KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Police say that a group of men selling fake Versace leather jackets like this one to unsuspecting customers may have moved the scam to Maui.
Fake designer jacket
sellers may be on MauiPolice say a man
bought three jackets in
a Kahului parking lot
The men who sold fake designer jackets in Oahu parking lots to at least 50 people may have moved on to Maui, according to Honolulu police.
Police said they have identified one case in which a man bought three jackets for $200 in the parking lot of Home Depot in Kahului on Thursday.
Honolulu police following up on CrimeStoppers tips yesterday also discovered that the suspects they planned to interview involving some of the Oahu cases had recently left for Maui.
CrimeStoppers Detective Letha DeCaires said media coverage this week may have caused the jacket sellers to leave town.
"They probably saw it on the news," said DeCaires yesterday. "We have reason to believe they're heading to Maui but they may also be going to other islands or out-of-state."
DeCaires said so far she has identified at least 50 individuals on Oahu who bought what they thought were designer leather or suede jackets worth thousands of dollars at reduced prices from "Italian" men. In some cases, people bought up to six jackets for between $300 to $800.
DeCaires said the Maui case was the same scenario as the rest of the cases on Oahu. The victim was approached by a man who said he was going back to Italy after attending a clothing show on Maui and did not want to pay taxes on his unsold jackets.
"We know they're here," said Maui Detective Don Simpson. "We don't know where they're at right now ... but we're warning people not to buy anything in parking lots. Because they're not going to be buying what the think they're buying."
DeCaires said she has identified at least five different individuals on Oahu who were selling the jackets in parking lots across the island including at Costco, Home Depot, City Mill and Safeway. In most cases, the individuals selling the jackets reportedly had Italian accents and passports.
However, DeCaires said there may be more than a dozen people involved in the scam, some of whom work alone and others who work in pairs. "We haven't confirmed that they're all working together yet ... but their operations are similar."
DeCaires said the victims are shown a real leather jacket, believed to be a Versace, but then sold cheap imitations.
One victim, who did not report his case to police, told the Star-Bulletin that when he was approached in Chinatown in July, the men who sold him jackets used a lighter to show how the flame could not singe the leather. However, when the victim tried it on his own later, he melted a portion of the jacket sleeve. The victim said the sellers claimed the jacket was a mock-Versace but that it was still made of real leather.
