THE victim of a trading scam has warned the public to be on their guard after he was duped by an Italian conman into coughing up cash for sub-standard jackets. Peter Wright, of Wisbech, said: I was leaving the Elm Road Co-op store last Tuesday lunchtime

THE victim of a trading scam has warned the public to be on their guard after he was duped by an Italian conman into coughing up cash for sub-standard jackets.Peter Wright, of Wisbech, said: "I was leaving the Elm Road Co-op store last Tuesday lunchtime when I was approached by an Italian man."He told me he had attended an exhibition in Wisbech and had been given loads of leather and suede Armani Collezioni jackets to take back to his boss in Italy."He put seven coats in a bag, then spun me a pathetic story about how he was only giving them to me so he didn't have to pay tax and said he needed money for his hired car."He ended up getting me to go to a cash machine to buy jackets I didn't really want and could not afford and then drove off in his left-hand drive Focus with foreign plates to get his fake plane back to Italy."When Mr Wright returned home he found the jackets he had been given had been switched for inferior versions.He said: "I realise how badly I was ripped off and I hope by going public on this the number of victims will be reduced."A spokesman for the county council's trading standards department said: " "If you think it is too good to be true, then it usually is and you are being conned."Never buy stuff from people at the side of the road, no matter how plausible they may seem, as you are invariably putting cash into the pockets of organised crime gangs."Have you been approached by anyone trying to sell you goods in the street? Contact our news desk on 01354 652621 or e-mail news@cambs-times.co.uk