Police warning over cheap TV sale fraud incidents in Tayside

Police are investigating after two incidents of fraud involving the apparent cheap sale of a TV ‘off the back of a lorry’.

Police have warned that goods sold from the back of a van are unlikely to be real.

Officers say there were two incidents of fraud, one which occurred in Perth and the other in Dundee.

The scam involves a person being approached by someone offering to sell cheap new televisions. The victim is shown boxes containing TVs, which are bubble wrapped, although they are not able to able to actually examine the sets. The buyer then takes the box home to discover the TV is not the one depicted on the box, and is broken or smashed.

The incidents reported in Tayside took place outside Farmfoods in Crieff Road, Perth, on 12th August and at Sainsbury’s in Dundee on the 14th.

Both involved men using a black Transit van, with the bogus seller in Perth described as 5ft 10, stocky build, with dark hair and a bushy beard. Those involved in the Dundee incident are described as three white men, all well-built wearing smart clothing and speaking with Irish accents.

Police are now warning anyone who is offered knockdown items from the rear of a van or “off the back of a lorry”, that the goods are unlikely to be legitimate.

Those offering the items for sale are reported to be quite persuasive, intimidating or forceful.

Anyone confronted in this manner is urged to walk away. Police say any legitimate salesperson would not be conducting their business in this manner.

Anyone who is approached by someone in this manner recently or is a victim to this scam, call police on 101.