The California Highway Patrol has issued a warning copied below about a scam occuring on the highways of California in which scammers park their cars on the side of a highway with the hood up pretending to be broken down. The scammers then wave down good samaritans passing them by to get them to pull over purportedly to help them. The scammers then claim to be without funds, but offer to sell jewelry to the good samaritans who stop to assist them. The jewerly appears to be valuable, but it is not and people buying the jewelry get cheated by paying far in excess of what the cheap knock-off jewelry is worth. Here is a copy of a notice posted on Facebook by the California Highway Patrol about this scam.
**Freeway Pawn is back on Sacramento Freeways.**
For those of you who are unaware of what freeway pawn is, here is a quick description. A driver of a vehicle, usually a rental SUV or van with an out of state license plate, pulls over to the shoulder of the freeway and pretends that his vehicle is disabled. That individual then attempts to wave people over to help them with their “disabled vehicle”. After a Good Samaritan pulls over to assist, the driver produces jewelry and a…
TIPS
Buying jewelry from someone whom you do not know is a recipe for disaster. Only buy jewelry from retailers who you know are legitimate to avoid being cheated. If you see this scam occuring, the police ask that you call 911 and tell them the make, model and license number of the car being used to perpetrate this scam. While this warning is coming from the California Highway Patrol, it is occurring and will be occurring elsewhere as well.
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