He tried it on me as well. Didn't know I was a pastor and police officer. I'm working on it now. Lol

Our pastor got a call today from this number with the very same story. BEWARE of people you cannot meet with face to face. Came on line to check out this number and found the posted info. Thank you!

Same scam.  Mother killed by drunk driver.  Seriously doubting God.  Car broke down and needed help.  Said they attended our Easter Service out our church.  We're Jewish.  Said I met his twin daughters.  Enough said.  It used to be the downtrodden came in our doors seeking assistance.  We'd offer food and shelter to those sincere.  Now the shady just troll websites, phone #'s and want money wired to them.  Unreal...

And that, again, is the common theme in all these variants of the "spot the scammer" game... if you offer them the actual help they are claiming they want, but they decline, only wanting money, then you know they are not on the up-and-up.

I guess they do, or there wouldn't be scammers out there pulling this trick!  They seem to target the hispanic communities more, at least from what I've seen on the different message threads here.

I used to attend a church where they would get people coming in with half-starved kids, wanting money.  The church would offer to buy them groceries and give them something to eat and/or to call and pay a hotel room bill for example, and the scammers would grab the kids and go - they wanted money, not food or shelter!

Do people really give money over the phone to random people who call like this?  On a few occasions I've had someone come up to me on the street/at the gas station etc... with a similar claim -- car broke down etc... .  I get rid of them by saying I'll call AAA for them.  Again, if the person's car was legitimately broken down, they'd be happy to have AAA come (and of course could have called AAA themselves) so when they refuse this help, I know it's a scam.

Any time someone calls/texts/emails you about giving money - never send money!  If it's a family member, or someone purporting to be family, you can call relatives to make sure.  If it's someone you don't even know, despite their protestations to the contrary, then 9 times out of 10, it's going to be a scam.  Telling him that your BIL would come by and see what he could do was the right thing to do.  If he was legitimately stranded, the guy would've taken you up on the offer - I mean, really - who WOULDN'T rather have someone come by and help if they were close at hand?!

common scam.

Call from John Wesley claiming his car had thrown a rod leaving he, his wife (Mary Anne), and 2 daughters (Jessica & Denise) stuck in Fern Park, FL. Claimed his mother had been killed by a drunk driver and it was really causing him to doubt God. Now he needs $125 to get bus tickets home to our area. Claimed to have visited our church but we have no such record of him or his family. Ended communication after I told him my brother-in-law lived 10 minutes away and I could get him to come by and see if he could do anything. Appears to be a scam and we didn't give him anything.