Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
A fraudster has been toting bags of kitchenware around an area of north-east London, trying to sell items to unwary businesses.
A volunteer in the Hopscotch children’s charity shop in South Woodford told the Wanstead & Woodford Guardian that a woman had come in with several cases of saucepans and kitchen knives. She claimed to be from Chigwell Golf Club, which she said was being refurbished, and that she wanted to sell some items that had been over-ordered. She said the kitchenware was worth hundreds of pounds.
The shop volunteers accepted the story and gave £60 for the knives and £140 for the pans.
However, they subsequently discovered that the woman had previously visited the neighbouring cab company, where she had claimed to be selling the equipment on behalf of an old people’s home. She also told them she had already sold some of the items to a nearby pet shop, which was not true.
Chigwell Golf Club said it had no connections with the woman, but revealed that she had also tried to offload the kitchenware there, saying it came from somewhere that was closing down and which wanted to get rid of its stock.
The charity shop volunteer told the Guardian: “I don’t know if the knives and pans are stolen or if they are cheap imitations of more expensive kitchenware. I feel quite stupid to tell you the truth.”
