If guys are selling xxxx in a parking lot it is either stolen or knock off, plain and simple, unless it is windshield repair, which may also be a scam, the jury is till out on this one. The best part is always the story, "yah we got shipped a master box of five projectors but they just billed us for one projector the boss told me to unload the rest cause he wants cash to go on a vacation."
You can get some really nice knock offs though that are worth some decent money. The coats may not be official Armani's but could be worth what they were asking. My uncle was in China on business and their hostess took them to a shopping mall full of store selling knock offs. My wife and I fool everyone, me with my perpetual motion non winding Rolex (which is excellent quality) and her with her Versace purse.
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Last edited by Derek Sutton; 11-11-2013 at 08:29 PM.
Heh, I had a friend who got suckered by this scam probably 6-7 years ago, exact same thing, Italian guys with fake Armani coats and a white van. He was pretty proud of the deal he got too, was sure the coat was legit and let me tell you, this thing was horrid looking, like one of those cheesy leather coats 70's mobsters used to wear (well, according to television and film anyway). I think I actually laughed when I saw it, laughed harder when I heard how he got it and told him there was no chance it was real.
Sounds like the scammers may have updated the coats, but everything else sounds the exact same and given this has been going on for at least 7 years in Calgary alone, they must get a lot of suckers doing it.
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Lol. White van Armani Coat scam. You would think since the speaker scam is so old and played they would at least use a different type or colour of vehicle. By the way, the speaker scam is still around, only now its on Kijiji.
Call the RCMP, they deal with federal legislation concerning counterfeit items. Also about the terrorist crack, not sure what's so funny, they do make and benefit from counterfeit goods.
Speaking of scam, I saw a couple poppy-selling people around downtown last week that didn't look like they should be selling poppies (if you know what I mean). I think they were just a scam to make some cash from the people's donations.....
I was parked at south Center this afternoon when these two guys with thick Italian accents pulled beside me asking for directions to get to the airport, so I helped them out and we made some small talk. They went onto tell me they were with a company that designs coats for Armani and they had some samples they didn't want to take back to Italy.
Instant alarm bells....
So they showed me these "great leather coats" and told me I could buy 4 "samples" for $700. They showed them to me and honestly they were actually nice but all I could hear was "white van scam" in my head. I knocked the guy down to $250 for 3 of them and told him I needed to transfer money on my ipad and would go to the ATM at the willow park shell.
So I Googled Fake Leather jacket scam with the guy right there, sure enough the same AE Emporio a Collezione scam popped up and I asked him to come over and showed him that someone else bought all 5 coats for $200 and asked him to match the price...while a YouTube video of the same scam going down was playing for him
Hey just went quiet and left.....
But tell everyone you know, someone somewhere will fall for this.
During the entire encounter, did you bother to write down or take a pic of the license plate number, face, etc of the people trying to pull this scam?
Or did you just decide to remember the specifics so you could run to CP and post about it right away? Please tell us you at least called it into the non-emergency line (403-266-1234).
During the entire encounter, did you bother to write down or take a pic of the license plate number, face, etc of the people trying to pull this scam?
Or did you just decide to remember the specifics so you could run to CP and post about it right away? Please tell us you at least called it into the non-emergency line (403-266-1234).
There's not really much that can be done. Pics of the people who are doing it are helpful, but not much else is of any use. The plate is almost always stolen, and 'buyer beware' covers the rest.
The coats one is 'new' to me, though. Generally I hear some sob story about how someone bought gold watches/rings/jewelry, usually to help out the poor person who really didn't want to sell it, but is willing to take (however much the person got bilked for) for gas and food for their family, which they are just trying to get back to...
Basically, if someone is trying to sell you something out of a van, vehicle or some other means that isn't an actual 'proper' outlet for that...keep 'buyer beware' in mind, and that you most likely are getting hustled.
It keeps going because they do make some serious coin off of it. The jewelry ones I hear about often start in the $250+ range and go up quite quickly. If 'you' think that you are pulling a fast one on someone and 'helping them out' and 'getting a good deal' in the process...you are the one being rooked, not the other way around. "If it sounds too good to be true..." applies heavily here.
Last edited by WhiteTiger; 11-12-2013 at 01:48 AM.
There's not really much that can be done. Pics of the people who are doing it are helpful, but not much else is of any use. The plate is almost always stolen, and 'buyer beware' covers the rest.
The coats one is 'new' to me, though. Generally I hear some sob story about how someone bought gold watches/rings/jewelry, usually to help out the poor person who really didn't want to sell it, but is willing to take (however much the person got bilked for) for gas and food for their family, which they are just trying to get back to...
Basically, if someone is trying to sell you something out of a van, vehicle or some other means that isn't an actual 'proper' outlet for that...keep 'buyer beware' in mind, and that you most likely are getting hustled.
It keeps going because they do make some serious coin off of it. The jewelry ones I hear about often start in the $250+ range and go up quite quickly. If 'you' think that you are pulling a fast one on someone and 'helping them out' and 'getting a good deal' in the process...you are the one being rooked, not the other way around. "If it sounds too good to be true..." applies heavily here.
Well actually if the plate is stolen its a bonus as you know have a hot plate which the police will be BOLFing for. As far as the buyer beware, that's bs. Knowingly selling counterfeit goods while portraying them to be real is a federal offence.
Well actually if the plate is stolen its a bonus as you know have a hot plate which the police will be BOLFing for. As far as the buyer beware, that's bs. Knowingly selling counterfeit goods while portraying them to be real is a federal offence.
Well, when most folks call, it's quite some time after so while it is yet another plate to BOLF, it's not like they are much help..."Yeah, 2-3 hours ago, I bought this stuff...No, I don't know what way the van left..."
I guess with brand name stuff it's a bit different, but I'm usually used to dealing with jewelry. Most are careful to not say that it's some kind of brand name jewelry, and by the time the person figures out that it's not worth what they paid for it, the seller is long gone and the buyer is SOL. "This guy said this gold watch was worth $500, and so I talked him down to $250, and when I got it appraised, it turns out that it's worth $50!" that sort of thing. And...selling things for more than their worth is not a crime (it's not nice, but it's not a crime)
Last edited by WhiteTiger; 11-12-2013 at 01:56 PM.
My folks have a friend who is continually falling for scams, and she was telling me just the other day about some fake coats that he bought in a parking lot. The details sounded nearly identical to Gundo's description.
Although I'm not going to defend the scammers - they're dirt bags, no question. But some people are just gullible and are easy prey. My parents' friend, for example, has fallen for every scam in the book. He has sent money overseas, invested in things that promised a ridiculous return, bought "valuable" products that ended up being worthless, etc. And each time he has lost money, sometimes substantially. Yet he continues to fall for these things and is convinced that a massive return is just around the corner. The fact that he is up to the eyeballs in debt at retirement age seems to be accelerating it.
These scams exist because some people will fall for anything. Repeatedly. An in-law even fell for the "we can give you a lower interest rate!" telemarketing scam and lost a good chunk of money. Really people?
There's a couple of ladies who go around Stephen Avenue with flyers for orphans in China. Total scam, the materials they have look so cheap and I just saw them at Chinook yesterday. I imagine these people cast a wide net.
Yeah the girls totally balked when I asked how much I needed to donate to get a tax receipt.
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