CHARLOTTE — A couple wants to warn others about what the Better Business Bureau has called the Roadside Gold Scam.
In the scam, a man begs for help and asks for money to help his family get home. The conartists often travel from state to state scamming innocent victims, experts said.
Anchor Genevieve Curtis spoke with the Charlotte couple who said they stopped to help a driver in distress near Concord Mills mall.
Eric and Stephanie Hux have lived on the road traveling the country for a few years in their camper.
They carry tools for emergencies and often help motorists who have broken down.
The Huxes saw a man Tuesday along Mallard Creek Road standing next to a Cadillac Escalade trying to flag down drivers.
The man was dressed nicely, wearing gold chains and a gold Rolex. The couple asked if they could help the man, who said he was trying to get to Florida. The “stranded driver” said his family was in the Escalade, but he lost his credit cards so he needed cash.
“My wife says, ‘Oh well, I have some cash,’” Eric Hux said. “He said, ‘Oh, that would be great. I have some gold jewelry in exchange.’”
The man told the Huxes he would get their information and return to buy the jewelry back.
Stephanie Hux gave him $40 and the man walked away.
“I felt like there was no way in the world he would try to fool us,” the husband said. “I felt like I was misled, bamboozled.”
The couple saw the same man the next day pulled over near Glennwood in Charlotte.
Hux filmed video of the man reaching into the window of a minivan and walking away.
The couple reported the incidents to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department and an officer said they had gotten several phone calls about it.
However, no one had a license plate number.
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The Huxes hope other drivers will keep an eye out and not fall for the fake gold.
“It really made me feel like he was out in our community taking advantage of people,” Eric Hux said.
The BBB encourages people to report scams through its Scam Tracker website.
(Watch the video below: ‘Hoodooed is what you get’: Watch out for car wrapping scam)
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