Man pays £600 for bag of potatoes in computer con

A man paid £600 for a bag of potatoes after being tricked into thinking he was buying a laptop computer.

The 27-year-old student agreed to buy a computer after being shown a laptop by a man in the back of a car.

Instead he was handed a bag of potatoes in a scam police fear the crooks have been running as far afield as London, Wolverhampton and Wiltshire.



The crook showed the student a Sony laptop in a carry case and the victim agreed to buy it for £600. He handed over the money and was given an identical laptop bag.

It was only later that the student, who is originally from East Africa, found the bag contained potatoes and not a computer.

PC Allison Fraser from Fratton Police said, 'I would advise members of the public to refrain from buying high-value goods from people out of the back of cars or vans."