ebullient photo blog

The view out my front door peep hole, where the scam occurred. That is a two-toned wall on the right and stairs on the left, a street light is in the upper left corner.

It was not unusual to be awake at 12:45 AM on Thursday night (Friday morning) of December 9. What was odd — knocking on my front door. I listened and spoke through the door.

Hi!?
Hello, I am Brian and I am moonlighting at the neighbor’s house doing some electrical work.

He explained how he was going to go home but he was out of money for a bus and a taxi. Because of the snow and the cold, he just need to get home. He said he knew that he was difficult to trust someone asking for cash, he would leave his tools at my house as collateral.

I really need your help. It is cold and I don’t have gloves and it is snowing. Could you lend me some money for a bus and then the taxi ride home? I will pay you back when he I come to work this weekend or on Monday.

My first inclination was to say no, sorry, I do not have cash to provide. But there was so much that he said that was a legitimate sounding story that my no turned into a yes. I did not ask for a card, tools, or his work number to confirm that he really worked for an electrical company. I assumed anybody who would knock on my door at 1 AM in the snow was legit.

I gave him $15 in an envelope I placed on the back porch and told him to go around and get it. I went to bed soon after that. (I wondered if I’d see the $15 again, but either way I was ok with it).

At around 3 am my housemate wakes me up and says my friend is at the door. I get up and am so sleepy and confused. I walk into the hallway in my pj’s and the front door is wide open. There is Brian, standing in front of me at 3 in the morning. This is when I started hoping he is a genuine honest person in need and not somebody whose skills include hurting people.

He says he was waiting for a long time at the bus stop on U Street, but there is no bus this time of morning. He needs a little more money and he’ll just take a taxi all of the way home. I found $5 and wished him a good night. He said he would return the $20 he borrowed from me on Friday, Monday or Tuesday.

So then tonight, Monday December 12 around 6 pm he is at my door. I say hello, surprised to see him. Who would have thought this guy *actually* was coming to pay back the loan?! He says he has money to repay me, plus interest. He wants to pay me $30. (I’m thinking, wow, this guy is legitimate — someone who just needed a little cash in a pinch!)

He says he has $50 and will need $20 change. I get $20 from the house and go outside to get my $30.

When I go back out to the front steps, I see he doesn’t have his $50 in his hand. Wondering…shouldn’t he have the money ready to give me? But that little thought doesn’t turn into words or action. I hand him the $20 expecting him to pull out a $50.

Right as I release it to him he says that his boss is down the block and he will get $50 from him to pay me.

huh?

He walks up the stairs and down the street, north on 10th St.

I run up the steps in bare feet.
“Brian, come’on man!?”
“I’ll just get the change and be back.”

But, you guessed it, he is not back. It was a scam. A trick. He took $20 for a “taxi” and $20 in my “change” for a 50.

He is a white male. In his mid-30s/40s. Some facial hair — a goatee. Brown hair. Has a jacket with a circular patch on it with a red circle. He is between 5’7 and 5’11.

Looking back at the interactions, there is a lot I would do differently so I wouldn’t play the fool. But then again, I did just learn how to lose $40 in DC. And yes, I love to learn, as you know!

I doubt he was really an electrician, but he used the fine name of the Brotherhood to scam me.