“The Man” Is Conned (with My Assistance)

Wow, this happened to me the other day, and I’ve been trying to figure it out for weeks: I was trying to fill my subway (MetroCard) at a vending machine. I couldn’t get it to work. This guy says, “Hey I’ll swipe you and you can pay me back.” The train was coming, so I felt this pressing need to make a decision (my Achilles heel). I knew to be suspicious of someone in New York trying to be friendly, but I had the correct change in my hand and thought, “Why not?” He swiped me in on his card, I gave him $2 and we were both on our way. Nothing came of it, but I just knew he was making money off of someone. I just couldn’t figure out what. Had I narrowly escaped victimization? Has he found a way to make a couple of bucks off the system? Or, was he just a nice guy? Unlikely.

But I finally discovered what the scam was! In a search for MetroCard prices on the internet, I found the following description of a scam, and bingo it matches my experience exactly. Fortunately, I was not victimized. For some reason though, I find it hilarious to be called a “mark.” I suppose in other circumstances I would not feel that way.

from Wikipedia:

“The MetroCard system is susceptible to various types of frauds, perpetrated by clever con artists, who have figured out how to get the turnstile to release without charging a fare.

A typical con involves deliberately jamming a MetroCard vending machine in a station, and then waiting for somebody to try buying a new card just as a train is approaching. As the innocent customer discovers that the machine is broken, the con artist offers to swipe the mark through the turnstile on their own card in return for $2 (the same as the regular fare). If the mark accepts, the con artist swipes their altered card, and lets the mark go through the turnstile. The mark comes out even (they lost $2 but got a ride out of it), the con artist makes $2, and the MTA is stiffed a fare (plus the cost of fixing the damaged vending machine). This scam is often run by a team of 2 or more people, with one person working the turnstile and the others acting as lookouts.

There are reports of people making $200-$300/day running this scam. A report from New York State Senator Martin J. Golden claims this scam is costing the MTA $260,000/year, and some con artists are making up to $800/day executing it.”

[Image from: http://www.sheilacallaghan.com/images/metrocard.jpg]