Cristian Pinin Farina con artist ripped me off my money ripoff Beverly Hills California

At 8pm on Mar 9, 2007, I was walking along Russell Sq when a man, in his early twenties, of Italian descent, pull over in his car and asked me if I spoke Italian.

He introduced himself as Cristian, a supermodel who was in London for fashion show. He spoke with a distinctive Italian accent and fairly fluent English. He said he was running late to catch a flight to LA for his brother's wedding. He also said that his father is a sports car designer, Pinin Farina in Italy.

He then told me of a story that he had met a girl the night before and she had stolen all his money. He needed help as he was without cash nor credit cards.

He then received a call on his mobile and said that his father was on the line to verify what he said. I spoke to the person on the line, and he said that he's the father and that he would be grateful if I could help his son.

Cristian said he needed my help to settle car rental fees which amounted to 350 GBP. He said that we would wire the money as soon as he got LA. For my help, he offered three Giorgio Armani jackets which he claimed to cost 2000 GBP each as he had trouble getting through customs at the airport.

I went to the cash machine and withdrew the money he needed. I parted with 450 GBP. He said he needed more money as he wanted to fuel up on gasoline. So asked if I had any money in my room. When I said I had some Euros, he drove me back to my halls. I parted with 50 Euros and around 100 Ringgit Malaysia .

He gave me his name, contact number and address in Beverly Hills and that he would get in touch with me to wire the money over.

I emailed him today and was shocked to get my mail returned. On calling him, I found out that the number he gave me was invalid.

I then googled him online only to find that are other victims who have been conned like me.

Chiew Kit
London
United Kingdom