A man with a thick Italian accent approached me and asked if I spoke Italian. After I responded know, he proceeded to try to converse w/me in broken English, while his partner waited in a white Jeep rental car.
He first tried to exchange business cards, so I took his, but refused to give mine. He claimed to be a fashion designer and says that he just finished doing a fashion show in Las Vegas. He said that he had some clothes left over from the show that he did not want to take back w/him to Italy. He repeatedly kept saying that he was not selling them, and not selling anything.
After showing me 3 jackets, allowing me to examine them, he placed them into a bag and gave them to me saying they are for free. He repeated again that he was not selling them and gave them to me for free.
After this, he said he needed help. He said he lost all his money and his partner's money in Las Vegas. They have no money, credit cards or anything. All they have are clothes left over from a fashion show. They needed to get to LAX to catch a flight but had no money to pay for their rental car. He said he was really ashamed to ask for money because he has money back home, but it was 5PM on a Friday and they were saying that the banks in Italy are closed so they couldn't call and get any money.
I told him sorry, gave him the clothes back and was about to walk away when the man started begging and pleading saying, Help me, help me, help me please! He showed me the car rental papers and their passports. It really looked like he was going to start crying or have a nervous breakdown or something.
I examined all of the papers, which looked legit, but I still had my doubts. They even offered to let me call the rental car company to see if I could pay for the rental car w/my credit card. I took them up on this offer and called Budget rental car company, but they said I would have to drive down to LAX in person to make the charge.
I think they were going to give up on me when his partner started their car and I changed my mind. I went to the ATM to pull out 300 dollars to cover the rental car. He asked for my name, address and phone number so that he could pay me back. After this, he started thank you, god bless you, etc. His partner said they would wire me the money via Western Union the next day, which of course, never happened.
This all happened around 5PM in on Friday, October 6th in Costa Mesa, CA at the corner of Harbor and Baker.
The label on the bag of merchandise reads:
REPORTAGE
R.G. A
MADE IN ITALY
IMPORT EXPORT
The business card reads:
M. Salvati
Moda italiana
fashion designer
Milano los angeles parigi
g.A.A.X.R.G.A.E.A.
P. Zza di spagna, 18 bis Tel. 06.7836425
MILANO ITALIA Internet: www.moda. Rb. It
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