Flights to nowhere, gold rings for gas and other Bay Area roadside scams: Roadshow

Q: I also fell for the scam at Interstate 880 and Montague three weeks ago. A well-dressed man, offering a Rolex watch for money to catch a plane, wanted a couple of hundred and was not happy with the $20 I gave him. The problem is that sometime when someone really needs help, we won’t stop.

Dennis Kennedy, Santa Cruz

A: I thought the first reader who wrote a few weeks ago about a possible roadside scam would be the only one. Boy, was I wrong.

Q: I was walking my dog in the Rose Garden area when a man in an expensive SUV pulled up, said he was running out of gas, had lost his wallet and was trying to catch a flight at the San Jose airport. He offered a gold ring in exchange for gas money.

When I told him I only had $2, he suggested we could go to an ATM to get more. That is when I suspected a scam and said no.

Dennis Meidinger, San Jose

A: And…

Q: I was in San Francisco when a fellow with a child asked if I could help him with gas money because his car around the corner was empty. I said, “Sure, pull your car into the filling station over there and I’ll fill up your tank.” He then confessed, a bit sheepishly, that it was a scam. Even some grifters have basic morals.

Charles Neuhauser, Sunnyvale

A: And…