Storytime
Some of you might have heard of the Armani jacket scam or some variation of it. Usually a nicely dressed man asks you for directions. Then he hands you a business card with a designer brand and says he works for the brand and is here to represent them for a fashion show. You are so kind to help with directions and to show his appreciation, he shows you these leather jackets in his trunk. He offers to sell you these jackets at a discounted price rather than carry them home. The people who fall for this scam later find out the jackets are cheap knock-offs made out of some kind of plastic or vinyl. My friend fell for this scam and told me about it.
One day I just got out of the grocery store to load my bags in my car. Right when I jumped into the driver's seat, I saw a man in the car to my right waving at me. I rolled down the window just enough to hear him. He was talking in a bogus Italian accent and held up an Armani business card saying he has these nice samples he has leftover from a fashion show that will look magnificent on me. I already knew the deal. So I declined and he drove off and didn't get too far before he was making the same pitch to another potential prey. This was why I did not stop for the woman who signaled me to come over at the grocery store yesterday.
Supposedly, this same scam has happened all around the globe. It is probably ran by an organized crime org.
http://gothamist.com/2014/06/05/armani_jacket_scam.php