Oldest Scam Rears It's Ugly Head
Tue Sep 21, 2010 1:05:11 pm

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I was saddened and cross on Sunday whilst working. I am a stall holder and enjoy the camaraderie between my fellow workers. We help each other, offer advice and are all generally well-meaning and pretty hard working (try putting up a gazebo in heavy winds on the seafront at 7 in the morning on a Sunday!). Well this particular day was much like many others except for two very callous women who took my neighbour for some of his hard earnt cash with a scam as old as the hills. Basically, two women dressed as muslims (I don't believe for a moment that they were muslims) came into my gazebo and pointed at some silver coloured earrings and said "I buy" so I duly wrapped them up (all £2 of them), and passed them over. She opened her purse and to my astonishment she had (approximately) six £50 notes and nothing else. She offered a £50 (bear in mind she's buying something for £2) and immediately alarm bells were ringing. The day had been fairly quiet so I had to think fast, how much do I need this £2 sale against the chance that the £50 is dodgy so I declined and politely suggested she return with smaller change. I then watched her go into the next gazebo and buy something. To my horror the lovely chap in the next gazebo came over 5 mins later really upset and said"Guess what just happened to me?" Immediately I wished I had trusted my instincts just that little bit more and offered a word of warning but it's very sensitive ground here and how on earth could I begin to accuse people of something that I had no proof of. Well, what she'd done was buy a silver looking bangle from him for £3 then to say "It is silver isn't it?" which he replied "no madam, not for £3" and she said it was a present and wanted her money back, which he duly gave her. Meanwhile her friend was firing questions about other items for sale and then she said "I'm £20 short, you need to give me £20 more" which, sadly, he did. Guess what? Yep, she robbed him of the £20. Now OK, lesson learnt, be more vigilant but what a rotten bloody trick. We asked all the other stall holders along the parade and she'd tried it on all of us, managing to rob 2 people of £20 each. The only good part of this story was my fellow stall holder that had been taken decided that he would see it as she'd bought his bad luck for £20 and that was a price worth paying! Good attitude my friend. So, be warned of this old-fashioned scam that sadly is still doing the rounds and still working. I also find it distressing that they were dressing up as Muslims which is an injustice on the Muslims I have met (quite a few) who have been the most warm and generous people one could wish to meet. Shame on you fraudsters.