On November 15, 2024, Brooklyn Paper published an article by Adam Daly titled Brooklyn residents targeted in youth basketball donation scam. My first thought when I saw the headline was news from 2008.
Some parts of Brooklyn are beset by people who want your money and/or personal identifying information. You may dodge a panhandler only to be confronted by an annoying young man or woman wearing the apron of an NGO and trying to strike up a conversation in order to procure your personal information or an immediate donation. Children set up tables in front of multi-million dollar brownstones to sell lemonade of unknown origin for unknown reasons or in at least one random case, for Salvadoran women refugees (I have my doubts they knew what a “refugee” is in U.S. law). Then there are the school basketball team types which are the subject of the Brooklyn Paper report. I have my own experience with them, but I first defer to Mr. Daly’s introduction to the issue:
The NYPD said four women lost nearly $7,000 in just one week after scammers approached them for donations to alleged youth basketball teams. The fraudsters used the victims’ phones to transfer money via the Zelle app.
Everyone needs to raise money for their youth basketball teams. Is this a new phenomenon? I submit a curious excerpt from two paragraphs in Mr. Daly’s report:
In response to a string of incidents over the summer in Central Park, the NYPD issued a warning … The scam has since spread to Brooklyn. The 84th Precinct, which covers Brooklyn Heights, DUMBO, Boerum Hill, and Downtown Brooklyn, received multiple reports between Nov. 4 and Nov. 10 of individuals falling victim to the scheme.
Mr. Daly says that “[t]he scam has since spread to Brooklyn.” I cannot say with absolute certainty when I first noticed the basketball team scam, but it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 years ago. I noticed it in all the neighborhoods it allegedly just appeared in save for DUMBO – most often in Brooklyn Heights. The basketball team scam is not new. Sometimes I wonder whether the local newspapers spend time in their localities. I have heard from others in the know that the scame was in full swing as early as the 1990s.
Strangely enough, however, while the basketball team scam seems to be receiving new attention due to various women (we will cover them shortly) falling for the scam, I will submit that I have not noticed too many basketball team types in the last few years. I dare say that they seemed like they were far more common 10-15 years ago. While the fact that the article seems unaware of the fact that the basketball team scam has been around for a while raises red flags for me, it does contain some clues about why I have not personally been confronted with it recently in the neighborhoods mentioned or in demographically-similar connected neighborhoods such as Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens.
For those who are not familiar with the basketball team scam, it went something like this back in the day. To the best of my recollection, the basketball team scammers were almost always black kids or young men who appeared to be in the 12-18 age range, although there were some who appeared to be older. Their modus operandi back in the day was to carry a clipboard with a signature sheet and engage strangers in a discussion about their basketball team. The Brooklyn Paper report uses the term youth basketball team, but I recall them usually claiming that they were specifically raising money for their school basketball team – I make the distinction because there are youth basketball teams that are not attached to specific schools (I have heard of “traveling basketball teams” too). They would try to convince the stranger that the stranger’s signature would somehow save their school basketball team – as if their school basketball team operates under the same principle as a prospective political candidate trying to gain ballot access. Because I am not an easy mark, I cut them off well before they could hand me a pen to sign their petition, but I suspect the purpose of the petition drive was to find marks who may be willing to take it a step further. The trick was not subtle and there were cases when one would ask for a monetary donation off the bat. I would not be surprised if some of them solicited credit card information, but I never personally saw that happen. For whatever it is worth, one curious point about the scammers stealing money through Zelle (to be sure, a more modern trick than I remember) is that I do not recall ever seeing someone sign their silly petitions, much less give them money, although their petition sheets always had signatures, leaving open the possibility that someone, somewhere, may have signed it and handed over some money.
In any event – the basketball team thing was always an obvious scam. There were so many of them once upon a time. When you were approached by someone who fit the general basketball team scam profile, you had a feeling about what was likely to occur. You would think they could have mixed it up a bit – maybe someone had a drama club? But no, it was always the basketball team. Why would a signature from a random person on the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, someone who could well be a tourist, have anything to do with a random school basketball team in New York City? Why were they collecting signatures and fundraising for their basketball teams far away from school basketball season – say in April? Moreover, how would they even be eligible to play for their school basketball team if they wer collecting donations when they should be attending school?
There are many questions, but the questions always had an obvious answer: SCAM.
Now as I said, despite walking around all of the areas referenced as having had scam victims in November 2024, I have not been confronted by a basketball team scammer in a while (I do not think one has accosted me since 2020, at least). For that reason, I have never seen the Zelle method that they have reportedly been employing with some success in recent weeks (the joke would be on them if they were to try it since I do not have the Zelle app or any banking apps on my phone). For that, we will have to rely on Brooklyn Paper.
The first described incident by Mr. Daly:
The first incident in Brooklyn was reported on Nov. 5 near Pier 6. A 27-year-old woman sitting in the area told police that three men asked her to donate to their basketball team, and after she handed over her phone, they transferred $1,500 to themselves.
This took place in Brooklyn Bridge Park. I have a sneaking suspicion that one reason I have not seen as many of the scammers as of late is because many have moved down to Brooklyn Bridge Park – and to the extent I go to Brooklyn Bridge Park to take photos for your enjoyment, I usually do so in the morning, outside of what would probably be prime basketball team scam hours. This story is interesting in that three young men approached, or less charitably, ganged up on, a 27-year old woman sitting on a bench on Pier 6. Depending on when this happened and the luck of the draw, one could be isolated on a bench on Pier 6. While most of the successful scam stories have a tendency to inspire face palms before sympathy, I am inclined to give the victim some benefit of the doubt. Assuming arguendo she was effectively alone when three young men gathered around her and started asking for money, one could see her having weighed the equities and determining against what may have been her best judgment that the thing to do was to pay a small price to get rid of them as fast as possible before their request escalated into demands. Alas, giving them your phone with the Zelle app open may lead to paying more than a small price to rid yourself of a problem.
Now for the second incident:
Later that day, a 25-year-old woman on the Brooklyn Heights Promenade was approached by a male teen with a similar request. She reported that the teen transferred $2,000 from her account once she handed him her phone.
Ah yes, the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. This was a popular scam spot once upon a time. I was sitting with a friend on the Brooklyn Heights Promenade one afternoon a few years ago – I will guess in the neighborhood of 2017-2019 (not far from where I saw some impromptu fireworks in September 2024). One of the basketball team twits came over and hit us up for money. I tried to shoo him away but my friend is slightly nicer than me and she let him talk before kindly explaining that she does not sign petitions and sending the disgruntled tool on his way. To be sure, I would like to have those 45 seconds of my life back. But the key here is that neither one of us handed him our phone and let him transfer $2,000 from our bank accounts. I can intuitively understand what happened to the lady on Pier 6 of Brooklyn Bridge Park. This story less so – the Promenade is reasonably populated even in the early evening.
Mr. Daly then described an incident in Downtown Brooklyn:
Around 6 p.m. outside 445 Albee Square in Downtown Brooklyn, a third victim, 32, told police a teenager asked for a $1 donation to his high school team. She said the teen transferred $1,400 from her account and threw her phone back before fleeing.
We live in an imperfect world. Moreover, New York City is an imperfect city. There are people looking for easy marks. If you behave like an easy mark, you may well suffer the consequences of being an easy mark. It is best not to walk around Downtown Brooklyn in the evening if your first instinct when a teenager asks for money with a sob story is to fork over your phone.
Finally, Mr. Daly’s reporting brought us back to Brooklyn Heights:
Most recently, on Nov. 8 near Pierrepont Place and Montague Street, a 26-year-old woman agreed to a small donation but later discovered that the teen had transferred $2,000 from her account without her consent.
I have definitely encountered these scammers around this area of Brooklyn Heights before (it is at one of the entrances to the foot of the Brooklyn Heights Promenade). Again – what did I never do? I never gave the young (or not-so-young) man my phone or access to my wallet.
There are some caveats with this Brooklyn Paper report. Firstly, it is not necessarily a good indication of how many “basketball team” scam artists there are around because it only covers the small number of people who actually became victims. Secondly, it only discusses four Brooklyn victims. Thirdly, the fact that the reporter is seemingly unaware that this scam goes back to the 2000s (at least) in Brooklyn Heights and surrounding neighborhoods makes me question how on top of things the outlet is. With that being said, the fact that I have not stumbled upon them lately in the mentioned neighborhoods or other nearby neighborhoods with somewhat similar characteristics such as Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill, and Carroll Gardens, leads me to suspect that the handlers have directed their employees to specifically target women – most likely viewing women as either more likely to be taken by their fake sob stories or more likely to hear them out due to being alone with a man (or men in the first case) hitting them up for money.
If you are a woman or man in the area or in New York City generally, take it from someone who has been aware of this nonsense for far longer than our local journalists: They are all lying. There is no basketball team. They just want your money and most of your money is probably going to their handlers (more on that in a moment). While New York City’s public school system leaves much to be desired, I am reasonably confident that the schools are not sending boys and young men to neighborhoods and parks to hit up women for Zelle payments. Just say “no thank you” if the scammers come to you. They may be confused – why are you saying no thamk you when I’m asking you for something? They are offering you the opportunity to feel virtuous in return for giving them money (or allowing them to rob you). By saying no thank you, you are telling them that you are doing well enough without their peculiar form of charity.
I conclude with a story. Some time ago – most likely within the last 10-12 years, I saw one of the “basketball team” scammers, he looked to be about 13-14 years old, hitting someone up for money in Brooklyn Heights on Columbia Heights between Cranberry and Middagh (effectively on the short stretch between where the Brooklyn Heights Promenade terminates and Brooklyn Heights reveals why it is Brooklyn Heights with a steep hill down to DUMBO). On this occasion, the scam artist did not target me, but I heard him giving his speech to an adult before he was blown off. I then saw him walk to a man standing by a fence and pull some money out while they had a discussion. Now I had long suspected they had handlers – but this was the first time I actually saw the handler.
It just occurred to me why people may be suddenly pretending that the basketball team thing is new. Before they asked for small amounts of cash or, if they were ambitious, for your card information. Now, there are apparently women among us who hand them their phones with Zelle open. I suppose that is new.
