80s Oxford Street Scam Shops

[existentialist]

Yeah I remember them. Always found them entertaining and use to be amazed people fell for it.

Yeah. I've always had a good scam radar (scamdar?). I probably get a few false positives, but when I saw those shops in Oxford Street, something about the vibe said "this is properly dodgy", and I never had any temptation to find out more.

 

[Spymaster]

Yeah. I've always had a good scam radar (scamdar?). I probably get a few false positives, but when I saw those shops in Oxford Street, something about the vibe said "this is properly dodgy", and I never had any temptation to find out more.

I always wondered how people were taken in by it. There used to be one of these at Blackbushe Market on Sundays and if you watched what was going on for a few minutes you would see the shills returning their bargain bags to the back of the stage. Nobody ever seemed to look at what they'd bought and think "fuck me, I've just been done" and kick off.

 

[ska invita]

Funny this thread has come up as spent an evening watching London scam youtube vidoes the other night
Starting with this one from last summer - thats the perfume scam

we reckon thats Dalston

and eventually found this video which is a must watch, overhead footage of Oxford Street from the 90s with police-like commentary - really interesting

 

[ska invita]

another one I remember from the 90s was the buy a pair of speakers off the back of a van one - get shown great pair of speakers, get sold cabinets with bricks in them ... i know someone who bought a pair

 

[DotCommunist]

another one I remember from the 90s was the buy a pair of speakers off the back of a van one - get shown great pair of speakers, get sold cabinets with bricks in them ... i know someone who bought a pair

variations on that scam to be found at motorway service station car parks.

 

[ska invita]

variations on that scam to be found at motorway service station car parks.

Hah yeah I got offered a TV on the m4 last summer - that was a new one on me tbf

 

[Spymaster]

Funny this thread has come up as spent an evening watching London scam youtube vidoes the other night
Starting with this one from last summer - thats the perfume scam

we reckon thats Dalston

and eventually found this video which is a must watch, overhead footage of Oxford Street from the 90s with police-like commentary - really interesting

That second vid is fascinating. In real time they were back trading two minutes after the coppers walked past.

 

[Spymaster]

another one I remember from the 90s was the buy a pair of speakers off the back of a van one - get shown great pair of speakers, get sold cabinets with bricks in them ... i know someone who bought a pair

These weren't much more than muggings though. A lot of folk who realised they were being scammed were forced to go through with it with threats of violence from some nasty looking fuckers. They just used the speakers to find people with cash. Proper scum.

 

[The Boy]

That second vid is fascinating. In real time they were back trading two minutes after the coppers walked past.

And didn't upsticks until a matter of seconds before the filth came past. Remarkable efficiency really.

 

[ruffneck23]

It was also ace for pirated games. Used to get loads of Spectrum and Amiga games from Blackbushe.

Yes i remember these, also the same fella used to go to Kempton market on a Thursday , my dear old mum ( RIP ) used to go and she said you have to come...

Me , to some extent humouring her, went to Kempton the following Thursday morning, got to the stall, and it was all crap....

Mum said to me, ' Ask him to go into the back of his luton ' , which i nervously did, and my god was there an Aladdin's cave of films , games , apps etc, ( I remember getting warcraft 3 ,3 months before it came out ) the games were £3 and the films £2 , I went there on and off for about 6 months, when the bloke suddenly wasn't there, turns out someone had grassed him up and he got nicked

 

[Lazy Llama]

Had what I suspect was a variation on the speakers scam last year. Someone knocked on the door saying that a company kitting out a show house in a nearby "apartment" block had ordered too many sets of cutlery/kitchen knives and would I like to buy some at a very reduced price?

 

[ska invita]

And didn't upsticks until a matter of seconds before the filth came past. Remarkable efficiency really.

Just in time market efficiency....model capitalists

 

[DotCommunist]

thats good, pitching the lie just the right side of implausible so there can be an unspoken 'we know this shit is stolen' conversation, the mark thinks they will be getting a bargain from stolen goods and thus when truth is discovered is loath to pursue the matter.

 

[ska invita]

Had what I suspect was a variation on the speakers scam last year. Someone knocked on the door saying that a company kitting out a show house in a nearby "apartment" block had ordered too many sets of cutlery/kitchen knives and would I like to buy some at a very reduced price?

A shit set of knives are dead cheap on an average market stall..I guess this is the common thing, sell market tat for a big mark up as if it were something better

 

[Cloo]

I think I heard about the 'Empty telly box' and perfume scams before I ever saw one in action, but I do remember seeing loads in the late 90s.

Scams are weird sometimes... we got approached by someone in Paris who was trying this scam I heard about, saying they just found this gold ring on the ground and their religion forbids them from wearing gold or some shit, but it looks valuable but we can have it for 70 Euro. I have no idea who actually was going to fall for that, but it seemed to be a thing.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

A shit set of knives are dead cheap on an average market stall..I guess this is the common thing, sell market tat for a big mark up as if it were something better

You get this in my hometown - door to door salesman who give a hard luck story to guilt trip people into buying stuff. Not sure if if it’s a scam but knocking on old folks doors and feeling the need to explain that you’re an ex con trying to earn an honest living makes me suspect it is.

 

[DotCommunist]

You get this in my hometown - door to door salesman who give a hard luck story to guilt trip people into buying stuff. Not sure if if it’s a scam but knocking on old folks doors and feeling the need to explain that you’re an ex con trying to earn an honest living makes me suspect it is.

Had those in the past, window cleaning equipment and household cleaning stuff. Never bought anything because tightness (rather than suspicion) but the google box from 2014 says:

However, North Yorkshire Police states: “No Probation Trust in the country operates a scheme where ex-offenders sell door-to-door.”

 

[ska invita]

Had those in the past, window cleaning equipment and household cleaning stuff. Never bought anything because tightness (rather than suspicion) but the google box from 2014 says:

shit, several times i've bought over-priced sponges and teatowels from these before, believing the tale, but the sellers are usually about 17 years old and frankly good luck to them. Even if it isnt true it almost is iyswim

 

[The Boy]

Just in time market efficiency....model capitalists

They also seemed to have a shared lookout network. Presumably pooling resources to an extent, and eliminating unnecessary expense.

No doubt weren't told if they were working till the morning of their shifts either. Trailblazers.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Scams are weird sometimes... we got approached by someone in Paris who was trying this scam I heard about, saying they just found this gold ring on the ground and their religion forbids them from wearing gold or some shit, but it looks valuable but we can have it for 70 Euro. I have no idea who actually was going to fall for that, but it seemed to be a thing.

Had quite a few people trying to sell me 'gold' rings they'd just found. The people doing it all look so very shifty, amazed they fool anyone, but guess they must do.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Yeah. I've always had a good scam radar (scamdar?).

How's this for scamdar then; stayed at a hotel in Hammamet and took a cab in to the town, the driver warned me that I might meet someone who claimed to work at my hotel, "Hello my friend, remember me? I work in the bar at your hotel..." and so on and they are just out to scam ya. So I went in to a shop and bosh, "Hello my friend, remember me? I work in your hotel..." Feeling quite smart I totally fucked him off. That evening, guess who was serving drinks at the bar

 

[Pickman's model]

How's this for scamdar then; stayed at a hotel in Hammamet and took a cab in to the town, the driver warned me that I might meet someone who claimed to work at my hotel, "Hello my friend, remember me? I work in the bar at your hotel..." and so on and they are just out to scam ya. So I went in to a shop and bosh, "Hello my friend, remember me? I work in your hotel..." Feeling quite smart I totally fucked him off. That evening, guess who was serving drinks at the bar

the cabbie was laughing until late into the night.

 

[maomao]

You get this in my hometown - door to door salesman who give a hard luck story to guilt trip people into buying stuff. Not sure if if it’s a scam but knocking on old folks doors and feeling the need to explain that you’re an ex con trying to earn an honest living makes me suspect it is.

There was a documentary about this in the 80s called The Knockers' Tale which featured the legendary (in my circle of friends) insult 'banana queer'.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

There was a documentary about this in the 80s called The Knockers' Tale which featured the legendary (in my circle of friends) insult 'banana queer'.

Bunch of ICF twats flogging dusters with holes in them, wasn't it?

 

[hash tag]

I remember many of these characters working in East Lane and Petticoat Lane many years ago. In Petticoat Lane there were people selling bags full of bars of chocolate
or the unbreakable crockery Etc. The crockery people were even in the generation game I seem to remember.

 

[ska invita]

I remember many of these characters working in East Lane and Petticoat Lane many years ago. In Petticoat Lane there were people selling bags full of bars of chocolate
or the unbreakable crockery Etc. The crockery people were even in the generation game I seem to remember.

Do you mean East Street in Camberwell? Theres some great mic'd up sales patter on East Street.........

 

[pinkmonkey]

A shit set of knives are dead cheap on an average market stall..I guess this is the common thing, sell market tat for a big mark up as if it were something better

There's also a mattress scam. We were at a small new hotel in Essex when someone came in an tried that one on - owners were new to the hotel business but thankfully not that daft. Apparently you end up with old, stained ones once you've taken the wrapper off.