Beware!

BrensBenz

Not wanting to divert attention from today's atrocity in Balbriggan but......

Tesco car park, Rush, last Tuesday, an elderly man is unlocking his car to get in when a big "posh" car pulled up beside him. The driver climbed out and asked, in broken English: "I am Italian. Can you show me airport?" The elderly man gave directions and the man then said that he was in Ireland, dealing with Brown Thomas and that he had too much stuff to take home on the aircraft. He took several packages from his boot and placed them on the passenger's seat of the elderly man's car. "This is man's suit....€700. This is ladies bag....€300, etc. etc. I give you because you are kind to me."
Several pleasantries later, he said he only wanted to buy something at the airport for his son but that he had spent all of his money on these goods.

Yes, I know, I know, but this is an elderly man, from a different generation, who wouldn't harm a fly and who has lived all his life surrounded by similar people. He took out his wallet and before he knew it, all but one of the packages were back in the posh car, €20 was missing from his wallet and the posh car was heading for the exit.

On examination, the one remaining package contained a ladies jacket but it had torn lining and stains and wasn't fit for the clothes recycling bin.

So, the elderly man is down just €20 and the outcome could have been a whole lot worse but he is shocked at the skill and speed of this con artist and that someone who appeared to be genuine was actually out to trick him. He told his story to his son who calmly announced "Yes, same thing happened to me last week at Blakes Cross. Different story but same style."

I know we Irish have a reputation for helpfulness and I would never want that to diminish but maybe we should gather more evidence before reaching for our wallet or purse! Perhaps boardies, if you have elderly parents or friends, you could, without scaring them, advise them to be careful?

The Hill Billy

Totally off-topic, so split from Balbriggan Shooting thread.

tHB

blastman

Heard of this before, it's a pretty well-known scam...

Username Exists.

That scam is as old as the hills allright but unfortunately it's still working.
Luckily for him it was only €20.
Was there no cameras in Tesco car park to catch the reg?

martinn123

Yea, this guy is an old friend of Joe Duffy.

He was in Julianstown, at the Applegreen last Sat, lunchtime.

So if he was in Rush Tuesday, perhaps he is staying in the area.

Or maybe he just can't find the Airport.

kjbsrah1

Was it reported to the Gardai?

BrensBenz

Username Exists. wrote: »

That scam is as old as the hills allright but unfortunately it's still working.
Luckily for him it was only €20.
Was there no cameras in Tesco car park to catch the reg?

kjbsrah1 wrote: »

Was it reported to the Gardai?

All persuasion to go to the Guards failed. I think the victim is shocked, disillusioned, embarrassed and eager to put the whole thing behind him. That's probably not what you or I would do but we must respect his wishes and hope there is no resulting diminution in his active and outgoing nature.

Best I can do is draw attention to the incident and maybe reduce or even prevent further upset (or worse) for other silvertops.

sneachtaman

Met this guys before in Drogheda. Said he was Italian, but turned out he was Romanian. (A Romanian girl I worked with heard him talking to his colleague, in Romanian)

Very slick guy, very pushy when it was slipping away from him. His 'leather' was in fact plastic. It was an obvious scam to us, but I can see how some could get pulled in.

Masala

Ya.... happened to me years ago with an 'English Gentleman'!!

Gave me the speel for over 10 minutes before I could tell him that I was Student and hadn't a bob on me. Got into a major huff and tore off......

Didn't know of the scam at that stage ... but with no money .... it didn't matter what the deal/discount was as I couldn't afford it.

sneachtaman

not likely to do anything.....

kjbsrah1 wrote: »

Was it reported to the Gardai?

Riesen_Meal

I met this chap once outside the Ulster Bank in Cloghran, tried telling me he missed his flight and wanted to pawn off some designer clothes to pay for his flight home, told him his clothes were crap and something I would never wear and warned the next people approaching the ATM....

Muahahaha

Can I ask is the scam a sleight of hand or a smash and grab, how does it actually work ?

blastman

You buy stuff that seems to be a bargain, only to find it's cheap rubbish, basically.

BrensBenz

Muahahaha wrote: »

Can I ask is the scam a sleight of hand or a smash and grab, how does it actually work ?

In the incident in Rush, more sleight of hand really but the main element is the "drawing in" of the victim. "Because you are so kind to me, I give you these goods which I cannot take aboard a plane. But oh how I wish I had enough cash left to buy a gift for my little son in Italy." The victim happily reached for his wallet and said something like "Sorry, I've only €20 left........" and wham! The note, almost all of the "gifts" and the car is gone!

The victim is down €20 (and it could have been a lot worse) but, more importantly, is confused, feels humiliated and embarrassed. You know, I wouldn't be surprised if there are many more instances of this type of scam where the victim is so embarrassed that he / she tells nobody, not even family members.

And yes, I thought it very unlikely that this conman was Italian. Perhaps he claimed to be Italian because he knew he couldn't hide his Mediterranean colouring; his "foreign" accent and (with the obvious exceptions) that Italians are known to be decent, hard-working, God-fearing, family-oriented people while Romanians, in my experience unfairly, don't get such a great press. Whatever, we have enough home-grown conmen, who talk loike dah, so I don't think it's an imported problem. Perhaps we find it easier to resist an Irish sob story than one from a "lost" foreigner(?)

LeoB

BrensBenz wrote: »

In the incident in Rush, more sleight of hand really but the main element is the "drawing in" of the victim. "Because you are so kind to me, I give you these goods which I cannot take aboard a plane. But oh how I wish I had enough cash left to buy a gift for my little son in Italy." The victim happily reached for his wallet and said something like "Sorry, I've only €20 left........" and wham! The note, almost all of the "gifts" and the car is gone!

The victim is down €20 (and it could have been a lot worse) but, more importantly, is confused, feels humiliated and embarrassed. You know, I wouldn't be surprised if there are many more instances of this type of scam where the victim is so embarrassed that he / she tells nobody, not even family members.

And yes, I thought it very unlikely that this conman was Italian. Perhaps he claimed to be Italian because he knew he couldn't hide his Mediterranean colouring; his "foreign" accent and (with the obvious exceptions) that Italians are known to be decent, hard-working, God-fearing, family-oriented people while Romanians, in my experience unfairly, don't get such a great press. Whatever, we have enough home-grown conmen, who talk loike dah, so I don't think it's an imported problem. Perhaps we find it easier to resist an Irish sob story than one from a "lost" foreigner(?)

Its shocking to think the damage this could do to an elderly person.

This guy is a annual contributor to Joe Duffy s show. Absolute scumbag. Tesco should be sending this footage to the Gardái. With or without the permission of the elderly gentleman. If a crime has been committed it should be investigated.

The people (I think) you refer to don't in my opinion get unfair press they get away with way to much scamming and I think we both mean an ethnic minority.

The majority of Romanian people are very decent but we both have an "element" who are embarrassing! I dont want to be banned so will leave my thoughts there.

I wish the elderly Gentleman well

Dredd_J

A guy I was working with told me he ran into the same scam. He overheard it going down in the car park and had heard about it before.
He was on his way to find a member of the gardai and bumped into one just around the corner. He told him the story and said that all he had to do was look around the corner and he would catch the conman. He just said he was busy and would call it in.
Nothing happened.

kingtiger

LeoB wrote: »

The majority of Romanian people are very decent

there is a big difference between Romanian and Romani

its probably best not to get the two mixed up

LeoB

kingtiger wrote: »

there is a big difference between Romanian and Romani

its probably best not to get the two mixed up

You are right of course but it is a quite common mistake and I have added to the confusion. There is a perception they all come from Romania which is not right.