Me and my friends were walking through a mall when a man, who looked like he might be a traveler, stopped us with a really strange story. He asked us what a ‘roadman’ was, then said a ‘roadman’ had taken his passport and was threatening to burn it unless he stole a bottle of vodka, some cigarettes, and orange juice for him.
It got weirder when he handed us a boarding pass and asked us to hold onto it while he went into the store. He even said he was planning to get arrested. When we asked why he wanted us to hold the pass, he kept avoiding the question and just tried to push it into our hands.
We decided to just walk away, but we’ve been wondering, was this some kind of scam? Anyone have any ideas what he was trying to do?
Hey, just a heads-up to everyone new here: scammers might message you privately pretending to know someone who can ‘help’ with your situation for a fee. These are recovery scams. Don’t trust private advice—stick to the public comments where everyone can see the advice. Stay safe and keep the rules in mind when sharing details.
Sounds strange. Maybe he planned to later pressure you into giving him money so he wouldn’t have to steal? It reminds me of those scams where someone gives you something that seems valuable, but it’s all part of a trick.
@Valentina
Or maybe he stole the boarding pass from someone else and realized he was being followed. Could’ve been trying to hand it off to you to make it look like you had it. It might be a long shot, but scammers do some really unpredictable stuff.
Maybe he was planning to go to the cops and claim you were trying to blackmail him or force him to steal. He could’ve accused you of holding his boarding pass and threatening to destroy it.
Could even be working with someone pretending to be a cop who’d show up and ask for money to ‘resolve’ it.
It might not be a scam at all. Sometimes people with mental health issues act like this. There’s a guy near where I live who usually acts normal, but once in a while he’ll say wild things like Tony Blair is coming to fight him or that everyone needs to stock up on toilet paper because it’s running out.
He’s harmless, but I can see how someone who doesn’t know him might think it’s something more serious.