BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — It's a story that's been told over and over again in Boston, going back at least sixteen years: A sharp-dressed businessman walks up to you, saying he has a flat tire and needs money to buy a fix-a-flat, but he forgot his wallet.

He may even flash a business card with his name on it, and promise to meet you tomorrow with the money.

Generations of Bostonians may recognize the figure in this tale as prolific (alleged) con man Elliot Davis, but his latest (alleged) victim, Daniel, did not.

Daniel told WBZ NewsRadio's James Rojas he ran into Davis late Saturday night near Roxbury Community College.

"He started giving me his story about how his tire was flat, and he needed to buy a can of fix-a-flat, and it'd only be like $14," Daniel said. "He didn't have his wallet on him or anything."

Daniel was followed to an ATM by Davis, and said he felt pressured into giving him $40.

"I told him I didn't have any money on me, and he said, oh, there's an ATM down the street," Daniel said. "At that point I was feeling, I guess not threatened, but I knew something was kind of weird."

Police—and many locals—are familiar with Davis. He's been spotted all around Boston, from various MBTA stations to tourist areas to the city's universities and schools, for well over a decade.

The earliest mention of Davis's alleged scams that WBZ could find dates back to 2003, when Northeastern University Police arrested him for trespassing. That article, published sixteen years ago, identifies him as a "con-artist" who had "frequented the neighborhood" for several years with a "story evoking pity," and who had already been banned from campus.

A Twitter search reveals Davis is a popular topic among readers of the local blog Universal Hub, which has posted about Davis several times (once under the headline, "Boston's own Diogenes, forever searching for that one good tire").