back to article German cops cuff Brit potato iPod scammer

German police have cuffed a British conman for fleecing Germans with the classic "bag of spuds" electronic device scam. According to the Sun, the unnamed* man and an accomplice ingeniously posed as skint tourists in Dusseldorf, offering laptops, iPods and cameras in return for quick cash. When the "gullible" locals took …

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  1. Winkypop Silver badge
    Badgers

    Pomme Fritz

    Blimey!

  2. Sooty

    ahh, this old chestnut

    Cheating someone who is clearly attempting to buy stolen goods. Aren't conmen like these actually performing a public service?

    If you try to buy an ipod off a random man in the street, you know it's not exactly legit. If you are conned you deserve everything you get, for all you know someone could have been killed being mugged for that ipod!

  3. lansalot

    potatoes ?

    Technical support here - have you tried re-boiling your PC ?

    First person to make a gag about it being full of "chips" gets handed their coat.... ?

  4. Adrian Challinor
    Grenade

    "...possibly armed..."

    so, shoot on site then?

  5. SuperTim

    Okey cokey....

    Pig in a pokey!

  6. daz disley
    Pint

    "...possibly armed..."

    with what ?

    a spud gun ?

  7. J Ford

    combo scam

    @sooty

    If you read the article, the 'ruse' in this case was that of the sellers being skint tourists, presumably selling their own goods to raise money rather than stolen ones. They're taxing the gullible, not necessarily the dishonest.

    It's a neat combination of the old 'need bus fare/train fare to get home' scam with the laptop-bag-stuffed-with newspaper/potatoes' trick. Imaginative, these con artists.

  8. Maty

    Ah yes ...

    I purchased one of those. It's my I-potato. Doesn't need batteries, is environmentally friendly, and Britney Spears never sounded better.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Maris Piper calls the tune.

    So the first thing he did when lumbered with a bag of iSpuds is call in the Peelers?

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Just a matter of time...

    ...before a bag of spuds costs more than the average laptop.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    A fool and his money!

    How could any sensible person fall for this trick! Its bad enough they agree to buy good off some stranger with no warranty.

    They got what they paid for if you ask me!

  12. Annihilator
    Coat

    Dept of bleedin obvious

    "Police described the 20-year-old fugitive as possibly armed, and warned the public to give him a wide berth"

    That was the only description? Possibly armed? Shirley that is general advice? Disappointed they didn't request that the public kept their eyes peeled.

    At least the scam-ees will be able to cut their spuds up extra small, fry 'em and fashion their own ipod out of the fresh microchips..

    I'm going, I'm going...

  13. John Savard

    Privacy Law?

    One thing in the story is a new one on me. Except for juvenile offenders, I've never heard of a privacy law guarding the identities fo people facing criminal charges.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Something like that happened to me

    I walked into a shop looking for a computer, but walked out with an apple.

    Saying that I couldn't be happier with my apple.

  15. 4HiMarks

    buy worthless electronics

    I had something similar happen to me in a Best Buy. I bought an external name-brand modem (yes, for dial-up. It was years ago.) I took home the (apparently) factory shrink-wrapped box and opened it. Inside was a short length of plastic-wrapped chain. Luckily, the store is very near, so I took it back and they gave me a new one, no questions asked, although I insisted on opening this box in the presence of the Returns clerk.

  16. JB
    Thumb Up

    Title

    Kartoffel durch Technik, as they say in Germany!

    The old bait 'n' switch rides again!

  17. Disco-Legend-Zeke

    Similar scam running in Vegas.

    In the Las Vegas version, the scammer offers users a sealed box adorned with pretty printed sales literature glued on.

    The mark is told she cannot open the box till he has the cash.

    In the particular news story the guy is in the parking lot outside a BEST BUY electronics store with 5 or 6 identical boxes inside his trunk.

    Upon opening, the victim finds laptop sized clay tiles hinged with duct tape.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    No sympathy...

    Darwinism in action, surely....

  19. Sooty

    @j ford

    i did read the article, i just didn't believe that anybody, however gullible, could be stupid enough to really think that they were skint tourists

    anybody who falls for these things, falls for it through greed, nothing more.

  20. David 45

    Apprehended

    One caught. Well, thank goodness for small murphies

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Did they get what they deserved?

    Did these naive fools get what they deserved - a bag of spuds?

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    RE: Privacy Law?

    In many European countries arrested people will not be named as they have are not yet guilty of anything, you sometimes might get the initials of the accused. Compare this with the UK and USA were peoples lives are destroyed merely by unfounded accusations.

    Please tell me, what benefit would there be if they actually name someone who is facing criminal charges?

  23. Aortic Aneurysm

    sounds to me like...

    they have been watching the real hustle and realised how easy it is to prey on peoples gullible side.

  24. Ebeneezer Wanktrollop
    Thumb Up

    Was Vista on the laptops?

    If so I'd rather have the potatoes anytime.

  25. SimpleUser
    Megaphone

    Ship'm back,

    those Brits, should sell their potatos in Kensington Gardens. Or, alternatively, move'm to France,

    even better the more I think of it. Get them out, now!

  26. Shakje

    @Adrian Challinor

    GERMAN police, not BRITISH police.

    Also, "shoot on site"? Fail.

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