I'm hoping maybe someone else has experienced or heard about this, and can tell me what (if anything) to do. Sorry it's long, I don't want to leave anything out that could be relevant!
A couple of weeks ago I went to a grocery store to buy a couple bottles of wine. This grocery store happens to be in a somewhat dangerous area of town (near USC in Los Angeles), not sure if that's relevant or not. I was carded (obviously) at the register. On my way out (just outside the doors), two middle-aged men approached me--they were both wearing civilian clothes, and one had a police badge around his neck.
They asked for my driver's license without explaining why, and I refused at first because the whole thing felt very sketchy. I asked repeatedly why they needed to see my ID, and they were very pushy and seemed not to want to answer. They finally said that it was a random check and that I looked too young to be buying alcohol (the wine was in a plastic bag at this point, so they were only assuming from the shape that it was alcohol). After a lot of pressuring I handed them my ID, still not sure whether to believe that they were actually police, since they were not in uniform.
One of them became much friendlier after I handed them my ID and tried to make conversation with me (trying to distract me??), while the other walked a few steps away. I asked what he was doing and the guy said he was phoning in my driver's license number to make sure it was valid. He was on the phone for about 30 seconds, then came back and handed me my license and said they were "all done." I just wanted to get away because the whole thing still felt very confrontational and off, but since they returned my ID to me I assumed there could have been no harm done.
My question is... does this happen?? Do police do this, out of uniform? Could they have actually been criminals just posing as police to get my information?
I told FI about this yesterday and he told me I should be worried about identity theft and checking my credit report--but my social security number is not on my driver's license, so do I actually need to worry about that? I then called my father to get his take, and he said he was only worried that they could be potentially stalking me (thanks, dad).
Anyone have any ideas?
A couple of weeks ago I went to a grocery store to buy a couple bottles of wine. This grocery store happens to be in a somewhat dangerous area of town (near USC in Los Angeles), not sure if that's relevant or not. I was carded (obviously) at the register. On my way out (just outside the doors), two middle-aged men approached me--they were both wearing civilian clothes, and one had a police badge around his neck.
They asked for my driver's license without explaining why, and I refused at first because the whole thing felt very sketchy. I asked repeatedly why they needed to see my ID, and they were very pushy and seemed not to want to answer. They finally said that it was a random check and that I looked too young to be buying alcohol (the wine was in a plastic bag at this point, so they were only assuming from the shape that it was alcohol). After a lot of pressuring I handed them my ID, still not sure whether to believe that they were actually police, since they were not in uniform.
One of them became much friendlier after I handed them my ID and tried to make conversation with me (trying to distract me??), while the other walked a few steps away. I asked what he was doing and the guy said he was phoning in my driver's license number to make sure it was valid. He was on the phone for about 30 seconds, then came back and handed me my license and said they were "all done." I just wanted to get away because the whole thing still felt very confrontational and off, but since they returned my ID to me I assumed there could have been no harm done.
My question is... does this happen?? Do police do this, out of uniform? Could they have actually been criminals just posing as police to get my information?
I told FI about this yesterday and he told me I should be worried about identity theft and checking my credit report--but my social security number is not on my driver's license, so do I actually need to worry about that? I then called my father to get his take, and he said he was only worried that they could be potentially stalking me (thanks, dad).
Anyone have any ideas?
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