It's a scam that has been run in other towns and in other states, and now that scam has moved to Lafayette.

The scam is simple:

A young person (usually a young man) will approach you and ask you for either $12 or $17 because he has locked himself out of his car.  He says he wants to call Pop-A-Lock, but without your hard earned money, he can't pay for the service.  It's nothing but a scam, and a local owner says it happened to him.

One of the owners of the Lafayette Pop-A-Lock company says he is not very happy with someone using his company's good name to try to scam people our of their money.

Steve Gremilion tells NewsTalk 96-five KPEL his friend alerted him that someone had approached him in the parking lot of Hobby Lobby with the whole routine.

Gremilion says he had heard about the scams in other cities, but not in Lafayette.  Now, it's made it to our city as well.

Gremilion says while heading home last evening, he stopped to make a purchase at Whole Foods on Ambassador Caffery.  As he approached the front of the store, a young man in a Drew Brees Saints jersey walked up to him and asked him if he could help him out.  The man said he needed money to pay for Pop-A-Lock to come out and open up his car after he locked his keys inside.

Gremilion told the young man that he would need to get money from his wife inside the store, and he told the man to wait.

Gremilion immediately went inside to call police, and the suspect fled from the scene.

The owner says he just wants people to be aware of the scam, and he hopes that you will simply just walk away.  He also hopes that you remember this is someone using his company's good name to steal your money.  Don't become a victim.

If someone tries to scam you, make sure you report it to police and to the Better Business Bureau of Acadiana.

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