Police have appealed for anyone who was fleeced in a fake leather jacket scam to come forward following the arrest of the alleged perpetrator.
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Several reports of the racket being conducted in St George and Sutherland Shire were made last year and again today after the man's arrest.
A man, 54, was arrested at Revesby yesterday (Wednesday).
Police said they seized 22 jackets, along with fake business cards and cash, from a Five Dock unit.
The man was charged with seven counts of obtain financial advantage by deception and deal with proceeds of crime. He was refused bail.
The investigation started after police received information about a man who allegedly purported to be the marketing director of a major Italian fashion designer,
Police Superintendent Adam Whyte said today police want to hear from other people who had been scammed or approached by the man.
"His MO was that he approached people in car parks and shopping centres and then he'd purport to have this stock, he'd ask them directions and lead them down a path to scam them out of their money," Superintendent Whyte said.
Finance commentator Ross Greenwood confessed on radio today he was conned into buying a fake leather jacket after attending a function at Doltone House at Sylvania Waters last year.
"A bloke in a car, with a very attractive female accomplice, pulled me over, asked me directions to the airport, said they were fashion buyers from Italy,' he told Ben Fordham on 2GB.
Greenwood said he bought a jacket for his wife.
"He eased me of 200 bucks," Greenwood said.
An 85-year-old cancer sufferer told the Leader last year he was almost conned in a Ramsgate car park.
A man with the same description had earlier duped an Engadine man out of $300 for three jackets, which he said were worth $2000 and turned out to be made of PVC.
