Italian suit scam in Italy

Scammed along Via Bissolati towards Villa Borghese gardens

16/05 Today we got scammed, luckily not too badly.

We were walking along Via Bissolati towards the Villa Borghese gardens. A well dressed man in a car pulled over and hesitatingly asked if we spoke English whilst holding a map. I wen5 over and spoke with him and he explained he was slightly lost and was looking for Termini.

Me being the good bloke I am talked with him then he said we were from New Zealand and his wife was from Hamilton and that the issue was he’d forgotten their anniversary and he was going to Termini to buy flowers on his Amex card.

Then he told us he was with Ferrari as a senior manager in their accounts section and that was fine. Then he said ‘ look you’ve been so helpful I’ll give you this gift that we give all our drivers – it’s special and I’d like you to have it.

I was a bit hesitant but he seemed genuine. He then asked if we had any money he could use to buy the flowers so I handed over several Euros and off he went.

I’m picking the ‘gift’ cost a few Euros less than what we ‘paid’ for it but we got scammed??. You live and learn. We’ve just looked on a website and sure as shit there’s an almost identical situation that was played out except the bloke was from Armani and gave someone some ‘fur coats’. No bloody wonder it works for them.

He appeared to be a well heeled 60 year old who played us…… here’s a phot of my ‘gift’ – the watch works and keeps time, the pen works and I need battery for the torch???

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Encountered this in Rome

Today in Rome my wife and I were crossing the road down by the Tiber and were spotted by a well dressed guy in a small car who followed the EXACT patter described in 1 above.

He started off asking directions “as he wasn’t sure which side of the river he was on”, talked about working for Gallery Lafayette in Paris. He then said he’d give us one of his samples, a jacket, and at this point, we made our excuses and he drove off.

He was very convincing and it was only when we Googled “Rome Scams” and got to this site, that my nagging doubts were confirmed!

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A variation – watches instead of suits

I am ashamed to admit it, but I just today for a variation of the petrol/gas scam in Milano.

The line was that he was a rep from a watch company and he just finished a trade show. He had these left over watches he wanted to get rid of so he didn’t have to pay taxes on them when returning home to Zurich. He had a brochure and was quite good at the spiel.

Of course he needed gas money and even offered to give me the watches when I tried to back away. I guess that is when he got me. The watches were made out to be worth hundreds of Euros. I looked them up and they are some cheap China made crap that looks nice when flashed in front of you.

Wish I would have read about this scam before coming to Italy.

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