Kara from Not A Number reports:
today, on our day off, we got a call from our employee saying that Big Hands Guy was back (just a half hour ago). […]
here’s this guy’s M.O.: he usually has a NY accent, says he’s from Alaska (he’s real friendly, see), and his 8-month pregnant wife is sitting in a coffee shop down the street, and she has all the receipts in her purse. this is after he’s scouted the premises, found a high-ticket item, and brings it up to the counter to “return”. luckily, this time, after today trying to “return” a $60 clock, our employee said no returns w/o receipt, and he left (strangely, w/o the clock) to “go get the receipt”. police came, they’re out looking for him right NOW.
he’s called Big Hands Guy, and looks like this: about 6’2″, about 210 lbs, has dark hair that’s short but curly, often a mustache, today a red sweatshirt but carrying a grey coat. the biggest distinguishing characteristic is his hands: they’re swollen, esp the fingers, and reddish, due to some medical condition. sometimes he says he needs to use a restroom fast due to his medical condition, possibly to just get in for a while.
i mention all this because he shows up 2-3x a year, and is well-known to some businesses, but newer businesses or new employees don’t now! he seems to pick shops (always retail, in order to steal) that have new, young employees. we all need to be leery of anyone who endangers our businesses and neighborhood. lots of businesses stay online and many could use a reminder of this guy to warn all employees.
Keep your eyes out for this big, swollen, sticky fingers.
In honor of my endocrinology final tomorrow: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acromegaly. Sticky hands guy could have acromegaly, though I don’t think that’s relevant to this situation 🙂
Yeah, we have had this guy try it on us, too. We have a no cash refunds return policy — exchange or store credit only — which turned him off right away. He did try to “return” a whole bag of yarn, once, tho.
Stay sharp and educate your employees and neighbors.
I know the guy well. It’s good to hear the warning, he has tried where I work several times.
Apparently, according to staff in several Queen Anne Businesses, this gentleman tries this there as well, usually during the winter months. He has been using this scam for years. He will also attempt to get staff to walk into a backroom, when available, and attempt to either steal money from the register or any available tip jars.
Be warned, and if you get a picture, share it with local businesses.
THIS MAKES ME SO ANGRY!!!
Only because after reading this, do i finally now believe that my thoughts that this guy ripped me off (the store) were real. This was YEARS ago and i think it was maybe 24 dollars, but at the time i just wanted that creep outta there. He fed me the same story too. Alaska, pregnant wife, and he totally had creepy hands. I recall he also complained about his feet too!
Ohhhh im for sure called the cops if i even SEEEEE him.
Big Hands Guy came by Studio Evolve, our Pilates studio this past Saturday, around 10:30, and about 10 days earlier, on a Thursday evening. Both times he was in only briefly before being asked to leave, didn’t get anything. I was planning on posting something here about it – good to hear the warning. We don’t have any cash and only a very few retail items, but I suspect he looks for our client’s wallets. This was the third or fourth time he has been into the studio. He leaves easily enough when asked. One of our instructors also saw him looking in the window of Vera Fitness, by greenlake, this past Friday night.
How interesting that this guy is all over Seattle! When I was employed with Daniel Smith Art Materials, my employees at both the Georgetown & Bellevue stores used to tell me about Mr. Big Hands and all the ways he would try to score cash. They had radar on him and he was never out of anyone’s sight. Don’t recall the pregnant wife story with us though. I only got a fading glimpse of him as he scooted away one Saturday after we called the cops … and here I thought it was all just an urban legend.
His physical symptoms and his m/o sound like he is a herion addict…hence the swollen hands and the desperate attempts…
“Big Hands” was in the store I work at in Wallingford Ctr. last week Thursday night, and again last night. I confronted him the second time, told him that we know he is a thief and not to come back. He looked shocked, but did leave when confronted. He told me about Alaska, the pregnant wife, and the “spider bites” that caused his swelling as well. He showed me that he had a hospital armband on last week, backing up spider-bite his story. Watch out, folks! This guy tried to use the store owner’s name as a way to make me trust his story.
He was just in my store, The Folkstore on Roosevelt (5210-A) , my staff asked him to leave – “hey, you are big hands guy!” – and called 911. Thanks so much for the head’s up, we gave him the info just a few hours ago. Yay Wallyhood!
You know what they say about guys with big hands…big GLOVES!
Thanks for the heads up, I’m sure it will just be a matter of time before he visits our new store next to Petosa’s music.
Thank you for being so proactive! I love Wallyhood too! 🙂
I think I saw this guy on Tuesday! I was in Queen Anne at Wink Cupcakes and there was a man who looked very similar to the sketch the Not A Number folks released that was trying to “return” several Wink cupcakes t-shirts. A line formed, because the girl at the counter couldn’t figure out how to process a return without a receipt and he started to act very shifty. He claimed he was from out of town, leaving the next day, and that his wife had the receipt elsewhere. He went to retrieve said receipt and didn’t come back. When I left the store with my cupcakes, he was wandering the street. I’m almost positive this was the guy!
He came into our shop, Seattle Mosaic Arts, today. He also said he was waiting for his wife. We are an art studio and had lots of people making mosaics and it didn’t make any sense that he would be waiting for his wife. He had his hands in his pockets and even though I had read this post last week, it all slipped my mind. When I kept asking him how I could help him, he pretty quickly decided to “wait outside” and abruptly walked out. As I watched him leave he help up his hands – as if to show me it was indeed him – so I think this blog/post REALLY helps. Thank you so much for the heads up. It was definitely unnerving and being forewarned made a big difference.
He’s found his way to Green Lake: http://www.mygreenlake.com/2010/03/big-hands-guy/
His “medical condition” may be an unfortunate but not uncommon side -effect of IV drug use, which makes sense given his need for quick cash.