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Published: 30 September, 2010
by JAMIE WELHAM

TWO women who unwittingly bought fake iPhones from a Camden Town con artist were bombarded with threatening texts and calls when they said they were going to the police.

The café workers said they thought they were getting the “bargain of the century” when they paid £150 each for what they were told were new iPhones.

The trickster, who they described as aged 16-18, slim with blond hair, came into the café, and took them through a demonstration of the phone for just under an hour, saying he was able to sell at the knock-down price because he had a business importing them from America.

One of the workers, who would only give her first name Annie, confessed she knew she was “doing something illegal”, but said the “temptation was too much” as  new iPhones cost more than £600. 

But after nervously handing over the money and demanding the seller’s number in case of a problem, the phones failed to function properly. When they called the seller back, the menacing calls started.

“We were really frightened – he swore at us, and started sending threatening messages,” said Annie. “We thought he would come after us. He kept ringing. He knew who we were and where we worked, so in the end we sent him a text and told him we wouldn’t go to the police.”

One of the phones was passed to the New Journal this week following the incident last Tuesday afternoon. To the eye it looks like a regular iPhone4 except for a 32GB marking on the back, and a slight dullness to the colour. 

Annie appealed to people considering buying an iPhone to go to a shop. She added: “I’d say people come in the café maybe once every couple of weeks selling dodgy phones and gold chains. Normally I wouldn’t even talk to them. But this looked so real. Everything worked. It was boxed. We put our sim cards in. We even made a call. I even managed to negotiate him down, so I felt ­pretty happy about it. 

But then after he left, it broke. Some of the apps were in Chinese, it wasn’t responding to touch and the internet connection was ridiculously slow. I feel really stupid.”

Police said they had not received reports of any similar scams.

A police spokeswoman said: “Camden police would urge the public to always purchase items from a recognised and legitimate supplier. If something seems dodgy then it probably is. If you have any concerns about someone who is selling property please contact Camden police on 0300 123 1212 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”