burglar with fake offer of high quality goods

[coldrain2018]

knock on the door, friendly man in uniform of well known retailer, "hello, we've got an unwanted delivery of a fridge freezer here, need to offload it, going for £50"

(normal price more than 10x that)

uniform, paperwork,ID, even the logo on the van all matches that of well known, high quality, household brand name.

Rang high quality brand, spoke to head office, this is a con, everything is fake, uniform, van, ID, paperwork, everything.

I'm not sure how it works but I'm guessing something along the lines of you agree to have old fridge removed and new fridge installed, first person keeps you chatting and out of the way, maybe doing "paperwork"

second person, (maybe third, but I only saw two) under guise of "removing the old fridge" actually removes anything he likes the look of from your house, including maybe fridge, washing machine, microwave, anything. After all, you've just agreed he can take the fridge, you are not going to worry about a bit of in and out, and hearing sounds of removals, are you?

Don't let them in, call the police, and get registration numbers if you possibly can.

Did this actually happen to you, or was it a 'friend of a friend'?

It seems a highly elaborate way to burgle the type of household who would be dim enough to buy a fridge from a dodgy bloke at the door.

no, it happened to me this morning

a couple of hours ago

I think that the box would be empty, or contain some knackered old fridge. It’s a lots to go to for £50 and who would fall for it?

not the burglary,I mean, just the men knocking on the door, offering cut price goods because "the delivery was refused and they have to offload them"

I'm at home recovering from an operation, so I didn't see them myself, just heard the conversation when my son who is home caring for me opened the door. I could hear he was quite excited and thinking he was going to get something nice for me, but I didn't believe a word of it, and shouted for him to come and speak to me, then I told him I thought the goods were stolen. he shut the door and we rang head office, and heard about the fake van scam. head office reported it to the police

It’s a lots to go to for £50 and who would fall for it?

I don't know how it works, the burglary thing was a guess - maybe they are selling stolen goods? It could be anything.

The point is, the van, uniform, paperwork and ID cards are all totally fake, and somebody has planned this all out of a reason, and it isn't a good one, and it is of no benefit to you, nothing good is going to come of believing in them.

The delivery was refused so they had to “offload” it instead of taking it back to the warehouse?
What sort of gormless gobshite would fall for that?

I think the ‘who would fall for it’ question is like the badly spelt emails saying you’ve won a lottery you’ve never entered etc.
If you fall for it they know the kind of person they are dealing with and will come back again to slowly rob you blind.

Anyone who buys a fridge that way is thick and dishonest, and I have little sympathy for them. See also people who buy 'bargain' laptops from people in cars.

well, my honest, naive, teenage son nearly did, and thought he was doing something nice for me.

There is no way a business no matter how well known they are would let a high value product go for £50. They would expect it to be returned to the warehouse to resell.

People who fall for this need their heads banging together.

Buying stuff of the back of a lorry (which is clearly dodgy) is common round here.
Most of it doesn't sound quite as elaborate as this but most of it is clearly nicked or counterfeit. The guys usually scarper very quickly if questioned. When they circulate there is usually a spate of thefts following in their wake - where do you think they get the stuff they've nicked!
Village FB page usually drives me mad (with pettiness) but has been good at getting people to be more vigilant and less gullible and keep an eye out on the more vulnerable residents.

community officers have been round to take a statement

We used to get them offering sofas and beds. Really odd.

I’ve had the classic speakers out of the back of a white van in the street before.

Why draw attention to themselves by knocking on the offchance a randonm person wants a fridge??

I’ve had the classic speakers out of the back of a white van in the street before.

did you spare a passing thought for their legal owners?

Unfortunately people do fall for stuff like this. My grandparent has just been conned in the most ridiculous, elaborate way. She's an intelligent woman who had a decent career. But unfortunately she's now vulnerable at this stage of her life - it's been a wake up call.

I didn’t buy the speakers!!!

Anyway the ‘speakers in a white van’ were usually either needing to be got rid of quick after an illegal rave (it was the 90s), or needing to be got rid of quick because they’d been used to smuggle drugs.