'Red flags were going off': Parking lot scammers dupe electronics buyers

A Windsor man says he hopes police and Crime Stoppers can help track down two men who scammed him into buying counterfeit audio visual equipment.

Andrei Begu says he was approached by the men while leaving GoodLife Fitness, in the parking lot of the Canadian Tire gas bar on Dougall Avenue.The parking lot of the Canadian Tire Gas Bar on Dougall Avenue in Windsor, Ont., on Wednesday, July 19, 2023. (Melanie Borrelli/CTV News Windsor)

He says he paid $2,000 for equipment that was fake.

“Cheap stuff rebranded as a different company that LLC doesn't exist,” says Begu. “I also felt frustrated towards myself because usually I'm extremely skeptical and even then red flags were going off, but for some reason I decided to ignore them.”

He says it was a costly mistake.

“They were going to sell me at a reduced price because MSRP for altogether was like around 10K and they sold it to me for around 2K, so I said sure,” says Begu.

Begu says he purchased several items and they provided him with a receipt to make it look more legit.

“It was a projector and a screen that came with the projector and the sound system, a theater sound system and they said, ‘Oh, we have these that we have to sell. Here's the receipt,’” he says.

Windsor police Const. Matt Adam says Begu wasn’t the only one to fall for a similar scam.

He says two men set up in the parking lot of two locations, one in the 2400 block of Central Avenue and the other in the 3900 block of Dougall Avenue on June 23. The suspects were seen driving a white Jeep Grand Cherokee.Windsor police say two suspects who are selling counterfeit Audio Visual equipment. (Source: WPS)

“The Enterprise rent a car they were driving was found to be out of the Toronto area, and they're still outstanding at this point,” says Adam.

The suspects approached individuals in the parking lots to sell projectors, speakers and other AV equipment. The items were later discovered by victims to be counterfeit.Police say to watch out for counterfeit audio visual equipment. (Source: Andrei Begu)

“Once they had a chance to inspect the items they found they were cheap knockoffs of the originals,” says Adam. “The website that they were shown to show the products was found to be fake and the products were definitely not up to specification.”

Crime Stoppers and Windsor police are providing some tips to avoid getting scammed:

• Use due diligence when purchasing anything from a non-retail location.
• Be sure to inspect the product before you purchase it or give away any money.
• If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Anyone with information is can contact Crime Stoppers anonymously at 519-258-8477 (TIPS) or online at www.catchcrooks.com.