Common scams gem and other resale scams · Gem and other resale scams in Common scams
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Gem and other resale scams in Common scams
Gem and other resale scams in Common scams
You are taken to a jewelry shop and offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to purchase gemstones or jewels at special discount prices. Another customer in the shop, well-dressed and perhaps from the same country as you, tells how he made incredible profits last year by reselling the gems and is now back for more but to hurry as the sale ends today and you have to pay cash.
Of course, once you get back home and try to sell your booty, it turns out to be low-grade and worth only a fraction of what you paid for it. This scam is particularly prevalent in Bangkok, but variations on the theme with other products that can supposedly be resold for vast profits are common elsewhere too. Another variation involves you exporting the gems for a supposed 'commission' in exchange for the scammer taking a photocopy of your ID cards and/or credit cards, which can of course be used to make a tidy profit in identity theft cottage industries.
Note that American import law prohibits bringing more than one of any counterfeit item into the country and requires you to declare it. This is especially important when traveling back from Asia, where most counterfeit goods originate. It's assumed that if you are buying more than one, it's for illegal resale. In other words, one counterfeit Rolex for your possession is legal, but two fake Rolexes are illegal and subject to thousands of dollars in fines.
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Common scams Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.