Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Wood Green Scamming City
So yesterday, next to McDonalds, there was this bogus auction going on in an empty shop.
I saw one woman come out of the shop having spent £80.00 on a load of tat and another young man was trying to get his money back because he had paid £40.00 for two watches and when he opened them, they looked like fairground prizes.
Other people were coming out having spent money on boxes totally covered in gaffer tape, making them difficult to open. And of course, once the 'sale' was over, people were cleared out and the scammers disappeared out the back door.
Several people called the police but in the good half hour I was there, not once did they turn up.
And of course, over the road, the perfume scammers were at it again.
WHEN exactly will someone do something about this?
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
-
You could try letting trading standards know about it. I know that they have carried out undercover investigations in the past. Details of the service here
http://www.haringey.gov.uk/service_standards_-_trading_standards.pdf
Problem though with this kind of scam though is that they are often quick in and quick out.
-
Permalink Reply by L F T Snowflake on
-
First call I made was to trading standards but they were shut
-
-
Marvellous!
-
Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
-
The nastier side of "pop-up" shops.
Several years ago I walked past a Wood Green shop with something similar going on. I reported it and Trading Standards did visit. But you're right that at weekends there's now no service.
If people phone the police on 101, suggest that at least they look in. Even if sight of a few police uniforms means the scammers melt away earlier, it may save a few people from getting conned.
Reggie, please email Trading Standards and give them the address, time and details of exactly what you saw and heard. During office hours you can phone them. 020 8489 5134
Full Contact details on this page of the Council's website.
If anyone does report this scamming at a time when there are no Trading Standards staff on duty, please ask the out of hours Call Centre to record the date/time/details and to pass this through to the Trading Standards Team so they can build up a pattern of where and when this is happening.
(Tottenham Hale ward councillor)
-
Permalink Reply by Philip on
-
A very nasty practice and one that is very difficult to crack down on effectively. Basically people are being sold things sight unseen and believe they are getting a bargain. I don't hold them responsible as they are not well informed. Don't think a crime is being committed so the cops can't do much. Same thing happens on Westminster Bridge. Find the Lady guys operate with impunity and just vanish when the cops go by. They are so amateurish that you have to wonder, but the tourists don't know any better.
-
-
I find it amasing that so many people still fall for this stuff and that the legit shops don't kick up a fuss. Take away the customers and it will stop so maybe there need to be a poster campaign warning people.
-
-
The problem here is that in an area so richly diverse as this, there are still people who simply do not realise these are scams.
While I was waiting outside, I managed to warn off several people, but like I say, the second they opened the doors again, people just poured in.
What needs to happen is that the shop keepers need to be brave enough to come out of their shops en masse and scream it's a scam' at the top of their voices. And also too, I think they need to put their hands in their pockets to finance a couple of (at the very least) Police Officers and PCSO's (and not private security guards who will do nothing) both in uniform and plain clothes to permanently patrol during busy trading hours. They also need to be working in tandem with HMRC and Benefits Agency to identify these people and ensure they are paying what they should be paying. Mind, what I find galling is a 'trading standards' department is not actually open on the busiest trading day of the week and that its staff are not out pounding the high street looking for scams like this.
-
-
I would imagine that the trading standards team is pretty tiny. I work for a central London borough which includes part of the West End and the team is minuscule.
© 2024 Created by Hugh.
Powered by
