A BUNCH of conmen were thwarted in their plans to stage dodgy auctions in Campbeltown and Dunoon at the weekend.
Lee Roberts, divisional trading standards officer for Argyll and Bute Council was alerted when advertisements appeared in The Courier and The Dunoon Observer.
‘It looked like a classic bait and switch operation,’ he said, describing how the tricksters sell impressive looking electrical goods to people in the audience at knock down prices. The happy customers are in fact part of the ‘scam’ and the ordinary members of the public who then go on to buy get far less than they bargained for.
Mr Roberts approached both hotels and warned them and when they in turn approached their customers they seemed to melt away. Addresses given turned out to be false.
‘I haven’t seen this scam for about 10 years,’ said Mr Roberts, who added that trading standards officers across the UK compare intelligence reports of bogus operations.
‘The same company had a sale elsewhere which resulted in complaints to the hotel which hosted it and the trading standards.’
The group of people concerned are believed to work out of Manchester and Leeds.
‘Perhaps they have tried it elsewhere and thought they’d get simple pickings up here in Argyll,’ Mr Roberts said.
