Latest / Connor with Honor: AI, Real Estate and Real Life / Gas Station begging has turned to mobile banking in Santa Clarita Valley, What to watch out for.

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Gas Station begging has turned to mobile banking in Santa Clarita Valley, What to watch out for. · Connor with Honor: AI, Real Estate and Real Life

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hey everybody, I'm Connor with Honor.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe this has happened to you, but it happened to me and it keeps happening quite frequently, so I thought I would sit and have a little watch.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: What happens is it's called gas station mobile panhandling.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: And versus regular gas station panhandling, this one has a mobile component.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: So you're gonna have people that are in cars that are parked in a particular way, trying not to reveal one of their license plates or potentially both, as each of them work everybody that keeps coming through and all the visitors that continually renew themselves by fueling up their vehicles and then leaving.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: So what the game is is they'll go up and they have their car parked there, typically at an end pump close to an exit to the gas station.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: And usually gas stations which they really enjoy are more give better freeway access.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: So, for example, in Santa Clarita Valley, the latest one happened that I was watching over on Wright Canyon, which is close to the five freeway southbound.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: And the way that the the perps vehicle was placed was where the back end of it was exposed to the street, and the front end exposed to the gas station at the furthest pump from the gas station, closest to the street.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: But what they did is they don't have a front license plate, so at least it's not as easy to get a photograph of the front, the license plates on the vehicle.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: And there were two men in the vehicle, and each one would get out, and they were working the crowd simultaneously.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: So they would go to different people.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: They come to me, I said, No, I'm not gonna help you with fuel, because that's what they want.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: They need gas to get home.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I saw somebody stop, give one of the cats some money, and then he walked away.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Another another fella and me were kind of joking, let's see what happens here.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: So one of the guys saw that.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: The other guy saw it too.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: Both were pretty irritated that we were even thinking that this was funny.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: So then I watched one of the people walk into the gas station where the cashier's on the right.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: As I'm watching him out of my side view, he actually goes in the gas station, hangs left, and doesn't even talk to the cashier.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Then he walks out, and again, they've gotten money from at least 15 people while I was there.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: And lots of dollars, it seems, I was watching as money was being exchanged with both of these gentlemen, and at some times one of them was out of my sight and the other one wasn't.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Then one would go rest in the car, one of them was had difficulty standing, just the large stature of him, and he would have to go rest in the car for a little bit, and then they just kept going back and forth, going back and forth, going back and forth until they get caught.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: So as I'm watching, as this thing comes to an end, he passes by me rather closely and makes some remark as if uh or yells to his partner and says, Hey, you know, where's the cashier?
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Is it on the right?
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, Yeah, man, it's on the right.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: So he goes in, he never goes to the right, he hangs left.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Then they come, but he walks out as I'm watching.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: I have a gas pump in my hand.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'm getting back to getting ready to put it back in the vehicle.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: He's coming.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Finally, he gets in the car, never got gas, and they get on the five freeway southbound, and that's it in the wind.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: More than likely, they're gonna go to another gas station and they s they set it up again.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I've not only seen this in that regard, but just to be aware, I've also seen this with families.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: They'll come and they will act as if they have a vehicle there and they need fuel.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: They're not the one family that I'm thinking of.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: They actually don't park at the pump.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: They park in one of the side areas, but they say they have a car here.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't think, when I've been watching at least, I don't know how many people actually confront them and say, Well, where's your car?
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Let me check the meter.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think people do that.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: They just hand them money to get rid of them.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: But anyway, that's gas station mobile panhandling for you.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: And be careful out there.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Again, I don't know how predatory the people are that do it, but when they do get found out, they do get visibly irritated and then looks are exchanged.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: So just be wary of that.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's probably best just to try to ignore.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: If it becomes an issue, go into the gas station or the locality, the market, or wherever you happen to be, and complain to the people there that it's cutting into their business.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: They own it.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: They should hopefully maybe try to deal with it if it is some kind of a nuisance or creates a problem.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: In addition, folks, I would guesstimate that these people walking, milling around the pumps, needing money for fuel, which again they never fueled up, but needing money for fuel, they're probably looking inside of vehicles.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: And as they're walking by, I don't think it would go beyond them to reach inside and grab something inside and throw it in the back of their car, and nobody knows the better.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: So watch out for that as well.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Even in a gas station, you're right near your car.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes our cars have dark windows, sometimes we have larger profile vehicles.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: We get there, the doors are unlocked, we feel safe and secure, we go, we gas up the car, not realizing that some idiot is on the other side opening one of the passenger doors, taking our crap.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: Be wary out there.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Connor with Honor.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: We'll talk to you soon.