Yup. Most recently, I’ve seen them peddling “educational materials for children” - basically gimicky study guides, full of stuff that you could more easily, cheaply, and usefully get off the internet.
IRT the OP, it’s just as well you let your morality rule - This could’ve easily been a setup for a home invasion or burglary, either whilst you were ‘distracted,’ or at some later time.
IRT similar scams; Once, when I was just a wee young sailor, I was walking across the parking lot at Sun Valley Mall, in the San Francisco area, when a really good-looking strawberry blonde stepped out from behind a van, literally walked into me, grabbed me, and laid a seriously hot kiss on me. Just as I was about to seriously melt down, I felt a hand in my back pocket - She was lifting my wallet! Before I could collect my wits, a car screeched up, she jumped in, and the car dashed off out of sight.
The joke was on her, though - She got my decoy (or “drop”) wallet, which only contained a couple dollars and enough coupons to make it look full. I win!
It took a lot of years after I was no longer military to start carrying my real stuff in my wallet like a normal person. I still have it on a chain, even when not playing my bad ass biker persona… Never actually used a fake wallet for them to go for. That was a good plan.
I had a friend who did this for three summers or so - 1999 to 2001. She went halfway across the country and started selling “college prep” programs, door-to-door. She told me stories of how she’d basically have to find her own lodging, often asking strangers if she could stay with them while she was in the neighborhood. I doubt she behaved the way the girl in the OP said, but given the circumstances of the “program” (and I use the term loosely), I would not be surprised if she was the exception to the rule.
She did make a LOT of money from it, though, often being the most successful in her group. I chalk a lot of that up to the fact that she appeared as non-threatening as possible, and probably found herself the subject of pity on numerous occasions.
I already have enough crap in my pockets without carrying an extra item just so I can go “HA ha!” if someone steals it. Why not just carry the goods in your front pocket?
On my igoogle I get a daily how-to and one recently was “how to make a muggers wallet.” I agree, I have way too much crap in my pockets now. I wish men could carry a purse.
Yup, they’re real. Mind you, in those days, I was young, didn’t have a lot of cash to spare, but habitually (moth-to-the-flame) went places where a mugging was not only possible, but was, given enough visits, inevitable. My father’s advice was, make a ‘drop wallet’ that contains only what you can afford to lose, and when mugged, drop the decoy and run.
Well, if you’ve ever tried to explain losing your Military ID to your Division Officer, you’d know that there is one thing you don’t want to lose! So, I basically built a fake wallet, which held just immediate spending money. The real wallet went in my sock. As for putting it in my front packet, well, that’s kinda easy to see, and can get a little uncomfortable when you’re in one of those afore-mentioned ‘places’ where muggings are likely, with a hot mamacita perched in your lap. So, no, no wallet in my front pocket.
It worked for me, the one time I needed it. Plus, I got a really good kiss out of the deal!
These days, I just don’t go those places, so my wallet rides in the traditional spot with the tradtional accumulation of crap in it.
