Possible Gas Station Scam
Hello, this just happened right now and I want to write about it real quick.
My main question is if anyone can identify if this was potentially a scam or not?
I was filling up gas at the Chevron in the corner of Beach Blvd and Garden Grove Blvd when an older gentleman approaches for some gas. I am very anxious and so I have a hard time telling people no.
I agreed to give him $10 worth and pumped the gas myself. I paid through the Chevron app and told him I didn’t expect to get paid back. These are some details about him:
Name: Sinclair Robinson Occupation: Real Estate
He had a darker complexion but his face was slightly lighter around the edges of his face, and he had an accent I could not identify. He dressed in a button up, tucked-in shirt and slacks, I think. His hair was slightly graying. He drove a white car which I think was either an Infiniti or a Lexus. He was between 5’7-5’9. He said he had a wife who was a nurse. His destination was Corona. I forget why he was going there.
He said that he tried using a card that he hadn’t used in 2 years and that his credit card company was denying the charge. He said his phone was dead which he showed to me.
These are some details I feel like could have been red flags:
- Many things would have needed to have gone wrong for this man to not be able to pay for gas. His phone would have to have died with no charger in his car; he would have to lack cash; or, he would have to only been carrying one credit card and no debit card.
It seems weird to me that someone who is in real estate wouldn’t have a charger in their car so that they could always be plugged in to any developments in their holdings. He was older so I would have assumed he carried cash on him even though that is not the norm in my (younger) generation. Also, just in general I feel like someone who was in real estate and owned the car he did would probably carry a couple cards on their person.
- He tried to get me to talk about myself. I told him I was a structural engineer and he mentioned his dad was a civil engineer in Zimbabwe.
It was my perception that he was trying to make sure my attention was away from my car as I finished pumping $10 worth. He made sure to tell me his name was “Sinclair Robinson” and that I should look him up so that he could pay me back. My only theory as to how this could be a scam is if someone else was around the corner and did something to my car. He was parked at a pump facing away and furthest from the convenience store. The whole interaction was probably like 3-4 minutes so that would probably be enough time to do something to my car?
- He drove off right away after just $10 worth of gas. He didn’t need more gas??
Has anyone experienced something similar to this? I’m thinking about canceling all my cards or that there may be something tracking my location on my car. Anything I should be more weary about? I tried looking up his linkedin and Instagram handle but didn’t find anything. I inspected the exterior of my car and didn’t see anything. And the only thing of value that I have in my car is my registration which is accounted for. I think there were plenty of people around, so there would have been a lot of exposure on him/them, it is a busy gas station. Any thoughts or questions would be helpful, thank you!
TL;DR: Affluent looking man asked me for gas at a gas station and I obliged. Now I feel like I’ve been scammed.