Recently, Toronto netizens reminded that if you meet an Italian on the road asking for directions, you must pay attention to it, this is an old-fashioned scam.
This Christmas, all the Christmas gifts of Little A's family were leather jackets, because Little A's 70-year-old father encountered a scam and bought three leather jackets for $390.
Source: Reddit
Little A's father has just recovered from cancer, and while walking on the road, he met an Italian man who waved for directions and beckoned Little A's father to get into the car.
After getting in the car, the man started chatting. He said he had come to Toronto to attend a fashion show, asked if Little A's dad had a wife (and later asked him if he had children), then took out these leather jackets and said he was going to give them to my dad, thanking him for helping to show him the way, and telling him that it was genuine leather sent from a special place in Italy.
Then the man explained that he was going on a plane and couldn't take these jackets with him, giving a whole bunch of reasons.
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But as he spoke, these leather jackets changed from "gifts" to asking Little A's father to pay. Little A's father later told that it was not clear how it evolved like this.
Then he drove Little A's father to the bank and asked Little A's father to withdraw the money. My dad paid $130 per jacket. These jackets are clearly not genuine leather and may be worth up to $15-$20. They have legitimate-looking labels, and at first glance the jacket looks pretty good, but it feels cheap in the hand (in a clear plastic bag).
Little A didn't know what the person looked like or what kind of car he was driving, only that he had an Italian accent and asked for directions to the airport.
Netizens hotly discussed: "This is already an old scam more than 30 years ago"
Source: Reddit
A similar scam is: "I'm out of gas and out of money, I can sell you this ring/AirPods/watch, it's real and valuable". I once had a guy jump in front of my car and try to scam me with AirPods like that, I told him I would bring him a barrel of gas, but he refused.
Source: Reddit
"My dad had this happen a few years ago, near Toronto's lakefront. ”
Source: Reddit