Jewelry scam popping up around the state | Local

OREGON — A re-emerging trend is popping up around the state. It involves supposed salespeople bearing shiny necklaces and rings with a catch: they’re all fake.

“If somebody is in a parking lot trying to sell you gold or pulling you off the side of the street — that’s — it just doesn’t feel right,” said Renee Constant, who works at Northwest Pawn in Eugene.

Recently, several people say they’ve come into contact with these so-called salespeople. It happened to Constant near Seven Feathers Casino.

“The guy said, ‘Oh, I just lost all my money at the casino. Will you take these rings and jewelry?” Constant said.

But she knew better than to fall for the trick.

“I’m like, ‘No, buddy, you’re talking to the wrong girl. I ain’t got no money for you: I just lost my money at the casino as well,'” Constant said.

She said two days ago, a customer came into Northwest Pawn with some fake jewelry a scammer had sold him just down the street from her store in the Fred Meyer parking lot on West 11th Avenue.

“When you see a good deal, sometimes you just can’t pass it up, but then it goes back to if it’s too good to be true, it probably is,” Constant said.

In Albany, police said at least three people were scammed in separate parking lots this week.

“It’s slippery because they could say, ‘Well I’m selling this gold jewelry; if somebody wants to pay me $900 for a fake gold ring, that’s on them, not on me,” said Albany Police Department’s community engagement officer, Laura Hawkins.

She said the department has ramped up patrols in the parking lots the scam is happening in. If you find yourself in a situation like this, both Hawkins and Constant have some advice.

“If it’s too good to be true, it’s too good to be true,” Hawkins said.