In Birch Services yesterday(motoring link) I was walking across the car park when a Punto pulled up beside me and the driver asked if I spoke Italian.Answering in the negative he proceeded in English,telling me the company he worked for had given him samples of Armani jackets he wanted to get rid of.Thinking he was trying to flog them off,and not being an Armani type of person,I declined.As I walked away he called 'but I wanta to give them away'.
Upon returning from the facilities I noticed he was still driving around trying to find a 'punter',but no takers,perhaps they had all been watching 'The Real Hustle'the previous night.Eventually he gave up and drove out through the service road.So was I being overly suspicious?I can't see a scam so maybe he was being genuinely philanthropic at this time of year.
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Yes
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A classic scam if ever I heard one. If they were real he'd have been able to unload them fast enough into the trade.
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Yes, yes and ..... yes. You were lucky to walk away without a cheap plastic - leather look alike which cost you ..... more than the 0.99p it was worth.
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This happened to my g/f's parents (who are in their 70's) in the local ASDA carpark about a year ago. Italian guy approached them and said he wanted to give them some leather jackets. Amazingly, her father handed over £70 for these free jackets (2 he had) because he felt guilty!!! (her father doesn't suffer fools gladly trust me, they're quiet people who I reckon bought them to get rid of the Italian creep). The jackets are still in the wardrobe as he feels so bad about them and would never wear them.
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There was one Morrisons car park Beverly this morning. I've seen the same one in a few car parks.
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Had the same approach in Birch services - 'just come back from an exhibition, don't want to take them back' line. Told him where to get off, unlike a colleague who foolishly bought three.
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you should report him to birch services as its unfair trading without a peddlars licence.
he could be arrested
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The fake leather jacket and watches scam has been around for years. Almost all claim to be Italian (often now all "central" european) and on their way from a trade exhibition with too much stock to freight home. Unfortunately greed gets the better of a lot of people and the chance of £500 of goods for £75 gets a lot of takers. The leather jackets tend to look great until they get wet or someone tries to dry clean them, they then become as stiff as cardboard.
(My step son was pleased as punch, having just bought a "£400 designer watch " for £60 - originally on offer for £100 in the local McDonalds, plausible scam backed up by copies of a magazine showing a full colour advert for the same watch - Junk).
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I fell for this scam about 25 years ago in Paris - "just finished a trade show, need money for petrol..."
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Yes. Exactly the same approach was made to me at the Stafford southbound services about 3 years ago. I just said no thanks.
Graham
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Short, dark, curly haired with sunglasses ? Musn't be selling well, he was there over a month ago.
I find respondind 'Sorry, but I dont speak english' in perfect english confuses them long enought for you to be somewhere else
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Go on, get out of the car...
www.mikes-walks.co.uk
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Just ask what their returns policy is....
... or just say 'no'.
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I *always* get them approaching me in Stafford services N'bound if I stop there. Knutsford & Sandbach as well, that stretch of the M6 they must prowl.
Always showing their passport and driving a small Italian hatchback.
Unsurprisingly I haven't bothered with them, it must be a scam, they'll all be fakes......
Like all the dodgy fake designer sunglasses & handbags you can buy on any Naples street corner (not to mention the counterfeit DVDs, dodgy laptops and digital cameras!)
Oh look, the handles on my bargain 'designer handbag' have fallen off after 3 days......
Or in this case, oh look the sleeves have fallen off my 'designer jacket'
cheers
Stu
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mostly covered above........
full expensive advert in decent magazine for whatever the item is
scam operated as above
punter thinks he's got a bargain, because either A, they think it is hookey gear or B,if it's really needed, the advert from the magazine is shown and they think they're getting a right old deal
plays on human nature and wish for a bargain
watches can be advertised in the magazine for £3,000, yet only be £10 worth of cheap rubbish. No offence as you can mark up your price to whatever you like as long as you don't misrepresent it.
'a fool and his money are easily parted' .......another grandma quote
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I was approached yesterday in our local Tesco car park. Would I like a couple of Marks and Spencer duvets that he had spare?
He appeared to be operating from a white van with ladders on the roof rack. Heaven only knows what his main operation is.
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Robbie. Ladders were probably to climb up to people's bedrooms and steal their M&S duvets! LOL
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I have to say that they were very complimentary about my Fiat Panda when they tried to sell me Armani gear. Apart from the fact that I had just read a big sign in the services about dodgy salesmen, they should have known that a scruff like me in mud spattered jeans just wasn't interested in fashion items.
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They work on the basis that a fool and his/her money are soon parted.
In fact the one of the original perpetrators of this scam used to have a website...:-)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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I knowingly bought a fake Rolex for about £7 abroad once. The finish was bad, and wouldn't have fooled an expert, but it kept perfect time for more than 2 years...
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I got taken in once by a guy with a van load of 3kv generators, the one he showed me was a honda engined model and was fine started it etc he wanted £ 180 for it. Knowing they were most likely hot but i could shift them ok i agreed to take two for £160 after a long negotiation.
They were boxed up as honda but when i got them home they were infact chinese non branded engines and very cheap/ poor desighn. Taped the boxes up, drove to another service staion and pulled the same trick on someone else. Got £200 for them so did make a slight profit but felt a complete prat to have been taken in first.
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Yes Borasport,short,dark with grey hair,no shades or he wouldn't have been able to see yesterday.He must have been desperate to try me ,wearing DPM trousers,LaFuma boots and a fleece,not an Armani customer.Gut feeling was no one gives stuff away,even at Xmas.
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Unfortunately I tend to frequent a lot of motorway services as I drive for a living but the most common scam operated from the stylish car's window, normally parked near to the main door to the services, is the sale of Claude Valentini watches. It is basically cheap crap (that looks quite good) backed up by a load of marketing flannel to give it authenticity. The seller normally has a posh looking magazine containing a full page advert for Claude Valentini watches, but it is just another mock up and part of the scam. If you look on the internet you will even find a Claude Valentini website but again it is all part of the con.
They will try to pass the watches off as a really expensive and exclusive brand, but of course they have some spare and are selling them a really cheap price and you could be the lucky person who gets one of these bargains. Don't fall for it, all you will end up with is a crap watch that you think is worth a fortune.
They tend to target men who look stylish and fresh faced, but generally they don't bother me because I am not in a shirt and I come from the direction of the lorry park. They also know that the truckers are wise to their scam and don't bother trying their luck very often. Sometimes though they will try to shout you across to their car, and if I have loads of time to kill, I will go and play them at their own game, let them give me all their spiel, then tell them that it is worthless rubbish. Its a kind of sport!!!
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Have seen a few brought in for repair when I was in the plant repair game.
Customer says its a Honda but straight away looking at it you could tell it was 100% fake.
Honda U.K. where always interested about these fakes, we used to pass the customers details on & Honda normally asked the customer details about where it came from etc & it was always car boot sale or Ebay.
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My £10 Tag-Heuer chronometer is still working after 10 years.
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Once at a local Tesco supermarket, exactly the same type of person approached me.... same story "returning to Italy after trade-show... don't want to take whatever item back"... I obviously declined.
A week later, the same person with the same line approached again.... he obviously had a poor memory and did not remember who he'd spoken to the previous week :-)
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Well, 2013 and he is still going, short Italian returning from Trade show in Black Punto does not want to pay luggage
I met him in Peartree Oxford, all free until he got closer to the kill then he needed money to pay for one for his son
I am embarrassed to say I was taken in, but I simply did not have money to spend on Armani gear which I knew I would never wear and/or probably would not fit me anyway.
I was more worried about him following me to a hole in the wall
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I first came across this in 1985 when I was working as a van driver. Two guys in an Alfa Romeo with Italian plates stopped me as I was getting back into my van and offered me the "samples from a trade show" leather jackets. I must admit I was slightly tempted to buy one, but I had no cash on me and they also said they wouldn't sell me one, I had to buy them all.
I mentioned it to my father a couple of days later and he said, "Oh, the Italian jackets trick, I'm surprised you haven't heard of that before."
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Never seen this guy as I am only in M'way services long enough to relieve myself - and not of money.
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Yer pays Armani and yer takes yer choice.....
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