Two guys in a small SUV pulled up to me on my way back to the car from the ATM. Driver said he worked for Giorgio Armani and wanted to give away a few leather jackets before he flew back to Italy later in the afternoon. He got out and showed me three very nice jackets, a long black dress jack, a short and very supple motorcyle style jacket and another short suede jacket in a very light beige. All were tagged with R.G.A. Barcode tags and matching sewed in tags.
After he hands me the jacket he tells me about his little "problem". Says he and his friend (who basically never said anything, apparently no speeka da english) had gotten ripped of by some shady ladies the previous evening and woke up to find their wallets missing... So no money and no credit cards. Said he needed to turn in the rental car and showed me the rental agreement with $384 and change as the estimated total for the week. He also showed me a passport with a good picture and the name Marcello Fonseco and birthdate in April of '85. Also said Napoli on it but I could not make out any discernable address. He gave me his email address (which was returned later when I tried it) He also gave me his cell phone number and home phone number, but scrawled them so badly that I really couldn't make them out last night.
He said he would wire me back the money when he got home if I gave him my email address. He had a pretty convincing tear in his eye and was actually shaking while giving me a hug when I said I could go back to the ATM and get him some money. I was thinking it MIGHT be a ripoff... But the jackets seemed to be about the best quality jackets that I have seen lately and figured I could get back most of my money by selling two and keeping one...
Then I looked on ebay last night and found a reference to R.G.A. As being knock-offs and now I don't know what the"re worth so will probably just give them as gifts??? An interesting $400 lesson in trusting (some) folks.
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