I was approached by a man in a gas station parking lot who was very friendly and sharply dressed in a black suit. He was probably 45ish, black hair, very clean cut, and spoke broken english with a strong italian accent. He motioned to me and acted very humble and in need.
He then asked if I spoke Italian. I said no, but I am and wish I did. He went on to show me a card that read "Italian Fashion" and in the middle his name "Max." He went into this story about how he was attending a fashion show in town and he had a bunch of samples that were given to him he wanted to get rid of.
Of course, I was a bit skeptical but he kept going on about how he needed to get to the airport but he did not have the room for all of the clothing. He mentioned that he wanted to get his son a laptop with the money. His plan was to give me a gift of two Armani suits and four leather jackets. He would only charge me for one of the suits which would be $800.
I told him I did not carry that much cash on me. I then began to question where he was working and where he was going. He pretended to be offended and showed me an Italian passport which was pretty impressive. He then put the clothing in my back seat and asked how much money I had. It was rare for me to keep $500 on me, but I happen to have it that day.
Anyway, long story short, I gave him the money and he gave me four leather jackets and two suits. Even if knockoffs, not too bad a deal. Of course it makes it worse now that I ran across this website. I am usually very sharp and not one to be taken advantage of, but this guy was WAY convincing. I had a few flags pop up in my head, but he got me.
I did end up writing down his license plate which was on a rented car with Virginia plates because I suppose deep down inside I thought something shady was going down.
Easy come, easy go.
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