Was this a scam, a potential theft or genuine?

[MsSweeney]

Yesterday morning, I parked up to make a quick purchase from Aldi, which was across the road. Metered parking starts at 8am, which gave me just over 10 minutes - so fairly preoccupied. I was wearing my work lanyard.

As I got out of my car, a man approached me. He was holding a bank card in one hand and his phone (on the app screen) in another. In broken English, he said something like 'I have no money on my card to use my phone. Please can you call my friend's number from your phone so that he can transfer some money to my card'.

I didn't.

What was going on here?

The intent was to steal your phone.

Definitely a scam or planned theft.

Probably phone theft. I had a similar thing a while back, encouraged the guy to go into the shop to ask. Unsurprisingly he didn't want to...

Thanks all. The thought of having my phone stolen like that leaves me cold.

Never call a random number either, some of them cost an absolute fortune

Yep planning to Nick your phone. Or call some outrageously priced phone number.

not only planning to nick your phone, but also have you unlock it and hand it them... with access to all your apps, which may include payment information. Bank apps, Amazon, shopping apps, google pay, etc..

All unlocked.

He may just have needed help, I’d have suggested going to the customer service desk in supermarket and asking to use their phone.

sometimes people are just in need of some help. It is possible

Unlocking phone doesn’t unlock banking apps

With all due respect, he’s an adult and I’m sure he’s aware himself (since I assume he uses them) of the local shops etc around he could go to. The best advice unless there’s a child involved is to do as the OP and just not interact.

You're right, but it does give access to thinks like Amazon and other things like notes where people might store passwords, it gives access to mail where you can change passwords and all sorts when you can click links.

Could be distraction theft.

or could be someone who had no money who needed you to call his friend to get money transferred,

It's a scam; if he really needed to contact his mate he could have gone to McDonalds or the nearest place with free wifi and used WhatsApp from there.

Lack of planning from a complete stranger doesn't constitute an emergency for you so if there's a next time, just ignore them and/or pretend not to understand their request and keep your valuables safe and out of reach.