A Tayside mum has been hit by car park conmen who duped her in a bargain telly scam.
Police are now hunting the fraudsters who persuaded Kimberly Guldberg to hand over £180 for a 55 inch set after approaching her in an Arbroath supermarket car park earlier this week.
The incident follows an almost identical fraud attempt in Dunfermline.
The 27-year-old single mum admits that reality hit within minutes of handing over the cash, but she has put aside her embarrassment over being a victim of the fraudsters to dish out a warning to others who may be presented with what seems to be a deal too good to be true.
Kimberly, who operates her own beauty salon in Montrose, was going back to her vehicle in Arbroath’s Asda car park when the out of the blue offer materialised in her rear-view mirror.
“I did my shopping, came out and the van pulled up behind me. They approached me and I thought the guy was going to ask for directions but then he asked ‘I don’t suppose you want to buy a telly?’” she said.
The van driver offered Kimberly 55 or 43 inch models – and was even prepared to do both in a deal for £250 – but instead she opted to hand over £180 for the larger television.
“I wasn’t sure if it would fit in the back of my car but they offered to put it in so I went to get the money and when I got back to the car it was already loaded in.”
The conmen even gave her a mobile number, which she rang and they answered at the scene, but it has subsequently proved uncontactable.
“I just wasn’t thinking straight, it was right there, I was needing a new TV and I was caught off guard in the heat of the moment,” she added.
But alarms bells instantly rang and Kimberly had the sense to take a photo of the van before heading to her dad’s house where her worst fears were realised when the layers of bubble wrap revealed the set was smashed and incomplete.
“I almost immediately started to come to my senses and though ‘what have I done’.”
My dad works for a TV company and when we started taking the wrapping off we could see there were no leads, there was supposed to be two remotes which weren’t there and he said he thought it looked like a scrap telly.
Kimberly contacted Police Scotland with the details of the incident and the photographs of the grey 15-plate Ford Transit van.
Police Scotland Chief Inspector David McIntosh said: “Police Scotland can confirm that we are aware of a woman who has been sold a television in a car park in Arbroath.
“Our advice would be don’t buy goods from street sellers. You may think you are getting a bargain but you are not and are likely to end up with unsafe or faulty goods.
“Consideration should also be given to the fact that this is unlikely to be a legitimate sale of goods.
“If anyone has any concerns they should contact Police Scotland on 101 or Trading Standards.”
Kimberly added: “It’s really stupid and I’ve learned my lesson, but at the same time I’d rather let people know this has happened to avoid anyone else being conned.
Police in other parts of Courier Country have previously warned about the sale of electrical goods door-to-door or from the back of a van, with items often proving to be faulty and even dangerous.
It is suspected that some conmen rescue discarded goods before trying to pass them on as legitimate bargains.
