Italian World Fashion, Vincenzo A.
His dog -eared and stamped (used) Italian passort read Vincenzo Arena
Same scam just happened to me almost verbatim, but for $1,500. He even offered me to stay with him in Italy!
Well dressed italian man in late 50's stopped to ask me for directions to Newark Airport in order to catch a flight back to Italy. Claimed to have left New York City Javits Center fashion show. It was 1:30 PM. A very dark complexion, he also may or may not be an ethnic gypsy and speaks with a thick Italian accent with broken english. Said he had to make it to airport by 5:00 pm to return his White/OffWhite Nissan Murano with New Jersey Plates. He even showed me what appeared to be a rental agreement, passport, and gave me 2 business card 15 minutes apart.
He showed me his "Patek" watch, and "$300" tie. He wanted to know how much money I had on me. He insisted that if I did not have enough money, that we could go to an ATM together.
After agreeing to follow me in my car to get him going in the right direction past my flat, I went upp to get more cash. Again, he was well dressed with shirt, tie, custom shoes, gold watch, etc. He was believable. I agreed to see what he had. He also kept saying 'I am a business man, you are business man no? He said if he takes the goods back too Italy he'll get hit for the customs taxes.
He took from the back seat 2 - 3 bags of what appeared to be Reportage Armani designer leather and suede jackets with original tags hologram foil stamped and all. They seemed of good quality, but what jackets he later put in my car smelled like chemical sprayed, and the hangers broke as soon as I lifted them up after he left.
He then proceeded to trump them up to be worth up to 9 thousand dollars. Said he did not want to take them back to Italy because the import tax he would have to pay would be too great. He said make me an offer. Very insistent and pushy talking fast. I said I did not need any clothes and any offer I would make would be too low. I also felt he may have been armed. I had him follow me to my home where the doorman saw him and can identify him.
My phone ringing off the hook because my girlfriend could not get through while I was with him. Under duress I earlier offered him $400. For 6 articles of clothing he showed me in his car. He played not being offended no matter the offer, but was and finally said $1,400 would be enough. I wanted to do was get away from him really but went on with it. I said I had only little money, but he kept on insisting it was a great opportunity. He eventually followed me to a nearby flat I have where I got the other money.
Big mistake. We pulled out of the parking lot where the doorman was upset the had pulled in for a moment. It should be noted that at this point he placed the clothes in the trunk of my car. He additionally counted the money short by $100, but I was afraid to refuse the extra $100. He tricked me by placing other clothing in the trunk.
So, I finally parted with $1500 for 5 articles of clothing, thinking it was 6 pieces of good merchandise, all supposedly leather. On leaving he begged me not to tell anyone about the deal, beacuse it could mean his job. I did no want to act too suspicious of him becuase aghain I felt he could be armed. He was not Armani-ed
Once I handed the monies over he sped off, asking again for directions. As I see he never needed my directions to Newark Airport in the first place. All the clothing had foil stamped tags, plastic bags with the name 'Collezioni A.', and even larger seudo cloth bags with the same name printed on them. A report will shortly be filed with the local police department and the clothes with tags I will photographed if they have a police website.
I encourage anyone who was scammed by this scum to report it to their local police department as well so they can build a file of information which they can use to catch this person (s). I was stupid not to get a plate number. It is only a matter of time before he is caught. I hope for his sake he does not expose himself to direct contact with anyone he scams.
Scammed One in Jersey City, NJ
He was in a White Murano Nissan with Jersey Plates
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