Beware of Mirror Scam in Italy

[Serendipity2]

 

[Jenka]

We have just had an incident in Italy and a scam tried .
We were leaving a agritourismo in puglia this morning when a alfa romeo sped past us and then stopped on the side of the road further
on. As we passed him we heard a loud bang, we carried on slowly and the alfa romeo caught up with us and honked his horn and flashed his lights. We know not to stop , but we did as there was only one person in the car. He maintained that we had broken his wing mirror and pointed to a large dark mark towards the rear on the side of the van. We know that we were no where near him as we passed. Immediately we thought this was a scam. Looking at his mirror the outer casing was fine, but he did have a shattered lens. There was no indentation on our van and the black mark was removable. When confronted and told we were no where near him and to get stuffed. He turned and made a hasty exit before we could mention polizia ,funny that!!
I phoned the agritourismo and told her what had happened , she mentioned that this had happened to another motorhome a month ago. She was apologetic and said someone in the village will know who it was by my description and information.
I have posted this just to inform everyone that this well known scam is still rip... beware.
we will not let it spoil our holiday in Italy and the next ,very friendly, site owner at the cart sosta in matera has polished the mark out for us, whilst muttering expletives about his fellow country men scam artists!!

View attachment 809756

Happened to me in Sicily wanted €200 didnt realise the wife phoned police they tried to say it was a mistake

 

[Twitters]

Thanks for the information that has been mentioned in this post, we have not ventured to Italy yet so it is nice to hear that there is a camping/Motorhome site that we could go to, and to be aware of this type of thing, does it happen all the time in some areas only?

 

[EuroTrotters]

This isn’t just an issue “abroad”
A few weeks ago I was attending a festival nr Stockport and whilst driving down a narrow road with parked vehicles on one side I heard a loud bang and saw that my passenger mirror was folded back
I knew I was nowhere near any parked vehicle
As I arrived at the festival entrance two men appeared in a white van and began shouting through my window demanding cash for the clearly old mirror they had in their hands
When I wouldn’t pay one of them ripped my mirror off
They then pulled their t shirts over their faces and drove off quickly in a van with no plates

Stockport and Festival in one sentence!.

May I ask where in Stockport and what was the festival please ,

 

[maison]

We had similar three years ago with the driver being somewhat aggressive.

I took him around to the front of the motorhome and pointed out the dash cam, took out my phone and said “Police?”. He decided it was time to leave, with I believe to be a few expletives trailing behind him.

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[Tombola]

This isn’t just an issue “abroad”
A few weeks ago I was attending a festival nr Stockport and whilst driving down a narrow road with parked vehicles on one side I heard a loud bang and saw that my passenger mirror was folded back
I knew I was nowhere near any parked vehicle
As I arrived at the festival entrance two men appeared in a white van and began shouting through my window demanding cash for the clearly old mirror they had in their hands
When I wouldn’t pay one of them ripped my mirror off
They then pulled their t shirts over their faces and drove off quickly in a van with no plates

whitebottom farm ?

 

[sb1957]

Just had the same in Italy heading north to Verona. Passed a car parked in a lay-by and heard a loud bang. Had no idea what it was. Car that was parked then overtook us and put his hazards on. I stopped thinking something might have come off the van. He then shows me his mirror (broken casing), goes to the van and shows me a mark. Tells me I need to watch we’re I’m going.. then shows me a pic on his phone… ad for a wing mirror, €398. He wanted cash and started getting very agitated, pointing out his wife/girlfriend was pregnant. I said “insurance” and he said “cash”. At this point (foolish with hindsight) I thought it might be true.. but that he’d caused it by pulling out of the lay-by. He then said €200. I said no cash and he said €100.. again pointing out his pregnant partner. My wife came to the rescue.. checked his partner was ok and said “let’s get the police”. At which point he made a rude gesture, got back in his car and drove off. I later checked the mark on the van (which rubbed off easily) and it’s the wrong height for a mirror. As they, you live and learn.

 

[Riverbankannie]

Just had the same in Italy heading north to Verona. Passed a car parked in a lay-by and heard a loud bang. Had no idea what it was. Car that was parked then overtook us and put his hazards on. I stopped thinking something might have come off the van. He then shows me his mirror (broken casing), goes to the van and shows me a mark. Tells me I need to watch we’re I’m going.. then shows me a pic on his phone… ad for a wing mirror, €398. He wanted cash and started getting very agitated, pointing out his wife/girlfriend was pregnant. I said “insurance” and he said “cash”. At this point (foolish with hindsight) I thought it might be true.. but that he’d caused it by pulling out of the lay-by. He then said €200. I said no cash and he said €100.. again pointing out his pregnant partner. My wife came to the rescue.. checked his partner was ok and said “let’s get the police”. At which point he made a rude gesture, got back in his car and drove off. I later checked the mark on the van (which rubbed off easily) and it’s the wrong height for a mirror. As they, you live and learn.

Got Verona on our route for autumn trip so I am glad you have highlighted this scam again - well done for not falling for it.

 

[Jenka]

Just had the same in Italy heading north to Verona. Passed a car parked in a lay-by and heard a loud bang. Had no idea what it was. Car that was parked then overtook us and put his hazards on. I stopped thinking something might have come off the van. He then shows me his mirror (broken casing), goes to the van and shows me a mark. Tells me I need to watch we’re I’m going.. then shows me a pic on his phone… ad for a wing mirror, €398. He wanted cash and started getting very agitated, pointing out his wife/girlfriend was pregnant. I said “insurance” and he said “cash”. At this point (foolish with hindsight) I thought it might be true.. but that he’d caused it by pulling out of the lay-by. He then said €200. I said no cash and he said €100.. again pointing out his pregnant partner. My wife came to the rescue.. checked his partner was ok and said “let’s get the police”. At which point he made a rude gesture, got back in his car and drove off. I later checked the mark on the van (which rubbed off easily) and it’s the wrong height for a mirror. As they, you live and learn.

Mine was the same in scicily a fiat 500

 

[Gina M]

Thank you all for this warning. We would probably have fallen for this and just paid up so we could get on with our journey. Seems the best thing to do is say lets call the police.

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[Oldrat]

Thank you all for this warning. We would probably have fallen for this and just paid up so we could get on with our journey. Seems the best thing to do is say lets call the police.

And pi55 them off by pointing out that the ‘mark’ on your van isn’t the same height as the car mirror.

 

[AGT]

The OP’s Puglia scammer is back out for the 2024 season.

This morning we were on the SP48 about 10kms short of Altamura (close to Bari). I passed a white Alfa (now with black mirror casings) which was parked just off the edge of the road. I know I didn’t hit it because I indicated and moved across the solid line to give it some space. We heard a bang. He followed me for a while: lights flashing, horn, pulling alongside and gesticulating. I didn’t plan to stop but thanks to a moment of Waze madness he was able to pass me and block the road. Fortunately, a truck came the other way and so he had to unblock the road. He was on his own, well dressed and not particularly physically threatening. He held up his phone with €185 in large print shouting about calling the police. He was not overly impressed with my offer of my business card and suggestion that he email me at my Studio Legale. We drove off and he didn’t follow. What do these people talk about when they go home in the evening!

Not a pleasant experience. The black mark on my van is crayon or marker pen and will rub off. Not so for the dent on the door where he must have hit it with a stick to create the bang.

 

[starquake]

To be honest it's nothing new, it's like the Heathrow based insurance accident gang who will brake check you with emergency braking at roundabouts to get someone to hit their car up ass for an accient claim against insurers. The difference is in that case they are scamming your insurnace rather than you directly.

I've seen many cases of it when working at heathrow, and have a wifi camera so I can stop and share the bad behaviour of the scammers with the poor holidaymaker on more than one occasion (they target cars without obvious dashcams around the roundabout between t4 and t5)

 

[Sleeveless]

"Clip for Cash" has been around for a couple of years now , seems to have replaced the old whiplash trick at junctions / roundabouts. Hot spots in UK are Birmingham, Bradford, Luton, London . Also popular in France Spain Italy. Motorhomers, especially tourists being less likely to get out and thump the scammer are easy prey.... https://news.sky.com/story/drivers-warned-about-new-clip-for-cash-crash-scam-12850469

 

[CJK]

We have just had an incident in Italy and a scam tried .
We were leaving a agritourismo in puglia this morning when a alfa romeo sped past us and then stopped on the side of the road further
on. As we passed him we heard a loud bang, we carried on slowly and the alfa romeo caught up with us and honked his horn and flashed his lights. We know not to stop , but we did as there was only one person in the car. He maintained that we had broken his wing mirror and pointed to a large dark mark towards the rear on the side of the van. We know that we were no where near him as we passed. Immediately we thought this was a scam. Looking at his mirror the outer casing was fine, but he did have a shattered lens. There was no indentation on our van and the black mark was removable. When confronted and told we were no where near him and to get stuffed. He turned and made a hasty exit before we could mention polizia ,funny that!!
I phoned the agritourismo and told her what had happened , she mentioned that this had happened to another motorhome a month ago. She was apologetic and said someone in the village will know who it was by my description and information.
I have posted this just to inform everyone that this well known scam is still rip... beware.
we will not let it spoil our holiday in Italy and the next ,very friendly, site owner at the cart sosta in matera has polished the mark out for us, whilst muttering expletives about his fellow country men scam artists!!

View attachment 809756

Weird. Thanks for the alert - you wouldn’t expect someone in a flash car to go for that kind of game, would you?

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[chaser]

Weird. Thanks for the alert - you wouldn’t expect someone in a flash car to go for that kind of game, would you?

That's probably how he paid for it

 

[CJK]

That's probably how he paid for it

Yep - too right.

 

[Joc]

We have just had an incident in Italy and a scam tried .
We were leaving a agritourismo in puglia this morning when a alfa romeo sped past us and then stopped on the side of the road further
on. As we passed him we heard a loud bang, we carried on slowly and the alfa romeo caught up with us and honked his horn and flashed his lights. We know not to stop , but we did as there was only one person in the car. He maintained that we had broken his wing mirror and pointed to a large dark mark towards the rear on the side of the van. We know that we were no where near him as we passed. Immediately we thought this was a scam. Looking at his mirror the outer casing was fine, but he did have a shattered lens. There was no indentation on our van and the black mark was removable. When confronted and told we were no where near him and to get stuffed. He turned and made a hasty exit before we could mention polizia ,funny that!!
I phoned the agritourismo and told her what had happened , she mentioned that this had happened to another motorhome a month ago. She was apologetic and said someone in the village will know who it was by my description and information.
I have posted this just to inform everyone that this well known scam is still rip... beware.
we will not let it spoil our holiday in Italy and the next ,very friendly, site owner at the cart sosta in matera has polished the mark out for us, whilst muttering expletives about his fellow country men scam artists!!

View attachment 809756

Yep, happened to us in Sicily about 6 weeks ago on our way up to Mount Etna. Told him to go away in short jerky movements!!!

 

[Vanderek]

The OP’s Puglia scammer is back out for the 2024 season.

This morning we were on the SP48 about 10kms short of Altamura (close to Bari). I passed a white Alfa (now with black mirror casings) which was parked just off the edge of the road. I know I didn’t hit it because I indicated and moved across the solid line to give it some space. We heard a bang. He followed me for a while: lights flashing, horn, pulling alongside and gesticulating. I didn’t plan to stop but thanks to a moment of Waze madness he was able to pass me and block the road. Fortunately, a truck came the other way and so he had to unblock the road. He was on his own, well dressed and not particularly physically threatening. He held up his phone with €185 in large print shouting about calling the police. He was not overly impressed with my offer of my business card and suggestion that he email me at my Studio Legale. We drove off and he didn’t follow. What do these people talk about when they go home in the evening!

Not a pleasant experience. The black mark on my van is crayon or marker pen and will rub off. Not so for the dent on the door where he must have hit it with a stick to create the bang.

Yes he was out this morning, we were going from Alberobelli , near Noci. The Alfa went past me and a lorry, a few bends later he was parked at side of road. Went past himel with plenty of space, but there was a loud bang, thought we had been hit by a rock, I knew I had not hit him, dtooped in a later lay ny, to look. White Alfa man appears , ranting about you hit me, The black line is an arc, not level. I said Ok my wife is telefoning the police...he walked off and turned around, drove off.

 

[Langtoftlad]

On my recent Catalonia break - the motorway overhead traffic signs around Barcelona were warning [in English] of Mirror Scam

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[Richard n Ann]

I'd be enraged if the scammers threw something at my van, I don't know what I'd do but they wouldn't find me very pleasant