[ChickenCityRoller]

This is one of the oldest lines in the book. Boy do I have stories about these guys. They aren't Indians, they're gypsys. They basically try to get thier foot in the door with this Indian ophanage line so they can case the joint then break during the night.





• Artists try to get more than offered

LA PORTE - A local business was being kind in donating some of its scrap metal. But it wasn't nearly enough for the men who had their hands out. Monday about 7 p.m., an employee at Level Tech, 3236 N. Indiana 39, was approached by three men who claimed to be Native Americans who make jewelry out of scrap and asked for some of the discarded metal. The man contacted his boss, who instructed him to donate no more than 10 pounds of scrap. La Porte Sheriff's deputies said one of the individuals went over to a scrap bin and hooked a crane onto a reel of copper weighing at least 1,500 pounds. When reminded the most they would receive is 10 pounds, police said the subjects began inquiring about other forms of metal and where it was located. The worker told them to leave and they were last seen heading south on Indiana 39 in a maroon Ford F-350 pick up with Illinois plates.

[ChickenCityRoller]

and a couple internet aritcles talking about the "Indian" line


Several MMA members responded that they had been approached in the same or similar fashion.

Another company representative had this to say…

As a metal finisher located in the City of Detroit, I have dealt with numerous situations such as this. We have been subject to the theft of heating and cooling units off our roof simply for the purpose of being sold as scrap to an unscrupulous scrap yard. Our streets in the area are missing sewer caps and the scrap yards are buying them from the thieves that remove them.

In response to your request for similar situations, there is a “normal” technique that some of these “recyclers” use to perform their rip-off. One person will enter the office or the plant and ask for a person of responsibility. While they occupy this person, another person will enter the plant at a different location and either begins the act of theft or gets a worker to begin loading material into their trailer. They will tell the person that they have permission by pointing to the person talking to a responsible party. The worker then assumes they are legitimate since they are talking to a responsible person at their facility.

The other is that they are Native American Indians and they are collecting scrap to melt down to make belt buckles and trinkets for the orphanage on the reservation. They will offer to send you a “gift” made from the scrap you provided them as a thank you. Obviously if you fall into this situation, you will never see a gift and while they are explaining their proposal, another one is looking through your facility setting up the theft of either scrap or machining tools/bits. We have a contactor who has been robbed of over $8,000 worth of carbide cutting material.

Hope this helps, but the bottom line is that no one other than employees or supervised visitors should be in your facility. Employees should be instructed to notify a manager or supervisor if they notice anyone in the facility that does not work there, and anything to do with scrap metal is usually going to end up being a loss to the company if they do not have a program in place already.

And another member had this say add:

Having read the latest related to scrap metal scams, I can confirm the “American Indian” story. The same thief sat in my office and explained that my father had always contributed scrap, why don’t I. (He obviously didn’t know my father!) If they are in your office, you can be certain they are at the back door also. They don’t go away easily. I am going to begin to document vehicle license numbers. Because of our name, National Bronze (nationalbronze.com), we have these guys coming in almost daily. Lately there has been a guy that comes to the back door (not the office). He offers to buy our scrap at a price considerably higher than the mill will pay. He pulls large folds of $100.00 bills out of his pocket. He claims he will pay cash on the spot. He is very aggressive and cunning. I don’t do business with anyone that comes unsolicited. I can only imagine that the cash is counterfeit? Thank you for the heads-up.

[Roger Kaputnik]

Wouldn't it be funny if a posse showed up in western duds while these cons were in the office?