I went to the target over on Bellflower earlier today to do some last minute halloween shopping. On my way out of the parking lot I was flagged down by a passing Jeep Compass with two men inside. They asked if I spoke Italian or Spanish, which I don't. And then they began speaking to me with very poor english. The guy said he just wanted directions to LAX, so I wrote them down for him. Then he said he wanted to give me a gift for being so kind to him, and he walked me over to hsi car to show me jackets. He claimed he was a designer for Armani and these were his Jackets that he was showcasing at the Beverly Center. He put three of them in a bag and handed it to me and said that they were mine.
Naturally I was a little suspicious but took the jackets. Then he asked me for a favor. He said he was not getting along with the woman he was working with at the Beverly Center and that him and his friend would like to go home back to Italy tonight. He showed me an authentic looking passport and his plane tickets. His tickets showed that he was scheduled to depart in December. He then told me that the airport will not let him reschedule the tickets without him paying $150 for each ticket and that he didnt have any money and it was too late in Italy to have money transferred. I SHOULD have told him "well why cant you just wait until tomorrow?" but instead I fished out $300 because I figured he had just given me 3 Armani jackets and it would be worth it.
Being that i was still a little suspicious I went ahead and wrote down his license plate number, 5ZJZ777, and left to go home and investigate. Not to mention get yelled at by my fiance for falling for this scam. I almost instantly came across this site and saw that others were also falling victim.
I called the Long Beach PD to make a report, and two officers came to my home and after I explained to them to story and showed the the jackets. They told me there was nothing to be done. No crime has been commited therefore no report can be filed. What the hell? I have never fallen for a scam in my LIFE! But these men were dead on with their acting. They knew exactly what they were doing. Simply put, they're Professional Con Artist.
How can people get away with this? I even called the news to see if they would be interested in spreading word about this quickly spreading scam and no such luck, It's as if nobody cares. There HAS to be something that can be done about this? These people need to be stopped.
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