“Why buy from an unlicensed trader? For your cash, you get no receipt, no guarantee and no money back if the goods are faulty or stolen.”

This is yet another scam to be aware of:

Police issued a warning about a scam being used by unscrupulous con artists. At approx 13:20 hours on 10/12/08 the victim, a 28 year old man, was approached in the street by the suspect, who asked if he would like to buy a laptop worth £1,500 for £700. The man accompanied the suspect to a white car in High Road N22 and was shown a laptop in good working condition. The victim agreed to buy the laptop and went to a bank to withdraw cash, accompanied by the suspect. He handed over the money and took the bag that he believed contained the laptop. Some time after the suspect had left, the victim opened the bag to find that it contained two bottles of water and no laptop.

Haringey CID are investigating and looking at CCTV This is a well known con in which unsuspecting victims have handed over anything up to £600 for a bag that turns out to contain nothing more than bottles of cola, magazines, catalogues, bricks or even onions.

Two other cases have been reported in Haringey in November: On 19/11/08 in Roseberry Gardens N4 a 53 y/o man handed over £170 for a bag of bottled water. On 10/11/08 in Maidstone Road N11 a 22 y/o man handed over £250 for a bag of onions. DC Suzie Chantry of Haringey CID said:

“We really must urge people to exercise extreme caution when they are approached by anyone in the street trying to sell anything. You could find yourself handing over good money for bottles of water or even onions, we’ve seen it all! Even if you do get the item you’re paying for, there is a real danger that you could be buying stolen property, which in itself means you could be arrested on suspicion of handling stolen goods. Be safe and only buy from reputable outlets.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact Haringey CID on 020 8345 0712, or to remain anonymous call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.