PSA: Hilarious Scam going on in the West Village

[thenanyu]

You can check it out for a LOL - he might still be there. I was walking to Magnolia Bakery from north of Bleecker, and passed by a guy in a parked car who waved me down on the corner of Bleecker and Bank. He had a thick Italian accent and said that he couldn't find where he was on a map that he had (understandable, it's the Village).

I pointed it out to him on the map and told him how to get to the Midtown Tunnel. He said thanks and I was ready to be on my way. As I started to walk away, he told me to wait and asked me "Do you have interest in Italian fashion?" I had sized him up before, like any good SFer and noticed that his shirt had a nova check collar and his sweater had the little RL pony on it. I replied "yes", thinking he may have wanted directions to the Prada store or something.

He then grabbed two garment bags from the back seat and said that he wanted to reward me for helping him. This was his story, to the best of my recollection:

"I am a fashion photographer for Valentino Group- I just finished a shoot at Saks. They gave me these suits as a gift and I want to give them to you. I cannot keep them because they remind me of last night, the worst night of my life. I was robbed. By a woman. I took her back to my hotel after a party... for the sex, you know? Then she took all my things - my camera, all of my money.

Here is my Italian passport [shows me his passport] and I need to fly back to Italy today. I must pay my rental car fee once I reach the airport and I need some money to help me get home once I am back in Italy, can you please help me out, I need $700, I will give back in 12 or 13 hours, I promise."

Me: "Keep your suits."

I am going to go back to see if he is still there today.

 

[intent]

I heard a similar story from my father once. Someone told him he was a representative at a clothing convention and ready to leave town, and wanted to get rid of some leather jackets that were samples. In saying so he immediately increased the thought of getting a good deal in my father.

 

[Garage/Surf Rock]

This is the dumbest scam I've ever heard of.

 

[Dmax]

This seems like a common scam. A similar sounding dude tried talking to me a few months ago next to 57th street as I was getting into my car. They usually try to sell you some "Armani" sounding pleather jackets though. Here is my post from April:

Originally Posted by Dmax

There is another fairly popular scam when a guy tries to sell you some cheap vinyl "Armani" jackets. Some guy driving a Hyundai SUV with Maryland plates approached me in Manhattan a few weeks ago as I was getting into my car and asked if I speak Italian. He then said for directions to the airport and started to say he worked in the fashion industry and how he was on his way back to Italy right now. I then remembered reading about a scam that begins the same way and started to shake my head. The scammer dude got the hint and left to look for other pray. He didn't even get a chance to tell me about his extra jackets. Reading reports on the web it seems almost identical scams are taking place all over the world. I doubt anyone on SF would fall victim to these scams since they would see the "Armani/Versaci" jackets for what they are. Doing a search brings up lots of hits.

 

[unjung]

When I was much, much younger (probably 18), I worked in a small office in a small town. One day I was alone in the office and two similarly young gents in suits walked in and proceeded to pitch me on the idea that they worked for Samsonite and were doing market research to assess interest in a new duffel bag, which they then showed me. I soon learnt I could have said bag for a low sample price. I fell hook, line and sinker. The bag was actually reasonably useful for a few years until I over-packed it on a trip and the side ripped. I think I paid $40 so I just tossed it.

 

[tor]

Oh weird, I was just there, dining at Little Owl.

 

[rjmaiorano]

I fell 'victim' to a similar scam in San Diego a few years back. Mine involved surround sound speakers.

Got approached by two guys at a gas station saying their boss had over-bought on an installation they were doing. They had a system left over that they wanted to sell before they got back to the store so they could pocket the money. I had heard of the scam before so thought I'd give em a go-round and see what would happen.

They started out at 750 bucks, handing me a fake brochure that was actually well done, showing the system retailing at 5600. I told them I wasn't prepared to spend that much and kinda laughed. After a few minutes of them giving me **** and me not having it, they finally accepted my 40 bucks I had on me... I was curious to see how this ****** system sounded... It actually was better than I expected because I expected it to not work at all, but it did. Gave it to the salvation army the next day.

It was called Klips, instead of Klipsch.

 

[dusty]

Originally Posted by rjmaiorano

It was called Klips, instead of Klipsch.

 

[imageWIS]

I have to admit, being from a 3rd world country, and one that's pretty corrupt at that has made me very, very cautious when it comes to 'to good to be true' events as described above.

 

[rjmaiorano]

Originally Posted by imageWIS

I have to admit, being from a 3rd world country, and one that's pretty corrupt at that has made me very, very cautious when it comes to 'to good to be true' events as described above.

+1. I'm not from a 3rd world country, but my father is from pretty extreme poverty so the values I was brought up on taught the same ****. Everything involves $, sadly.

 

[Johnny_5]

Originally Posted by intent

I heard a similar story from my father once. Someone told him he was a representative at a clothing convention and ready to leave town, and wanted to get rid of some leather jackets that were samples. In saying so he immediately increased the thought of getting a good deal in my father.

This is pretty common and the jackets are always leftover from a convention at the Javits center.

Originally Posted by rjmaiorano

I fell 'victim' to a similar scam in San Diego a few years back. Mine involved surround sound speakers.

Got approached by two guys at a gas station saying their boss had over-bought on an installation they were doing. They had a system left over that they wanted to sell before they got back to the store so they could pocket the money. I had heard of the scam before so thought I'd give em a go-round and see what would happen.

They started out at 750 bucks, handing me a fake brochure that was actually well done, showing the system retailing at 5600. I told them I wasn't prepared to spend that much and kinda laughed. After a few minutes of them giving me **** and me not having it, they finally accepted my 40 bucks I had on me... I was curious to see how this ****** system sounded... It actually was better than I expected because I expected it to not work at all, but it did. Gave it to the salvation army the next day.

It was called Klips, instead of Klipsch.


My dumbass friend fell for this. Pathetic.

 

[The_Jar]

I got the white van speakers scam done to meh the other day

 

[lefty]

I brushed by a fellow on Madison and heard his glasses hit the pavement. I offered an apology over my shoulder but he ran me down and sad that his new glasses were now broken. He held the glasses up to show me the cracked lens and complained that they just cost him $150. I asked to see the glasses and he reluctantly handed them over all the while telling me his sob story. They were $2 plastic glasses that were scratched to hell - clearly they had taken dives up and down the avenue that day.

I handed them back and said, "Dude."

He left.

lefty

 

[fredfred]

The fake product and the glasses scam are the 2 most common scams in the city, followed by the shell game. (And assuming we exclude the MTA, and City Hall, which are the biggest scams around).

Fox 5 did a full report on the product scam about a year ago.

 

[Pezzaturra]

Have you considered that If you have been approached by one of these scammers you probably look dumb?