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Pushy MetroCard salesmen

Kriston Lewis

By Kriston Lewis,
in New York City Subway

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FamousNYLover

FamousNYLover

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Posted

When I was waiting for Q54 at Met Av (M) Station during weekend G.O., there was pushy MetroCard salesman selling 1-Day Pass which is good for express bus. I didn't trust it good for express bus, so I ignore him.

 

When during Simon Baruch MS104, when I did not know SWIPERS are illegals, when I swipe my Student MetroCard during the school day, it took my fare and I was lock 18 minutes. It happened on HEET. I was late to school, so nice SWIPER swipe me for free.

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Roadcruiser1

Roadcruiser1

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Those Metrocard salesmen are useless scums that are burning the (MTA)'s money. By selling swipes, destroying machines, and selling empty cards they cause the (MTA) to lose money so they can pocket the cash themselves. They want to make themselves rich by causing the (MTA) money that could be useful like cleaning the trains, or buying items that would benefit the people.

 

This is an old Daily News article I found from 2000 while going through the Internet. Who knows it could be more now or it could be less. It's to show you what it was then now if you can do math multiply the fare today by the same amount of scum tricks then. You would get close to the right number the (MTA) is losing per year.

 

Scammers taking system for a ride MetroCard misuse is crime that pays

 

It's turnstile justice at its worst.

 

Subway scammers, who use doctored MetroCards and other tricks to swipe riders through station turnstiles and illegally pocket the fares, are routinely arrested by police.

 

But they regularly receive slaps on the wrists and are quickly freed to steal again, according to law enforcement sources, police and court records.

 

One scofflaw was arrested 14 times last year. Some were busted on consecutive days. And one was even arrested, released and busted again on the same day, according to police.

 

"It doesn't help us address the problem," Sgt. Jack Cassidy, commanding officer of the Transit Bureau's special investigations unit, said of the light punishments meted out in the courts. "Definitely, the repeat offender should be given substantially more time."

 

The Transit Authority said that one common scam - bending spent MetroCards at key spots - is used to steal 500 rides on an average weekday. That's approximately $200,000 a year - enough to pay the salaries of five station or subway car cleaners.

 

It isn't known how many scammers are out there, but police made about 700 arrests for swiping scams last year.

 

Just 10 scammers account for 13% of those busts.

 

Topping the list is Edward McDougal, 48, of Brooklyn, who was arrested 14 times for swiping crimes in Brooklyn last year alone, police said. He was repeatedly charged with misdemeanor petty larceny, each charge carrying up to one year in jail and up to $1,000 in fines.

 

But McDougal regularly was released the day after his arrests and given probationlike status with future court dates, or was sentenced to time served or community service, according to police and court records, and law enforcement sources.

 

McDougal allegedly continued the MetroCard scam this year, with two petty larceny arrests in the Utica Ave. subway station in Brooklyn in a 10-day period. He failed to appear in Brooklyn Criminal Court this month on those two open cases, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

 

Caroberto Cordero, 24, was charged 12 times in Manhattan last year, according to police. In at least nine cases, he was sentenced to time served, got a few days in jail or was granted probationlike status, a police review found.

 

Mark Perlov, 32, of Manhattan, was arrested for swiping crimes at Manhattan turnstiles eight times last year. Each time, he received minor sentences, including community service, time served or up to seven days in jail.

 

Perlov was caught again May 17, this time with eight bent MetroCards, authorities said. He was charged with possession of a forged instrument - a felony carrying up to seven years - but pleaded to a lesser charge. He was sentenced to one year in jail and released after serving eight months, according to the Department of Correction.

 

Five days after his release, Perlov was arrested again for drug possession, authorities said. He pleaded guilty and served five days.

 

A spokeswoman for the Manhattan district attorney's office declined to comment on the light sentences. Kevin Davitt, spokesman for Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes, said Brooklyn prosecutors will be taking a harder look at swiping crimes.

 

"When we were fighting more serious crimes, we were putting our efforts and resources there," Davitt said. "We didn't have the resources to address everything we wanted to. Now we're in a position to do it. We need to look at this in a more serious light."

 

TA spokesman Al O'Leary said the scams are a minor fiscal problem for the system, which moves more than 4 million people a day. Fare-beating, he said, is at an all-time low.

 

But a scammer who spoke to the Daily News at an uptown station said he can make between $150 and $200 a day using bent cards.

 

Another scam, which police officials said is more prevalent than card-bending, involves $4 Fun Pass cards.

 

Scam artists buy stacks of Fun Passes, which allow unlimited subway rides for about 24 hours, to swipe people in repeatedly.

 

They rotate the cards to avoid the 12- to 18-minute lockout, an anti-fraud measure that prevents use of the same card at the same station.

 

The TA could not say how much that scam costs them.

 

Token booth clerk Daniel Richardson, working recently at the Nevins St. station in Brooklyn, said swipe artists brazenly ply their trade just feet from his booth. There is no shortage of customers, he said.

 

"People would rather pay $1 to these lowlifes than pay $1.50 and do the right thing," Richardson said.

 

Drug addicts who are given $3 cards for trips to and from methadone clinics often sell their rides, then jump the turnstiles, said Richardson, who works booths all around the city.

 

Booth clerks who spot scammers alert their dispatchers, who notify police, Richardson said. But scofflaws know they have time before police arrive, he said.

 

"They know the system," he said. "It's 15 minutes before they have to be concerned about leaving an area."

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/2000/02/22/2000-02-22_scammers_taking_system_for_a.html

 

This is why the (MTA) should upgrade to the smart card system. No one should be able to do this in a smart card system.

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Fresh Pond

Fresh Pond

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Here's how they do it, its actually quite simple....

 

The jam up the MVMs (sometimes one, sometimes all of them) somehow so that the machine doesn't take dollar bills. So when the person walk to the token booth to buy a metrocard, the "swiper" (person selling swipes) walks up to the "swipee" (person who needs the metrocard) and offers a swpie for less (Most of the times $1 in a few cases $2). The swpiee takes it, and the swiper gains a dollar in his/her pocket. Usually the person selling the swpies has an unlimited metrocard (or multiple metrocards) so he/she leaves the station for 18 minutes then comes back and does it again. So every swipe, they pocket a dollar.

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Ceya

Ceya

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Posted

This is why the (MTA) should upgrade to the smart card system. No one should be able to do this in a smart card system.

 

We will see, remember "where there is a will, there is a way".

 

If the MTA keeps going like it is, there will be ways.

 

S/F,

CEYA!

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