Email rumor claims a man posing as a good samaritan attempted to gain entry to a woman's vehicle by 'returning' a $5 bill she supposedly dropped. Is this a new trick used by rapists to dupe unsuspecting victims?
Description: Email rumor
Circulating since: April 2006 (this version)
Status: False
Example:
Email text contributed by Lynne K., April 7, 2006:
NEW TRICK FOR RAPISTS etc?? Tell your wives and other loved ones. . .
"IMPORTANT "
Read it all the way through.
Subject: Know what money you are carrying! You will see why as you read!
Be sure every lady is aware of this M.O. Share with it your wife and daughters. Know what money you are carrying..
This was the first I have heard of a scheme like this..... I wanted to pass it along. Be safe! Something very serious to pay attention to.
Criminals are coming up with craftier, less threatening methods of attack, so we have to be extra cautio! us. Read on.. I live in Alexandria, VA, but I often work in Lafayette, LA, staying with friends when I'm there. As you know from America's Most Wanted TV program, as well as the news media, there is a serial killer in the Lafayette area. I just want to let you know about an "incident" that happened to me a few weeks ago, and could have been deadly.
At first I didn't go to the police or anyone with it because I didn't realize how serious this encounter was. But since I work in a jail and I told a few people about it, it wasn't long before I was paraded into Internal Affairs to tell them my story. It was proximately 5:15 a.m. in Opelousas, La. I had stayed with a friend there and was on my way to work.
I stopped at the Exxon/Blimpie Pie station to get gas. I got $10 gas and a Diet Coke. I took into the store two $5 bills and one $1 bill (just enough to get my stuff).
As I pulled away from the store, a man approached my truck from the back side of ! the store (an unlit area). He was an "approachable-looking" man (clean cut, clean shaven, dressed well, etc.).
He walked up to my window and knocked. Since I'm very paranoid and "always looking for the rapist or killer," I didn't open the window.
I just asked what he wanted. He raised a $5 bill to my window and said, "You dropped this." Since I knew I had gone into the store with a certain amount of money, I knew I didn't drop it.
When I told him it wasn't mine, he began hitting the window and door, screaming at me to open my door, and insisting that I had dropped the money! At that point, I just drove away as fast as I could. After talking to the Internal Affairs Department and describing the man I saw, and the way he escalated from calm and polite to angry and volatile.... it was determined that I could have possibly encountered the serial killer myself.
Up to this point, it had been unclear as to how he had gained access to his victims! , since there has been no evidence of forced entry into victim's homes, cars, etc. And the fact that he has been attacking in the daytime, when women are less likely to have their guard up, means he is pretty BOLD.
So think about it... what gesture is nicer than returning money to someone that dropped it?????
How many times would you have opened your window (or door) to get your money and say thank you.... because if the person is kind enough to return something to you, then he can't really be a threat.... can he???? Please be cautious! This might not have been the serial killer... but anyone that gets that angry over someone not accepting money from them, can't have honorable intentions. The most important thing to note is that his reaction was ! NOT WHAT I EXPECTED! A total surprise! But what might have happened if I had opened my door? I shudder to think!
Forward this to everyone you know... maybe they can be as fortunate as I was!
P.S. Ladies, really DO forward this to EVERYONE you know Even if this man wasn't a serial killer, he looked nice, he seemed polite, he was apparently doing an act of kindness, but HE WAS NOT A NICE PERSON!!!
Men send it to all the women in your life. What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it. Make it a good one!
Please forward to anyone you think might benefit from this story.
Analysis: False. It's not inconceivable that a criminal might use a ploy like this to dupe potential victims, but no such modus operandi turns up in news stories or police reports published over the past several years. To the contrary, the only articles mentioning have declared the message a hoax.
The email first began circulating in and around Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 2003, when a real-life serial killer was terrorizing the region. Whether the original story was born of an actual incident or concocted for purposes of terrorizing an already fearful public we have no way of knowing, but it was dismissed as false by police at the time.
The email found its way into circulation again in 2006 with fresh headers reading "New Rapist Trick," or "A Rapist's New Trick," and other variations thereof.
It was still making the rounds as of March 2009.
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Sources and further reading:
Story of "$5 Rapist" Is a Hoax
Star Tribune (Minneapolis), 16 August 2006
Serial Killer Emails Prove False
LSU Reveille, 20 March 2003
'Good Samaritan' Serial Killer
Urban Legends, 16 June 2003
Last updated: 03/26/09
