Did I meet a scammer?

It's unlikely that a person would be trying to get to Schwerin from S-Marzahn at 10pm, Schwerin is about 2 hours away by train from Berlin Hauptbahnhof, and the last trains usually leave around 10 or 11pm. The story about forgetting keys and needing to get a spare from an aunt seems like a common tactic to gain sympathy. You can report this incident to the Polizei at the nearest Polizeirevier, they may be able to tell you if there have been similar incidents in the area.

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fwiw, i think this guy was prob trying to play on your sympathy, and i've heard of similar scams happening around Berlin, usually targeting people who look like tourists or locals who might be willing to help. honestly, i'm surprised he didn't ask to borrow your phone or money directly, that's usually how these scams go. next time, if you're in a similar situation, you could try pretending to call the Polizei, that usually scares them off, or just tell them you're waiting for someone and can't help, that way you don't have to engage with them at all.

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S-Marzahn is a bit off the beaten path for tourists, so this guy may have been targeting locals who are more likely to know the area. His request to send you money and exchange it for cash is a red flag, as this is a common method for scammers to launder money or commit other financial crimes. If you're concerned about similar incidents happening in future, you could contact your local Burgeramt to see if they have any advice on how to handle suspicious situations like this, or visit the Polizeiberatungsstelle on Landsberger Allee for more information on staying safe in the area. You can also report the incident to the Polizei, they may be able to increase patrols in the area around S-Marzahn to prevent similar incidents.

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Worth noting that Berlin street names have official umlaut and ß rules that trip people up, so a sign showing "Strasse" versus "Straße" is not actually a spelling error, just an older transcription. Same with "ue" versus "ü" (e.g. "Kantstrasse" vs "Kantstraße"), both are considered valid renderings and you'll see the ß version on the blue Schilder and the ss version on older plaques or in databases that predate Unicode. If the difference you're seeing is between those two forms, there's nothing to fix and both are technically correct.

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if the signs u mean are the old enamel ones on the house facades those are often protected as Baudenkmal so nobody's allowed to correct them even if the spelling is outdated. the binding version is whatever is in the Berliner Strassenverzeichnis plus the entry in the Liegenschaftskataster, so if u tell me the street i can point u to the right Bezirksamt Mitte or Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf page. tbh the merged district thing is real but the facade signs are a separate story, theyre basically museum pieces at this point

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honestly thats super common in Charlottenburg, the district offices were merged from older Bezirke and nobody ever fixed all the Schilder. if its a real street you can check the official strassenverzeichnis on berlin.de, that list is what the Burgeramt actually goes by. which street is it? some of the Kaiserdamm / Kantstrasse signs are notorious for this.

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