Ive been Conned

I read this topic a few days ago: (http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=190620&page=1&pp=20&highlight=blanchardstown), I said I'd never fall for it.. but guess what, I did. Yesterday morning I was in the same car park as that topic, between Argos and the Motorway store in Blanch. At 11:20am I was approached by an Italian in a '04 D 27674' Mercedes Benz. I was in my Van cleaning it out after buying some equipment from Motorway. He asked me to go over to him and he explained he was an Italian sales agent trying to sell Leather Jackets. He explained that he was going back to Italy tomorrow but he would have to pay taxes on these jackets if he flys home, so he was trying to sell off the jackets at bargain price to avoid these taxes.

Anyway at this time I taught no way, he's a con but then he started showing me all his info, where his Irish business partner was based in Co Kildare, he showed me his passport and well, his leather suitcase. He really looked the part. He had designer gear on, shirt tie, designer glasses, a Tan etc.....

All this started to convince me that maybe, just maybe he is telling the truth here (you don’t see knackers going round in 04 mercs) He said if I bought one jacket, I'd get two others for free. The Jackets were all in high quality bags, the smell of leather was strong, even had spare buttons and a certificate of authenticity.... He even got his lighter and put a flame to one of the suede jackets to prove its quality.

At this point I remembered this topic and decided to buy one of the jackets, but I personally would check the jackets myself, and then put them into my van, lock the van and then pay the man. He agreed, so I went ahead and gave him the money. I was half expecting his Italian accent to change into a Finglas accent and for him to pull out a knife, but he was happy, I was happy and that was that. I taught I found a bargain until I got home, went on the internet and found this story from New Zealand which sounds very similar to mine


"Police are warning New Zealanders to be on the lookout for people peddling ‘leather jackets’ after receiving numerous complaints and enquiries throughout NZ over the past four months.

Police have established that an Italian male has imported a container load of Italian branded jackets at the price of between $16 - $24 per jacket.

His associates then travel around the country targeting small businesses. The scam begins with ‘salespeople’ telling prospective buyers that they have attended a leather expo or conference in New Zealand and are flying out of the country shortly. They do not wish to run the risk of paying for over-weight baggage and will offer the prospective buyer a special deal for their remaining leather jackets at cost price"

OKay, I'm young and I fell for it. I guess the best teacher is experience. I have learnt so I'm just spreading the word about my experience so that others may avoid it.

My brothers a gard, and he's checking out the reg. If I find that the car was rented, I can contact the rental company and find who was renting the car at the time. Of course the conman could of given false info to the rental company but I'm going to have a go at getting my cash back.

Although the jackets are nice ....

This seems to be on the increase as my father, of all people was approached on Dollymount beech by an Italian selling jackets. Luckly he didnt fall for it as I did