In the least offensive way possible and speaking as an Englishman, this type of scam could only be dreamt up in the north of England. A conman has been making cash packaging up potatoes and water bottles in original iPhone packaging and selling them as iPhones to unsuspecting customers, This is Hull and East Riding reports.
The first con happened on Sunday, June 17, when a man was approached at Walton Street market and was offered a deal for a laptop or a mobile phone. After being shown a selection of iPhones, MacBooks and laptops and agreeing a price for a number of items, he was driven to a cash point by the suspect to withdraw the money. A laptop bag was handed to the man but after the conman had driven off, the victim opened it to discover bottled water inside.
The second crime happened on Saturday, June 23, on the Kingston Retail Park and involved a man being approached by a man offering an iPad for sale. The victim went to the bank with the man offering the sale and handed over cash in exchange for the boxed product. The fraudster then left before the box was opened and afterwards the victim found a bottle of water inside.
A third victim was targeted outside Sainsbury’s in Spring Bank on Sunday when a man handed over cash for an iPhone. Opening the bag after his purchase, he discovered it contained only potatoes.
It’s amazing to think how stupid you have to be to fall for this kind of trick. The scam also reportedly involved MacBooks and iPads, with customers falling for the con in much the same way. To firstly hand over lots of money to a stranger and secondly not to even check the item was indeed there before he left is unbelievable, and they sort of only have themselves to blame.
The suspect hasn’t yet been arrested, but he must have been pretty surprised that his scam worked. I certainly wouldn’t have bothered with it if I was trying to rip people off.
