Italian Leather - SCAM!

Nice weather was back in Toronto for a few days, so I headed out to find a Staples to purchase an art pad for a project I had an idea for. There was a Staples up Yonge Street in Ryan & Ben’s old Midtown neighbourhood, and  I wanted to go and see the changes in the area since we last were there.

Back to Midtown for a visit

When Ryan and Ben lived in the area they had a nice apartment right on Yonge St, and it was close to everything but there was a massive construction project across the street that made it noisy and dusty. I had to wash their balcony of dust every time I went out to watch traffic. Today it was a big improvement; the condo complex across the street is finished and the neighbourhood has none of the ubiquitous Toronto building cranes working in the immediate area; a definite improvement!

I found the Staples, bought my art supplies and headed home. 

Across from Ryan’s old apartment building I stopped for a traffic light to wait for the walk signal. A car pulled up to the red light, and the window rolled down. “Pearson Airport?”

This guy was nowhere near Pearson Airport and a strong foreign accent identified him as not local. Now since I have been in Toronto for three months, I have become pretty comfortable with finding my way around and thought I’d help this guy out. I leaned into his window and said I could give him directions, but it was not easy to get there from downtown Toronto. He backed his car up and unlocked the door, offering me a seat. He explained that he was visiting from Italy attending a fashion show in Toronto and had gotten lost on his way to the airport, handing me a business card explaining that he was from Milano, Italy. 

Not being familiar with the Sat-Nav in his rental car I got out my phone and checked the route, explaining that his easiest route was right out Yonge St to the 401, head west and then to look for the clear signs to the airport. He seemed to understand and thanked me profusely, saying if I even come to Milano Italy to contact him and he would show me around his city. He then asked my what size I took, and when I told him he reached into the back seat and pulled out a plastic bag with a leather jacket in it. He handed it to me saying I could have it as thanks for helping him. He explained that it was a sample from the show and he did not have room to bring it back on the plane anyway. He said it was valued at $1500 in stores.  He then pulled another out and asked if I had family here who might want one as well. 

Now this was sounding a bit “too good to be true” so my suspicion was seriously aroused. Then another coat was shown, this one was a winter version with lining and a hood, supposed to worth $3000.00 retail.

Then the pitch began, I could have all three coats for half the price of one of them. Now I was wearing my nice new winter jacket I got at MEC for $48.00, and I explained I was not interested; I never paid $700 for any jacket. He explained what a great deal it was, and asked how much I was willing to give him. I do not carry much cash on me at any time; paying for everything with a credit card and I showed him that all I had was $50 cash. 

“No problem.” He said, “We could go to a bank machine.”

Nice Italian Leather Coat

I realized that this was not a legit deal, and I told him I was not interested, but he continued, trying to convince me it was a good deal. By now I was just getting annoyed and had enough of the fellow, so I said I was leaving. 

Obviously annoyed he said “Ok!”, took the $50 and handed me the winter coat. 

I took the coat and got out of his car. 

Now earlier I had explained to him that to get to the airport he had to turn right and go up Yonge St, but he turned left, back downtown. I guess he wasn’t really headed to the airport. 

Back home I tried on the cat and it really is a very nice one and fit well, so a pretty good deal for $50. Searching the Internet I discovered that this is a popular scam in many cities all over the world, but most of the people commented that they were charged $150 or more, so I did not do too bad and the exact same coat is available online for $250 o
n discount sites, and one was advertised for $6000, but that was somehow connected to Ferrari Automobiles, so probably not an accurate price. I’m not sure if they are stolen or just knock-offs, but I now have a nice new Italian leather winter coat.