I think that people need to be made aware of a con man who is doing the rounds. I have heard he has managed to take money off a well known artist, a travel agent, and last week he arrived at my nursery school.
He arrives at the place of business, proceeds to act very clued up on whatever the nature of the business is (i.e. discusses the various pieces of art he has bought, the destinations he is flying to, etc.), and claims he wants to make a substantial purchase / order - in my case he wanted to enroll his THREE children in my school. Whilst arrangements are being made he receives a phone call regarding his son, who is ill and requires three pints of blood. Apparently the doctor wants cash before he will issue the blood. He always takes this call in front of the person he is dealing with, so that we become aware of his situation. After becoming familiar with the target person, and making them feel that they have secured a legitimate business deal (generally by insisting on invoices), he asks to borrow the money, since the banks are usually closed at the time. For some reason he left without asking me for any money, and I suspect that it was because my school is not open in the afternoons, so there was no reason for us to meet again after the bank’s closing time. After receiving an e-mail this afternoon explaining how he had pulled of his scam on an art dealership it was obvious that it was the same guy, as most of the details of the story he fed me, and the story he fed them were the same. I was instantly weary as I overheard his phone conversation, as I remember reading about a similar story regarding the travel agent a few months ago, and based on this if he had asked me to borrow money I was not going to agree. He is obviously very busy at the moment, and perhaps by sending out this e-mail more people will be saved from this scam.
He arrives at the place of business, proceeds to act very clued up on whatever the nature of the business is (i.e. discusses the various pieces of art he has bought, the destinations he is flying to, etc.), and claims he wants to make a substantial purchase / order - in my case he wanted to enroll his THREE children in my school. Whilst arrangements are being made he receives a phone call regarding his son, who is ill and requires three pints of blood. Apparently the doctor wants cash before he will issue the blood. He always takes this call in front of the person he is dealing with, so that we become aware of his situation. After becoming familiar with the target person, and making them feel that they have secured a legitimate business deal (generally by insisting on invoices), he asks to borrow the money, since the banks are usually closed at the time. For some reason he left without asking me for any money, and I suspect that it was because my school is not open in the afternoons, so there was no reason for us to meet again after the bank’s closing time. After receiving an e-mail this afternoon explaining how he had pulled of his scam on an art dealership it was obvious that it was the same guy, as most of the details of the story he fed me, and the story he fed them were the same. I was instantly weary as I overheard his phone conversation, as I remember reading about a similar story regarding the travel agent a few months ago, and based on this if he had asked me to borrow money I was not going to agree. He is obviously very busy at the moment, and perhaps by sending out this e-mail more people will be saved from this scam.
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