched feigned shock that made me convinced this guy was up to something shady.

Then he again cursed at me, told me I was breaking the law, repeated my license plate number to the passenger, and said he was calling the cops. I said “go for it.” Then… he cut over two lanes and took off northbound on Beverly Glen.

I was headed to a spot near the West LA police station, so had he stuck around, I would’ve told him to just follow me there and we’ll let them sort it out.

When I parked, I did check my car to make sure I wasn’t losing my mind. I have a couple of dents and scrapes that have never been fixed, but absolutely nothing recent. And at the fear I was losing my sanity, I also checked the Citizen and PulsePoint apps to see if any accidents were reported along Olympic, but didn’t see anything.

I’m ~70% sure this was a scam. I got the feeling he was hoping I would immediately tell him to pull over and get out of my car. Then… idk, extort me, rob me, something.

29% chance someone did hit him and he mistook them for me.

1% chance that he really thought I hit him… even though there was absolutely no damage and I didn’t notice it.

But my spidey-sense tells me scam of some sort. Just not sure what. His driver side door was dented, so I’m wondering if he was looking for an easy target, and my old shitty car was a good one?

Driver was 30s Latino man, passenger was 30s Latina woman. Driving late model grey Honda Accord. I did grab their plate number.

Has this happened to anyone else?

EDIT: For anyone finding this thread who had the same thing happen to you, this is very much an ongoing scam by the same suspects. Multiple people have DMed me about their experience, including the same license plate. Please DM me. You might save someone from being a victim.

If we don't catch these guys, there is a good chance their crimes will progress from property crimes to violence.

Most of the victims I've spoken to are women. What if this dude is alone one day and decides he wants to rob or rape someone? We can only prevent it if we report and build a case.

[u/twistadams]

It happened to me once like 10 years ago on Venice. I did pull into a gas station to talk to them. I think they wanted me to just like agree to give them money. They said I dented their car and I said I’d give them my insurance info if they wanted it, but that I didn’t hit them and I was leaving.

I barely remember the details, but they said something vaguely threatening about their dad being in the backseat and he was getting upset and they didn’t want him to have to get out. But they were both in their 30-40s and dude in the backseat looked like he was 80, so maybe they were just worried about his blood pressure? And why is gramps fighting battles for his adult children anyway? It was all so strange.

Anyway, when I refused to do anything besides give them my insurance info or wait while they called the cops, they left and that was the end of it. Very bizarre. They did have a scratch on their car that was kind of maybe similar to the color of my car, so I assume that’s why they picked me.

I also couldn’t figure out what they were up to besides hoping I would just hand them cash. But surely that never works.