conned / robbed in shopping center this morning

Curious Geroge

Hi, we were hoping someone may be able to help. My nephew was conned this morning in galway city and I thought maybe someone maybe able to help find the culprit. In an attempt to get himself an iPad, he tried to buy one publicly after meeting someone in the tesco carpark in the shopping center. Off course, the reason for this is that the money was simply taken. The guy was driving a dark navy 1999 4 door renualt megane, aged between 30 and 40, unshaven with short hair and a light complexion. No contact details available but the man knew galway city very well and we suspect he is from galway. Reward available to anyone leading to recovery of cash. Garda have been notified.

zarquon

Did he buy it via a listing website like adverts.ie or donedeal? If so it may be possible to get an I.P trace done. If it was just a random offer in the car park then there's not much you can do without a reg number for the car, although i would doubt anyone would be foolish enough to hand over cash to random people in a car park offering cheap ipads! Never hand over cash without examining and obtaining the goods, consider it an expensive lession - Caveat Emptor.

Curious Geroge

zarquon wrote: »

If it was just a random offer in the car park then there's not much you can do without a reg number for the car, although i would doubt anyone would be foolish enough to hand over cash to random people in a car park offering cheap ipads! Never hand over cash without examining and obtaining the goods, consider it an expensive lession - Caveat Emptor.

I know, poor lad would be dis-owned if he was'nt so upset.

kippy

Curious Geroge wrote: »

I know, poor lad would be dis-owned if he was'nt so upset.

Can you provide more details?
(that the second poster asked for)

There may also be CCTV in that car park around it somewhere.
Does he have a mobile number? Email address etc?

biko

Those details should go to the Gardai, which I assume the OP's nephew already have given.
If adverts.ie was involved you can start a thread in Adverts Support for directions.

Curious Geroge

kippy wrote: »

Can you provide more details?
(that the second poster asked for)

There may also be CCTV in that car park around it somewhere.
Does he have a mobile number? Email address etc?

Afraid it was a purchase in a carpark. He does part-time work and was approached; fell hook line and sinker for it but he's young and naive to the world. The guys in the shopping center are looking through the footage so I'll post up the reg number if we get it.

I know this forum and those that post; the community here is quiet strong so hoping that something may filter onto it that may help.

fishy fishy

there definitely should be CCTV cameras there although I would imagine that they would have false plates on the car if the knew they were going in for a con job - Listen, we all get conned once or twice before we cop on so don't be too hard on your nephew - I'm sure he learned his lesson, as did you and all the rest of us in our lives.

kippy

Curious Geroge wrote: »

Afraid it was a purchase in a carpark. He does part-time work and was approached; fell hook line and sinker for it but he's young and naive to the world. The guys in the shopping center are looking through the footage so I'll post up the reg number if we get it.

I know this forum and those that post; the community here is quiet strong so hoping that something may filter onto it that may help.

Ah yeah, we were all young once, I sometime wish I was of the age where those kinda things we new to me to be honest.

With a bit of luck you'll get the reg. The kind of guys that carry out these scams are not always the smartest, so there's a strong chance the plates will be legit.

Curious Geroge

fishy fishy wrote: »

there definitely should be CCTV cameras there although I would imagine that they would have false plates on the car if the knew they were going in for a con job - Listen, we all get conned once or twice before we cop on so don't be too hard on your nephew - I'm sure he learned his lesson, as did you and all the rest of us in our lives.

kippy wrote: »

Ah yeah, we were all young once, I sometime wish I was of the age where those kinda things we new to me to be honest.

With a bit of luck you'll get the reg. The kind of guys that carry out these scams are not always the smartest, so there's a strong chance the plates will be legit.

Cheers; it'll take him a while to recover but its a lesson learnt for life..

biko

It sounds like he may have been taken in by the old "switch the box" trick.

The seller stays in the car and shows you a box with some tech inside. When you reach for the money he switches it for a similar box with some sort of weight inside. Unfortunately it's a classic trick and many have fallen for it.

BhoscaCapall

What has age got to do with it? People of all ages can be stupid.

kippy

BhoscaCapall wrote: »

What has age got to do with it? People of all ages can be stupid.

Life experience helps a lot in these situations.
Generally age and life experience as well linked - not always mind.

BhoscaCapall

kippy wrote: »

Life experience helps a lot in these situations.
Generally age and life experience as well linked - not always mind.

I don't know. I've never been ripped off by a conman (not in the conventional sense anyway, not sure if banks count?:pac:) yet I'd never fall for anything like this.

Maybe some are just more astute, and for the others, well you can learn at a price it seems.

As for the OP's nephew, he might not be in possession of an iPad but getting ripped off is half the fun of being an Apple consumer

kippy

BhoscaCapall wrote: »

I don't know. I've never been ripped off by a conman (not in the conventional sense anyway, not sure if banks count?:pac:) yet I'd never fall for anything like this.

Maybe some are just more astute, and for the others, well you can learn at a price it seems.

As for the OP's nephew, he might not be in possession of an iPad but getting ripped off is half the fun of being an Apple consumer

You may have read a thread like this or read or heard it before, or else you were brought up with stories of such like.

ScumLord

Curious Geroge wrote: »

he was young and naive to the world.

FYP, he's not so innocent any more. With any luck he'll find the guy. It's unlikely he'll get any money back though, at best he's learned a valuable life lesson.

Cleahaigh

Is this the vehicle?

Curious Geroge

Quick update. The security team in the galway shopping center were very helpful so we've footage of the car involved and hopefully the garda in galway at least catch the guy. I think that there's little chance of him getting his money back though but hopefully it prevents it happening to someone else.