Laptop potato scammers turn to onions

Two men have been arrested in Reading for recycling the classic laptop switch scam, but with a twist.

The laptop potato scam has been a mainstay of British conmen for years. Punters are shown a laptop at a knockdown price. But when they hand over the money the bag or box is switched for one traditionally filled with spuds to provide the necessary heft.

Police in Reading arrested two men this week accused of carrying out the same scam but filling the bag with onions, the Reading Post reports.

Witless and skint students are often targeted with offers of cheap laptops in shrink-wrapped boxes that turn out to contain nothing more than tubers.

Aged readers will remember that both Pompey and south London have both been the scene of such scams.

The scam has even been updated and exported - a British man was arrested in Germany last year for selling iPods and laptops which on closer inspection were nothing more than spuds. ®