Spare Change Faker

[xjustquietx.livejournal.com]

Nearly a year ago someone posted this here.

Recently I saw the guy, at least I am 99% sure it is him, and managed to snap a photo with my cellphone camera. I've seen him before and tried, but it was always too obvious.

I'm wrestling with the ethics of this. He's never swindled me, but I'm pretty sure I've seen him swindle others. But that was a long time ago, and I'm beginning to question my memory. It seems like it's been awhile since he's caused any problems, and I'm wondering, does someone have the latest on this story? I don't think I should post the photo here, if it turns out he is just some random guy.

Otherwise I plan on just sending the photo to the Spare Change people, but I'm wondering if there's any more I should know or a better course of action, especially given that I can't ID the guy as someone who conned me personally.

Comments

[arrowintwolakes.livejournal.com]

It's been a while for me, too (probably because I've altered my commute). I used to hear all the time about friends of mine or people they knew trying to get swindled or getting swindled, but not since summer, anyway.

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

he got me a few months ago, i think november or october.

[eanja]

He got me a couple months ago as well, before I knew what he looked like, so that's two of pretty recently.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Maybe have a couple people who've been conned personally look at the photo, have them sign statements that that's the guy who conned them, and send the photo with the statements to the Spare Change folks.

[houlette.livejournal.com]

I saw him do it a week or two ago. He also doesn't seem to have the Spare Change vendor badge, which I guess legimitate vendors are supposed to wear.

If you can get a picture of him smoking in the T (as he was this morning in the Davis stop), then you could send it to the MBTA.

[rikchik.livejournal.com]

Post the picture - I've seen him recently and he's definitely still at it.

[schpahky.livejournal.com]

Me too, people are giving him money.

[ilai]

Yeah, I think the same guy approached me a couple days ago also. He was pretty polite so I just declined politely, but I was tempted to take a photo of him as well.

[mattdm.livejournal.com]

Sometimes he's polite, but I've seen him react more strongly and snap at people.

[ron_newman]

Please do post the photo publicly, and send it to Spare Change News and the MBTA police as well. He's still doing this and will keep it up until he's stopped.

[noradeirdre.livejournal.com]

I think I've seen that guy working Main Street (Kendall Square) as well as the outbound platform of Kendall T stop.

Several months ago (hm, maybe more like a year), he came up to me on Main Street outside the Coop, where I was waiting for a buss. I gave him a dollar, he moved away, I was like, dude, don't I get my paper? He said "you're going to take away my only copy???!?!?" and I saw that it was old and crinkled up, as if taken out of the garbage.

I've seen him much more recently going up and down the platform, getting in everyone's face while waiting for the train.

[ron_newman]

"you're going to take away my only copy?"

Same excuse he gave me -- in 2006. I'd really like this guy to be taken out of circulation.

[plummm.livejournal.com]

Is this the same dude that lurks on Longwood Ave near the D Train stop? I see him most mornings and evenings, when there are a lot of commuters walking past...

Probably Not

[hdaemon.livejournal.com]

I haven't walked that way recently, but in warmer months there was a big friendly guy who would stand at the corner of Longwood Ave and the Riverway. He's a completely legitimate Spare Changer seller, and I believe always had a badge stating so. I've seen him elsewhere as well, and he's always cheerful, and never in people's faces.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Apparently Ron has.

I've never seen him, because I work from home and he seems to focus on the commuters' hours.

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

I'm not exactly clear (from these comments) what his con is. Can someone explain? (I likely would have been able to figure it out if my brain wasn't so fuzzy with some germ I picked up..ahhhCHOO!)

[wandelrust.livejournal.com]

I've never encountered the guy, but it sounds like it's someone pretending to sell the Spare Change Newsletter (a legitimate low-cost newspaper that supports the homeless and low-income), but he takes your dollar (and pockets it) and gives you Boston Now (a free newspaper available at many T stops).

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Pls post picture

[winterhill.livejournal.com]

I'd like to see who this guy is. Also agree with the approach of having a few who have been swindled by him looking at the pic and signing a statement to that effect. Spare Change should care about this, but also the Somerville PD.

If it's illegal, how about calling the cops?

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

I mean, if he's been doing something that is illegal for a long time... Obviously I feel sorry for the guy. But he's basically stealing from other guys I feel sorry for and who are trying harder to make an honest living.

[glowroper.livejournal.com]

For some reason I have in my head that his name is Mike. (I have worked in social services in the Boston area for a while now.) But that might just be the name he gave to my program, which didn't check ID.

[roosto.livejournal.com]

I have encountered this fellow many times in Harvard Sq. He is dirt bag, and has been verbally abusive and often intoxicated. The one instance I know of someone standing up to him, after he has said some very offensive things of a sexual nature to a young woman by herself, he backed down. And in my dealings with him, which included having to kick him out of Peet's Coffee he has been nasty, rude, crude, but never dangerous.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

This guy calls me a cunt every time he sees me, because I firmly rebuffed him a few years ago.

What?

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

That indicates to me he's really out of it... If you ask people for money, at least be nice.

[darxus.livejournal.com]

Sounds like the same guy that tried to sell me a paper a couple times recently in the food court on top of the Kendall T station. I've seen him working in there on a bunch of occasions. I also noticed he doesn't do his thing when any of the food court staff are in sight.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Spare Change is an organization that helps a lot of people. If you're interested in supporting Spare Change, please buy papers or make donations to people with the vendor badge.

Scamsters or unauthorized sellers are ripping off hard-working homeless and recently homeless people as well as the purchasers/donators.

Do you now how it works?

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Do the vendors keep the money, or does it go to a Spare Change fund? I should look it up, but you seem to have this info already.

[dylanesque29.livejournal.com]

Yeah, he disappeared for a while, but he returned a few months ago. I've definitely seen him at it, continuing the same tired fucking scam.

[philipph.livejournal.com]

I've seen him for years, both around Davis and Kendall Squares, above and below ground.
I've never been scammed by him myself, but once I saw the posts here about what he does, I have noticed that he often offers people a Spare Change, which he has on top of a few copies of the Metro or something. Not that I've actually seen someone fall for it, but I've seen the papers and could tell they were different.

Once you've seen him, he's hard to not recognize again, at least for me.
I'm not a great describer of humans, but: Fairly tall, long coat, frequently smoking (whether above ground or in the station), usually with big dark sunglasses on.
Now that I bike most of the time, I don't run into him as much, but I always expect to see him when I take the T.

yes

[allli.livejournal.com]

he is there 3 days out of 5. i T every day to/from davis and often see him. he did his shtick for me several months ago (november maybe) and when he gave me the metro instead of Spare Change, i went back over to him and pointed out the error. i had even given him $2 instead of $1! he told me he had no more copies and that he would give me one "tomorrow". i pointed out that he didn't know if i lived around here and that he couldn't guarantee that i'd come back for him to give me one. he basically shrugged verbally and then i told him that he was a liar and a cheat, and worse, was ruining things for the legitimate spare change people. he moved off while i was still talking to him, but not 5 minutes later had approached some other young woman with his same old line. i yelled down the platform at her- "DON'T GIVE HIM MONEY! HE'S A LIAR!" before I got on the train. that was sort of satisfying.

what's great is that only 2 days ago, i was waiting for the train at my regular time and he came up to me to try to "sell" me a paper! i think i'm pretty recognizable so i was amused that he didn't remember how i called him out last time. so, i took the opportunity to tell him that he had already tried that on me before and that i knew he was a liar. he tried to hustle some middle-aged man in front of me and i also interrupted and told him not to buy one. i think the words i used were, "he's not a certified spare change seller, he doesn't have a badge," because mr. black glasses fake stupidhead then said to me, "and you're a certified nutcase," which made me laugh.

weird way to start the morning.

[ron_newman]

xjustquietx sent me the photo, which I uploaded to LJ:

eaa050578

[damsel-ophelia.livejournal.com]

That's him all right - he's also been making the rounds in Central Square every once in a while, more than once he's tried to corner me in a store to panhandle. (The guys at 7-11 are pretty quick to put a stop to that!)

I'm willing to make a statement. Legitimate Spare Change sellers I have run into have been pretty respectable folks, and this guy ruins it for them.

Response from Spare Change News

[ron_newman]

I just received the following e-mail reply from James Shearer of Homeless Empowerment Project (publisher of Spare Change News):

Ron,

We know who this guy is, His name is Vinnie, He was suspended from here a long time ago, Unfortunetly there is nothing we can do legally to him, The most I could suggest to you is to report him to the police. And warn others that anyone selling the paper without a badge(they are green this year) do not buy papers from them.

James Shearer-President.