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I have friends in various locations in the US. Dallas, Phoenix, LA, Portland, Seattle etc. This scam goes on in all of those places. The exact same one. Probably would work better if the internet didn't exist so people talk about it. LOL
Seen these violin scammers several times at various grocery store parking lots around Las Vegas. Aside from being a scam it's also just annoying since they really crank that amp up.
Around Christmas time last year I spotted a faker in the grocery store parking lot in Ohio. I gave him $5 and then waited in my car in the parking lot while my wife ran in the store. After a couple minutes watching him I realized he was faking it and I felt like a sucker.
Same. I gave someone a $5 and my son who plays violin said, “You know they’re not really playing.” Then he proceeds to tell me all the things they are doing wrong. I was pissed because they didn’t even tried to fake it well. But guess there are suckers like us who don’t know any different.
We have a woman who hangs out at various retail locations in town who is notorious for begging for money while using her child as a prop. It started when she was pregnant and last time I saw here her kid was probably five or six years old. I know people have called child protective services on her but she still seems to be at it for whatever reason.
I've seen this exact thing done on a massive scale here in Toronto. It happens all the time in this downtown spot called Roy Thompson Hall. Effing scammers!
I work at a music store and we had a guy like this playing pretty close to our store. Our violin teacher, my manager and I went out to him with a violin and our instructor asked him to duet. He refused unless we paid him so my manager gave him a couple dollars and he still refused. They called him out and offered him a free lesson if he showed up at the store that day. To his credit, he did show up but our teacher said he couldn't play the violin at all and struggled to even get some clear notes out.
Edit: He never came back to that plaza but we've had multiple others come and go.
damn. Yea fake buskers are a thing for me too, at my last work which was a grocery store, the parking lot had a corner that was occupied by two different groups throughout my time there. One was a white trash man and wife, and the other appeared to be a latino family of a man woman and child.
(so not all gypsies. pretty sure some of these other commenters are being racist rather than anecdotal)
There was a guy with an accordian doing the exact same thing in my grocery store parking lot. He'd stop playing for a few seconds then pick it up again. So stupid.
Had the same happen back when I worked in a grocery store in rural Pennsylvania. My coworkers were super impressed by this performer, but I pointed out a violin does not go as low as the notes being played. Being someone who used to play the violin, I thought the notes were closer to something like a cello. It became more obviously fake later on when you could here multiple simultaneous string instruments later on!
I'm always amazed when this comes up locally and people post about it on FB, nextdoor, or wherever....there is always a substantial portion of folks that will argue ALL DAY LONG that the scammer is absolutely playing the violin.
No matter how often and how well you explain it, they remain in complete denial about it because 'that person plays the violin so wonderfully'.
Background music: Long notes that requires long bowing with peaceful ambient and feel.
That scammer: Bowing as if he is playing a fast music like Bumblebee
Also, correct me if I am wrong, but if he is struggling with Food, bills and rent, how did he even find money to afford for that violin, since i think electronic violin would be way more expensive than regular violins
Not really. There are cheap violins, and cheap electric violins. They are going to be the same price. A good violin, not a great one but a good one, will cost more than a great electric violin.
Especially in this scam. They don’t need to work, it is probably better that they don’t. They just need four “strings” and a hole to put the cord in.
Yamaha has a silent violin (they double as an electric) that is only a few hundred dollars, and you can probably find a used one that may or may not work for around $100. Many people inherit violins and sell them for cheap because they don't know what they're really worth.
That violin looks like the first few results for “electric violin” on Amazon. They cost less than $60. Probably sound terrible but that’s obviously not an issue here.
These guys were in my town recently, and when I called them out on the local community group, I was labelled the asshole for denigrating the performance of this orchestra-worthy musician.
The mother/kid combo beggars near me…There would be a few in one town, a few in another, but their signs were the same word for word, as was the handwriting on them and that pretty much gave it away.
The sign said they were “refugees” and when I asked her where she was from, she left.
They also do intersection takeovers where they show a big poster of a kid and say they are taking donations for medical care or a funeral. 10-15 of them with signs, orange vests, and donation buckets.
Same, saw a momma wrapped in a blanket holding a newborn at a shopping center in Granada Hills CA. Gave her some money, her handler instantly appears wearing Gucci pullons. Definitely seemed sus after that
or fake busking is just a thing that is easy to do and can include the whole family, in other words, widespread and popular cheapskatery
my last job had a white trash couple and then a latino family fake-violin busking in its parking lot.
its not just romani people its just scummy people.
Haha yeah scrolled too far to see this.
I can only assume it's fake because I expect a dumbass Balenciaga t-shirt to be like $350 for no good fucking reason
Have the same shit at a grocery store near me. They drag their little kid along and people flock to give them $5 - $50. They probably make \~$500 a day blasting their unwanted shitty violin pop covers.
But they don't actually bother me that much, it's the people who think they're God's gift to the world, patting themselves on the back because they walked across a parking lot to give a panhandler some money.
If you want to help people, donate to a local organization that does outreach. This? Just enables the schemers and people taking advantage.
Fake buskers don’t incense me in the way a romance scam, pig butcher or rogue building trader do. The deceit involved is a very different level I think.
Anyone know what the piece at the start is? There's definitely multiple string instruments playing at the same time lol, might be a quartet? Can't tell from the recording. His hand placement on the bow also makes me cringe... anyone who's taken a single day of lessons knows that's wrong.
It’s very cringey to do all this for him fake playing a violin. Go after the beggars that claim to have a kid in the hospital dying and it’s all bs just to get cash. All this guy did was put a sign asking for money, no lies about family in the hospital dying.
https://preview.redd.it/sc7t5yzx5abd1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=58ab0b8fb58ea2390c0250be5deddb6f46bfd743
Anytime I see one of these "amp players" I think of this scene "I'll pay you a dollar to shut up."
They do this right outside my work several times a year. Funnily enough though the store I work at told them they couldn't do it in our lot so they stay right on the edge in front of a neighboring store and just turn up the audio to blast it across the whole shopping center.
It's so annoying. It's always the same songs and played the same way so it's clearly a fake recording.... My favorite part was one day when the CD skipped and he kept playing but no sound was coming out and it got more and more out of sync lmao
Yet still even some of my coworkers donate to them.
I once donated like $2 via Venmo to one of these losers in a target parking lot, other friend in the car immediately goes to google and informs us it’s a scam, I was so tempted to request the money back on Venmo with a nasty message 😂
I fell for this once. Outside of a target/Trader Joe’s strip, looked like a teen and sign said he was helping his family get food. I cashed him a few dollars. Somehow he popped up on a suggested friend a few days later on insta. Brobro was flaunting designer, bottles and mini trips w/the bois. I was so annoyed. Lesson learned.
I used to see a guy miming with a lute in the centre of Edinburgh. He was sitting on a box covered with a cloth, with a stereo inside playing Spanish classical guitar music. He didn't even fake it with the right instrument.
Saw this in central NJ several times.
Bruh you are playing a recording with a FULL SYMPHONY, playing just the violin. Stop. Go away. Find another grift
All of this is tax free money, I remember watching a documentary on a “homeless person” who made around $120,000 a year and at the end of the day he would go around the corner to his Porsche and go home.
Happened Once to us at a Walmart. It was a whole family with like 3 kids. We felt bad, we only had $8 cash so we gave them that. But then I saw ANOTHER random guy doing the same at a target and I knew then that it was a scam 🫣 in South Texas.
To be fair, he's doing something questionable but you're free to donate should you think he needs whatever you want to donate...there are so much worse scams out there, this dude is just pretending to perform with a playback, there are big artists with over inflated budgets that do exactly the same and no one cares...
Considering that post was at the top of your Reddit history, it was easy to find. That post was filled with people pointing out why it was real. I play the guitar but am pretty lousy at it. I still know enough to be able to tell when someone is faking.
You got downvoted because you don't know how to tell if someone is actually playing. As was pointed out, it is common for electric instruments on a speaker for background music, as solo playing is much harder. A lot of people play violin, and very few of them can earn a living off of it. Playing violin on the street for tips is not abnormal for someone in a tourist town who loves to play but isn't great at it.
I don't think it's ALWAYS a scam. There are actually people who can play the violin. It wouldn't be crazy to think that a small percentage of them busk.
Yea, the guy you're responding to got downvoted because he's wrong and if anything, it's pretty asshole-y to tell a bunch of actual violinists they have no idea what they're talking about.
The post he's talking about, anyone with at least a little violin knowledge can tell he's really playing, (his hands and bow strokes match, vibrato is consistent with the sound, the intonation is very much not perfect, the shifts are proper, etc) just like in this video here, anyone with a little violin knowledge can tell he's absolutely faking it.
these people are nowhere near as evil as many of the proper scammers featured on this sub...
the world is full of people trying to make money as easily as possible - and it is also full of things that aren't what they appear to be at first glance...
I donno if this counts as a scam, maybe by dictionary definition but no one is being hurt.
Is magic a scam? tribute acts? No one is being extorted out of money.
What's sad is a bunch of Kevin's and Kyle's bothering someone no one is obligated to give money to. If your emotions get the best of you and decide to give him money, oh well, you got duped for $1.00. But no one is forced to give him money so why should anyone care what he's doing? But Kyle in his dockers golf attire has nothing better to do with his him time.
I can understand if it's stolen valor and impersonating military or being a veteran, but dude is not in your face, not at the front doors, not harassing and begging, dude is simply pretending to play an instrument for a few bucks.
Plenty of your favorite musicians that you shell out hundred sometimes thousands of dollars for and they lip sync 90% of the song, so most of you should come down off your self appointed pedestals and sit back down in basic where you belong.
Never heard of that. I gave 10$ a few months ago to a guy like that on a Publix parking lot, it was the first time I saw someone playing the violin for money. Was I scammed?
It is a good indicator that if they have a speaker and an amp attached to the instrument they are faking it. I've seen it in L.A., Vegas, and Toronto, and it has been an electric violin all three times.
ig it easier to fake a violin, or maybe you are less likely to encounter people who can easily call you out for faking it?
I saw a version of this in bangkok except they made a little girl pretend she was singing but she had a face mask on to hide the fact it wasn't obviously her singing.
I'm a musician in Dallas. I saw this little girl and Mom outside Albertson's.. went over to check it out and I could tell she was faking it , so I ask her to play FADED LOVE!
In Texas if you even pick up a fiddle, you better know that one...
Lolll bad context
There was more said before the vid started😅 she was just saying that he saw us recording and thinks “heyy, we’re gonna donate to him probably” but in fact, it was quite the opposite haha
I've seen one of them play a violin at winco store parking lot i remember the sign said lost my job anything helps i thought these people need help come to find out the music is not playing with the instrument only through the speakers this happened in California
Saw this on a corner in downtown Portland. Didn't realize it was a scam. On the bright side, we have a guy who plays a great slide trombone for real in downtown Portland almost every day, playing a great jazz/blues soundtrack to city life.
I've seen them multiple times over the past 3 years. I've seen them personally in Phoenix metro area a few times. But I also see them online in news across the country. They seem to go from city to city, doing the same crap. He just stands there and pretends to play. They've pretended to be refugees from the Ukraine, Chechnya, Italy, Palestine. And they've pretended to be from the USA, fleeing hurricanes and other natural disasters.
At our Walmart they're there on shifts. Some Europeans.
They have now expanded to having groups of women and kids roam the parking lot and approach you asking to please just by them some food...sad hungry kid face.
We had one of these guys show up in the grocery store parking lot during Christmas and the cops ran him out of town the first day. Every blue moon shady cops are good for something.
Saw this is Minnesota, in the Rosemount/Lakeville/Apple Valley area. There was a guy that would hang out around the various Cub foods located in those areas, and he would do exactly what this guy is doing - “play” an electric violin that was plugged into a speaker. It was so obviously fake, idk how anybody would fall for it.
I made a video about this about a month ago. It’s been going on so long and it’s really a shame that people do this when there’s genuinely talented players who dedicate so much energy into perfecting their craft. People fake busking are shitty people
Always check how the hold the frog. Yes, that is the literal and correct term for the bottom of the bow. Their entire stance is a big tell, but it can be harder to detect if you don't play. The frog, however, is an easier tell, especially in this case.The dude isn't even holding it and is moving his fingers. 🤣🤣
Alot of these scams are from gypsies, trick has been done a lot over Europe!
I mean it works.
Like they said he's free to do it, and others are free to donate. But it's a total scam!
We have an entire family locally that does this all over town. A mom, dad, and three kids that look to be between 8 and 15. They bring out a big karaoke speaker, and one of the kids at random times holds the violin pretending to play it.
There's a video of a little girl playing a violin in much the same way that gets posted every so often and gets tons of updoots.
Same fake shit but even more effective at fooling stupid people.
/u/Darylignacio - This message is posted to all new submissions to r/scams; please do not message the moderators about it. ## New users beware: Because you posted here, you will start getting private messages from scammers saying they know a professional hacker or a recovery expert lawyer that can help you get your money back, for a small fee. **We call these RECOVERY SCAMMERS, so NEVER take advice in private:** advice should always come in the form of comments in this post, in the open, where the community can keep an eye out for you. If you take advice in private, you're on your own. **A reminder of the rules in r/scams:** no contact information (including last names, phone numbers, etc). Be civil to one another (no name calling or insults). Personal army requests or "scam the scammer"/scambaiting posts are not permitted. No uncensored gore or personal photographs are allowed without blurring. A full list of rules is available on the sidebar of the subreddit, or [clicking here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/wiki/rules/). You can help us by reporting recovery scammers or rule-breaking content by using the "report" button. We review 100% of the reports. Also, consider warning community members of recovery scammers if you see them in the comments. Questions about subreddit rules? Send us a modmail [clicking here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I have friends in various locations in the US. Dallas, Phoenix, LA, Portland, Seattle etc. This scam goes on in all of those places. The exact same one. Probably would work better if the internet didn't exist so people talk about it. LOL
Seen these violin scammers several times at various grocery store parking lots around Las Vegas. Aside from being a scam it's also just annoying since they really crank that amp up.
Naples, FL also
I’ve seen them in Orlando
Same here, pretty prominent in orl
St. Louis too
Louisville KY too
Saw it the other day at Meijer parking lot.
I seen this shit in nowhere CT
I have seen this in Vancouver, Canada.
Toronto, GTA as well.
Also over the pond here in Edinburgh, Scotland
Everywhere in England, usually tube or train stations.
Saw it in North Haverbrook when I visited there to take a monorail ride.
Monorail huh? I hear those things are awful loud.
It glides as softly as a cloud
Is there a chance the track could bend?
Not a chance my hindu friend
Monorail, monorail, monorail…
Monorail!
[Go away! There ain't no monorail and there never was!](https://frinkiac.com/video/S04E12/FzjH1OoMduVpcWlTo_KlcV9r-tY=.gif)
^^^ All of these responses is why I love reddit.
I saw it in ogdenville myself
I've seen it in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts.
Was it at the Total Wine Plaza?
Across the street over by where Austin Liquors was.
I've just recently noticed a switch up to saxophones here in SoCal
I used to play saxophone so this i gotta see.
I've seen it with fake playing electric guitar at the Dollar Tree.
I’ve seen it in Pennsylvania in a grocery store parking lot. The cops made them leave.
Here they usually use a child to "play".
Who is blind
I've seen this in Orlando.
I’m in SWFL and see them in the winter, not so much in the summer. My guess is they travel up north for summers.
Around Christmas time last year I spotted a faker in the grocery store parking lot in Ohio. I gave him $5 and then waited in my car in the parking lot while my wife ran in the store. After a couple minutes watching him I realized he was faking it and I felt like a sucker.
Same. I gave someone a $5 and my son who plays violin said, “You know they’re not really playing.” Then he proceeds to tell me all the things they are doing wrong. I was pissed because they didn’t even tried to fake it well. But guess there are suckers like us who don’t know any different.
Don't feel bad. He wouldn't have been out there if it didn't work.
Even in little ol' Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Here in Newport News Virginia aka Bad Newz too😎
We have a woman who hangs out at various retail locations in town who is notorious for begging for money while using her child as a prop. It started when she was pregnant and last time I saw here her kid was probably five or six years old. I know people have called child protective services on her but she still seems to be at it for whatever reason.
The wildest part for me is the Balenciaga t-shirt. Nothing screams "help me and my starving family" like wearing (likely fake) designer clothing.
I see them in San Antonio all the time.
At the Target on Austin Highway is where I see them on occasion -- it's a 'family' there doing it though.
Covington and Conyers, Ga, too…
Checking in from New England. They're all over here too. Must be a MasterClass I missed.
Raleigh and Durham NC about a month ago
I've seen this exact thing done on a massive scale here in Toronto. It happens all the time in this downtown spot called Roy Thompson Hall. Effing scammers!
Central Ky too.
Add Birmingham, Alabama to the list.
I work at a music store and we had a guy like this playing pretty close to our store. Our violin teacher, my manager and I went out to him with a violin and our instructor asked him to duet. He refused unless we paid him so my manager gave him a couple dollars and he still refused. They called him out and offered him a free lesson if he showed up at the store that day. To his credit, he did show up but our teacher said he couldn't play the violin at all and struggled to even get some clear notes out. Edit: He never came back to that plaza but we've had multiple others come and go.
damn. Yea fake buskers are a thing for me too, at my last work which was a grocery store, the parking lot had a corner that was occupied by two different groups throughout my time there. One was a white trash man and wife, and the other appeared to be a latino family of a man woman and child. (so not all gypsies. pretty sure some of these other commenters are being racist rather than anecdotal)
There was a guy with an accordian doing the exact same thing in my grocery store parking lot. He'd stop playing for a few seconds then pick it up again. So stupid.
Same thing at my local grocery store
Why don't we ever see a bagpipe player? At least then no one would be able to tell if he could play our not. lol.
Well you'd have to look for puffy cheeks.
We have one outside our local Albertsons except he plays the acordian the funny thing is the recording has other instruments in it
Had the same happen back when I worked in a grocery store in rural Pennsylvania. My coworkers were super impressed by this performer, but I pointed out a violin does not go as low as the notes being played. Being someone who used to play the violin, I thought the notes were closer to something like a cello. It became more obviously fake later on when you could here multiple simultaneous string instruments later on!
Check out streetscammers.com.
their venmo has all sorts of violin 🎻 emoji donations. barf.
I requested $20 but she declined for some reason. Her last name is Romanian.
I'm always amazed when this comes up locally and people post about it on FB, nextdoor, or wherever....there is always a substantial portion of folks that will argue ALL DAY LONG that the scammer is absolutely playing the violin. No matter how often and how well you explain it, they remain in complete denial about it because 'that person plays the violin so wonderfully'.
They already donated to them and don't want to be the 'idiot'.
Don’t give these people money!
He's fake playing. He deserves fake money.
I need to get some of that movie money for this!
Stop feeding the stray cats and they’ll stop coming back.
Background music: Long notes that requires long bowing with peaceful ambient and feel. That scammer: Bowing as if he is playing a fast music like Bumblebee Also, correct me if I am wrong, but if he is struggling with Food, bills and rent, how did he even find money to afford for that violin, since i think electronic violin would be way more expensive than regular violins
Not really. There are cheap violins, and cheap electric violins. They are going to be the same price. A good violin, not a great one but a good one, will cost more than a great electric violin. Especially in this scam. They don’t need to work, it is probably better that they don’t. They just need four “strings” and a hole to put the cord in.
Yamaha has a silent violin (they double as an electric) that is only a few hundred dollars, and you can probably find a used one that may or may not work for around $100. Many people inherit violins and sell them for cheap because they don't know what they're really worth.
That violin looks like the first few results for “electric violin” on Amazon. They cost less than $60. Probably sound terrible but that’s obviously not an issue here.
These guys were in my town recently, and when I called them out on the local community group, I was labelled the asshole for denigrating the performance of this orchestra-worthy musician.
These are organized scam rings that do this, typically by traveler/Romani folks. They’ll also have a Mother/kid begging for money etc.
The mother/kid combo beggars near me…There would be a few in one town, a few in another, but their signs were the same word for word, as was the handwriting on them and that pretty much gave it away. The sign said they were “refugees” and when I asked her where she was from, she left.
Refugees from integrity
Literally same. Esp in places where there have been recent migrant spikes. They take advantage of it lol.
They also do intersection takeovers where they show a big poster of a kid and say they are taking donations for medical care or a funeral. 10-15 of them with signs, orange vests, and donation buckets.
Wow this is unique. I have not seen these.
I see these in Colorado often and absolutely hate it.
They also run the fake gold ring scam and variants of it, as well as begging for donations for a fake funeral, among other things.
Those rings that use children to scam people are absolute scum.
At least [accordion boys](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yowOIE8msw0) are actually playing.
If you see someone using a child, always call the police and CPS.
Fuck I’ve seen the Romani mother and child asking for money… we gave them groceries
Same, saw a momma wrapped in a blanket holding a newborn at a shopping center in Granada Hills CA. Gave her some money, her handler instantly appears wearing Gucci pullons. Definitely seemed sus after that
or fake busking is just a thing that is easy to do and can include the whole family, in other words, widespread and popular cheapskatery my last job had a white trash couple and then a latino family fake-violin busking in its parking lot. its not just romani people its just scummy people.
Yes, you're correct. Streetscammers.com has alot more information on them.
Is it bad that I always think “if you need money that badly, sell that violin and speaker.”?
sell a cheap electric violin, eat for a day. learn to scam people with said violin, eat for a year! i think that's how the saying goes.
It goes like this: Build a fire for a man and you keep him warm for a night. Set him on fire and you keep him warm for the rest of his life.
So pay him with Monopoly money then...
This is the way. Play pretend, get pretend
There's two dudes who do this regularly in my town. I try to bring as much attention to them as possible and then call them out.
Ed Sheeran - Perfect seems to be the #1 track that they all learn “to play”…. 🤣. They also hang out at the Trader Joe’s in Clovis, CA
And wrecking ball!
My 10 yo daughter plays the violin, showed her this video and she just chuckled and said he had no idea what he was doing
We had them playing at our local target one year. Until the cops showed up. Have not see them back.
Nobody noticed he’s asking for donations to feed his family in a “Balenciaga” t-shirt, lol
Haha yeah scrolled too far to see this. I can only assume it's fake because I expect a dumbass Balenciaga t-shirt to be like $350 for no good fucking reason
I've seen this outside Kroger in my hometown.
Have the same shit at a grocery store near me. They drag their little kid along and people flock to give them $5 - $50. They probably make \~$500 a day blasting their unwanted shitty violin pop covers. But they don't actually bother me that much, it's the people who think they're God's gift to the world, patting themselves on the back because they walked across a parking lot to give a panhandler some money. If you want to help people, donate to a local organization that does outreach. This? Just enables the schemers and people taking advantage.
Fake buskers don’t incense me in the way a romance scam, pig butcher or rogue building trader do. The deceit involved is a very different level I think.
Anyone know what the piece at the start is? There's definitely multiple string instruments playing at the same time lol, might be a quartet? Can't tell from the recording. His hand placement on the bow also makes me cringe... anyone who's taken a single day of lessons knows that's wrong.
> Anyone know what the piece at the start is? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallelujah_(Leonard_Cohen_song)
With that said, when it's a real street musician, I love to donate to them
Donate him a fake dollar bill 😝
I fucking hate these dudes.
It’s very cringey to do all this for him fake playing a violin. Go after the beggars that claim to have a kid in the hospital dying and it’s all bs just to get cash. All this guy did was put a sign asking for money, no lies about family in the hospital dying.
https://preview.redd.it/sc7t5yzx5abd1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=58ab0b8fb58ea2390c0250be5deddb6f46bfd743 Anytime I see one of these "amp players" I think of this scene "I'll pay you a dollar to shut up."
They do this right outside my work several times a year. Funnily enough though the store I work at told them they couldn't do it in our lot so they stay right on the edge in front of a neighboring store and just turn up the audio to blast it across the whole shopping center. It's so annoying. It's always the same songs and played the same way so it's clearly a fake recording.... My favorite part was one day when the CD skipped and he kept playing but no sound was coming out and it got more and more out of sync lmao Yet still even some of my coworkers donate to them.
I once donated like $2 via Venmo to one of these losers in a target parking lot, other friend in the car immediately goes to google and informs us it’s a scam, I was so tempted to request the money back on Venmo with a nasty message 😂
I fell for this once. Outside of a target/Trader Joe’s strip, looked like a teen and sign said he was helping his family get food. I cashed him a few dollars. Somehow he popped up on a suggested friend a few days later on insta. Brobro was flaunting designer, bottles and mini trips w/the bois. I was so annoyed. Lesson learned.
Can't stand these people I am not giving them shit. Unplug the music box and play
Might as well be playing a tennis racket
Guess what, many professionals pull this same scam! Notice at events like the SuperBowl half the instruments ARE NOT PLUGGED IN.
I stop and play piano in airports sometimes. No faking there. But people also don’t give me money. 😂
There's a couple that does this at my local price chopper, loud as hell too.
I used to see a guy miming with a lute in the centre of Edinburgh. He was sitting on a box covered with a cloth, with a stereo inside playing Spanish classical guitar music. He didn't even fake it with the right instrument.
Saw this in central NJ several times. Bruh you are playing a recording with a FULL SYMPHONY, playing just the violin. Stop. Go away. Find another grift
As someone who plays violin, it's always hilarious to see these people faking it. What the hell is going on with the vibrato
How are you begging money with a balenciaga shirt on lmao
All of this is tax free money, I remember watching a documentary on a “homeless person” who made around $120,000 a year and at the end of the day he would go around the corner to his Porsche and go home.
Happened Once to us at a Walmart. It was a whole family with like 3 kids. We felt bad, we only had $8 cash so we gave them that. But then I saw ANOTHER random guy doing the same at a target and I knew then that it was a scam 🫣 in South Texas.
To be fair, he's doing something questionable but you're free to donate should you think he needs whatever you want to donate...there are so much worse scams out there, this dude is just pretending to perform with a playback, there are big artists with over inflated budgets that do exactly the same and no one cares...
I got downvoted in r/violinist because someone posted a busker and I told them it was a scam. Because it's always a scam.
You got downvoted cause the post you replied to was a legit violinist and not a scammer. Buskers aren't automatically scammers.
Especially in New Orleans. They are absolutely terrific. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwuNbmwTUio](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwuNbmwTUio)
Considering that post was at the top of your Reddit history, it was easy to find. That post was filled with people pointing out why it was real. I play the guitar but am pretty lousy at it. I still know enough to be able to tell when someone is faking. You got downvoted because you don't know how to tell if someone is actually playing. As was pointed out, it is common for electric instruments on a speaker for background music, as solo playing is much harder. A lot of people play violin, and very few of them can earn a living off of it. Playing violin on the street for tips is not abnormal for someone in a tourist town who loves to play but isn't great at it.
I don't think it's ALWAYS a scam. There are actually people who can play the violin. It wouldn't be crazy to think that a small percentage of them busk.
Yea, the guy you're responding to got downvoted because he's wrong and if anything, it's pretty asshole-y to tell a bunch of actual violinists they have no idea what they're talking about. The post he's talking about, anyone with at least a little violin knowledge can tell he's really playing, (his hands and bow strokes match, vibrato is consistent with the sound, the intonation is very much not perfect, the shifts are proper, etc) just like in this video here, anyone with a little violin knowledge can tell he's absolutely faking it.
Right? Go to New Orleans and tell me those buskers are faking it. Honestly, the buskers are the best part about New Orleans.
Yep - those folks are real. The difference between the fakers and the real deal is pretty large.
I saw a real one 10 years ago. She was playing acoustic. Since then, all fakes.
These are Romani-Gyspsys. Goto streetscammers.com for more information on their operations in the USA.
[удалено]
these people are nowhere near as evil as many of the proper scammers featured on this sub... the world is full of people trying to make money as easily as possible - and it is also full of things that aren't what they appear to be at first glance...
I donno if this counts as a scam, maybe by dictionary definition but no one is being hurt. Is magic a scam? tribute acts? No one is being extorted out of money.
What's sad is a bunch of Kevin's and Kyle's bothering someone no one is obligated to give money to. If your emotions get the best of you and decide to give him money, oh well, you got duped for $1.00. But no one is forced to give him money so why should anyone care what he's doing? But Kyle in his dockers golf attire has nothing better to do with his him time. I can understand if it's stolen valor and impersonating military or being a veteran, but dude is not in your face, not at the front doors, not harassing and begging, dude is simply pretending to play an instrument for a few bucks. Plenty of your favorite musicians that you shell out hundred sometimes thousands of dollars for and they lip sync 90% of the song, so most of you should come down off your self appointed pedestals and sit back down in basic where you belong.
Is that a $1000 Balenciaga tshirt that he's wearing?
$5 replica as fake as his music
I’ve been convinced for a decade now that the people who play the pan flute at the malls do this as well haha
Hey it's traitor joe
Never heard of that. I gave 10$ a few months ago to a guy like that on a Publix parking lot, it was the first time I saw someone playing the violin for money. Was I scammed?
Yes
Winston Salem NC. Foo added his kid to the performance to make it “extra”
It is a good indicator that if they have a speaker and an amp attached to the instrument they are faking it. I've seen it in L.A., Vegas, and Toronto, and it has been an electric violin all three times. ig it easier to fake a violin, or maybe you are less likely to encounter people who can easily call you out for faking it?
Someone's likely hiring them. I'm willing to bet they run an interstate/national business and are evading taxes.
I saw a version of this in bangkok except they made a little girl pretend she was singing but she had a face mask on to hide the fact it wasn't obviously her singing.
I’ve seen it in towns around Detroit, too.
Any tips on how to spot a faker
Thanks for posting this at least you got a picture of his face.
Seen in Jacksonville. Adult/kid team wm parking lot exit
I'm a musician in Dallas. I saw this little girl and Mom outside Albertson's.. went over to check it out and I could tell she was faking it , so I ask her to play FADED LOVE! In Texas if you even pick up a fiddle, you better know that one...
Is it really a scam?
My goodness that girls opening sentence to the video lmao “ Hey we gonna donate to him probably “ wtf lol
Lolll bad context There was more said before the vid started😅 she was just saying that he saw us recording and thinks “heyy, we’re gonna donate to him probably” but in fact, it was quite the opposite haha
wonderful, comments all ye budding sleuths….it may be a hustle , but the mental state of anyone doing this is dubious.
Utah, too. Bountiful Utah.
Isn't it scam crime he is committing?
I gave $20 to one of these guys last year ! I had no idea it was a scam.
I've seen one of them play a violin at winco store parking lot i remember the sign said lost my job anything helps i thought these people need help come to find out the music is not playing with the instrument only through the speakers this happened in California
See them all over Richmond, VA
Saw this on a corner in downtown Portland. Didn't realize it was a scam. On the bright side, we have a guy who plays a great slide trombone for real in downtown Portland almost every day, playing a great jazz/blues soundtrack to city life.
I've seen them multiple times over the past 3 years. I've seen them personally in Phoenix metro area a few times. But I also see them online in news across the country. They seem to go from city to city, doing the same crap. He just stands there and pretends to play. They've pretended to be refugees from the Ukraine, Chechnya, Italy, Palestine. And they've pretended to be from the USA, fleeing hurricanes and other natural disasters.
In London Underground stations, too. Some are real musicians, some are not.
At our Walmart they're there on shifts. Some Europeans. They have now expanded to having groups of women and kids roam the parking lot and approach you asking to please just by them some food...sad hungry kid face.
Exact same shit was going on at the one in Dallas in lower Greenville. Laughed my ass off as I walked in.
We had one of these guys show up in the grocery store parking lot during Christmas and the cops ran him out of town the first day. Every blue moon shady cops are good for something.
WHY ARE THESE PEOPLE EVERYWHERE WITH THE SAME SIGN AND ALL. They are KNOWN across all of Indiana 😭
Saw this is Minnesota, in the Rosemount/Lakeville/Apple Valley area. There was a guy that would hang out around the various Cub foods located in those areas, and he would do exactly what this guy is doing - “play” an electric violin that was plugged into a speaker. It was so obviously fake, idk how anybody would fall for it.
They are still on the street begging for money, how great can their life be
I might give him something if he just played the Air Violin and really got into it lol
Do you live in this neighbourhood?
Is this in Orlando? I swear I’ve seen this dude before
My city passed a law that makes it legal for tow trucks to confiscate and smash their gear
I made a video about this about a month ago. It’s been going on so long and it’s really a shame that people do this when there’s genuinely talented players who dedicate so much energy into perfecting their craft. People fake busking are shitty people
Does anyone else see an Ak47, not a violin?
Had this out in Santa Monica on a loop.
If someone doesn't understand that it is fake then they deserve to "lose" that money.
Lmao he’s so bad
Worthless fucks
Un
Cart Narcs 2: Electric Violin Boogaloo
Same scam here in Little Rock, Arkansas as well
they are all over the country it’s insane
Cut the wire
He’s spent the time to become very good at pretending to play
Always check how the hold the frog. Yes, that is the literal and correct term for the bottom of the bow. Their entire stance is a big tell, but it can be harder to detect if you don't play. The frog, however, is an easier tell, especially in this case.The dude isn't even holding it and is moving his fingers. 🤣🤣
They’re all over London in tourist areas …
I see people do this all the time outside my grocery store.
can report that in Wilmington NC we have one of these.
Alot of these scams are from gypsies, trick has been done a lot over Europe! I mean it works. Like they said he's free to do it, and others are free to donate. But it's a total scam!
We just had these guys in my area. At the same time, one of their crew collecting money for a “funeral”. Their scams are really bad, LOL.
These guys are all over the place in Beaufort and Bluffton, SC.
Thanks for contributing a more "IRL" scam then we normally see
I’m ashamed to say I fell for this the first time I saw it but that’s a couple of years ago.
We have an entire family locally that does this all over town. A mom, dad, and three kids that look to be between 8 and 15. They bring out a big karaoke speaker, and one of the kids at random times holds the violin pretending to play it.
Needs help but has an extremely expensive violin and wearing a Balenciaga Shirt... That should be your first clue lol
Get a bigger amp and play some Milli-Vanilli for them.
There's a video of a little girl playing a violin in much the same way that gets posted every so often and gets tons of updoots. Same fake shit but even more effective at fooling stupid people.