Armani Scam in Dublin

carlowboy · 03-03-2011 9:46am

Sorry to be bumping an old thread but this fella is still at it, got stopped by him on my way back to work at lunchtime on Mercer Street yesterday. He was very convincing but what threw me was his total lack of an Italian accent. He sounded more Middle Eastern if I'm honest. Anyway, he asked for €350 for the suit and two Armani jackets. I sniggered and said good luck. He didn't look happy when I refused him, as if I had highly offended him :rolleyes:

vandriver · 03-03-2011 10:01am

My brother was taken in by this scam 24 years ago,and it was old then!

Retail Hell · 03-03-2011 10:04am

It happened to a friend of mine in Abu Dhabi, same story guy looking for directions to the airport, had some suits left over from a fashion show, he would be charged tax to bring them back in to italy, and would do a deal for myfriend.

Now considering my friend is 6'4" ish what where the odds on having 3 suits that fitted him?? Bingo his assistant had them just the perfect sizes, and they threw in a suede Armani jacket,

The deal started at 500E or 2500 local cash, but i think he talked him down toabout 800 local about 160-180e. The suits are very nice but not armani, they are Tailored but not bespoke, and the price of having them fitted by an indian tailor in the middle east is peanuts, so my friend is delighted, unfortunately the Emporio Armani suede jacket didn't fit him, so he gave it to me :-)

3 quality Tailored suits for less the 200e? I know its a scam but still 3 good business suits for that kind of cash is hard to beat. It didn't faze him when i sent him a link from the irish times that included the scam being done in Ireland, he just laughted and said I still got a good deal.

So are the suits stolen originally? How can these guys get them for so cheap, etc...

ghosttown · 03-03-2011 10:09am

This happened to ny dear old Dad (God rest him), about 22 years ago in Kimmage - £80 (a lot then) - and he got a big set of cutlery and 2 sheepskin jackets..........

Thing is, my brother still gets a wear from one of the jackets still, and the cutlery (although seldom used), still has the shine and gets used.

So we laugh about it and think he didn't do too bad after all.....RIP

Hazys · 03-03-2011 6:20pm

How could you buy a suit off a guy in the street? How does he have your size?

kevin99 · 03-03-2011 10:45pm

That guy approached me as I sat in the car park of McDonalds, Artaine Castle. I thought he was Romanian.
He knocked on the window and said he had two leather jackets which he was left with following a wholesesale fashion exhibition in Dublin.

Told him I wasn't interested. He persisted. I told him he was invading my space.
He continued talking so I threw half my burger at him, straight in the kisser.
Told him to bugger off or I would call security.
He started yelling at me in some other language and then walked off.
I saw him eyeing up a woman sitting alone in her car several spaces down from me. He started hassling her, although she wouldn't wind down the window. I got out of my car, shouted at him to leave the lady alone.
He turned around saw me walking towards him and he ran off.

Gergiev · 10-06-2012 2:07am

Yep...this scam, or a variation on it, is still doing the rounds.

I was walking in Dunleer (Co Louth) yesterday evening and a car pulls up on a portion of the footpath and drives behind me for a few yards. When I went to walk on, the car pulled on another few yards beside me. I turned around to show my annoyance as this was slightly dangerous and the driver rolled down his window and asked for directions to Dublin Airport - sound familiar?

The story was he's Italian from Sorrento (also flashed his passport), lost and looking for the airport and got robbed in Belfast of €3,500 the night before so has to unload his last 2 designer suits before leaving - initially he offered me the suits for free, as mentioned by others, as a tip for giving him directions.

Then he suggested I just give him something for the sake of it as he can't be bothered to take them home unsold...then the story was he needed some cash for petrol to get him to the airport. I looked across and could see the gauge was showing half-full and challenged him on this and he immediately responded a hire car must be returned with a full tank - very good!

I indicated I wasn't interested (I've heard about these stories before) and his last gambit was to ask for a few euro for a cup of coffee. Funny thing was he kept making the sign of the cross every minute or so as we spoke/negotiated. I was tempted to suggest we say a rosary together and all would turn out OK for him but resisted the thought and walked on.

Farther down the street, I walked into the bookies and met an acquaintance of mine, told him what had happened and he told me he'd met someone like this doing the rounds during the year and bought the few jackets he was unloading for a modest sum. In fact he was wearing the suede one and it was fine, as far as I could see.

Afterwards, I was almost sorry I didn't give him €20 for the 2 suits and give them to St Vincent de Paul if they didn't fit and treat it like any other wager, but in retrospect I'm glad I didn't play ball.

He's 45-50-ish, with grey hair and glasses and driving a small, red 2010 D-registered car.

It's the same scam I keep reading/hearing about but if the suits happen to fit you then you might come out ahead if you're laissez-faire about this kind of thing.

That's all, folks...

dudara · 10-06-2012 2:28pm

zombie thread, therefore closing

dudara

Armani Scam in Dublin

Comments