It Didn't Work
In all of my travels and visits to many other countries, only once have I been the victim of an attempted scam. My son and I had just finished lunch in Miraflores, a suburb of Lima, Peru where we were staying. We were walking down the street toward the waterfront when a young man walking in the opposite direction asked as we passed by, “Are you from Texas?”
That remark floored me as I wondered how he knew. Later my son said, “Mom, he saw your neck strap on your camera.” Sure enough it was a Texas A&M strap. I marveled at the stranger’s good eyesight.
He asked for lunch money, adding, “My backpack was stolen off the bus and my clothes and money are gone.”
My son refused him the money, but offered his calling card so the fellow could call his girlfriend who had been delayed picking him up. The fellow pleaded a bit more, but we held to our position. He did not want to use the calling card or make a phone call. We replied, “We’re sure sorry, but we don’t have any cash,” and continued on our way.
I muttered, “I guess we could have taken him back to the restaurant and bought him lunch.”
“Mom, he didn’t want lunch. He was just trying to scam us out of money.”
I’ve run in to a few panhandlers in various places, very pesky gypsies in Rome,and persistent hawkers in Beijing, but that was the first time I’ve ever actually been approached on the street. For one who hates to haggle to get a bargain when the asking price, by our standards, is reasonable, it was hard for me to pass on that young man. Sometimes the heart and mind just aren’t in sync.
