Help Me Hank: Help Me Hank! Shopping scam

Panicking to find the perfect, last-minute holiday gift? Well, you could become the target of the latest shopping scam. "Help Me Hank!" exposes the amazing rip-off.

On the hunt for bargains, Elise Almeyda and her friends figured they knew just where to find them.

Elise Almeyda, shopper
"We're in this flea market, and we're purchasing. We're trying to purchase some wedding gowns."

After their gown search, Elise was approached in the parking lot by two men.

Elise Almeyda, shopper
"They offered to sell us laptops for $350 each. They said they were brand new."

Two brand new laptops for such a low price. Elise was tempted.

Elise Almeyda, shopper
"At first, I say ‘No,’ and they're like 'Come on, this is a great deal.’ Again, I asked them, ‘Are they stolen?’ He said ‘No,’ [and] he had extra stock at home."

Elise thought weird, but OK.

Elise Almeyda, shopper
"So, we kinda believed it."

She paid cash. The men gave her the two boxes, and then, they were gone.

Finally, Elise opened the boxes. Uh-oh!

Elise Almeyda, shopper
"Nothing. No laptop."

Just lots of free car magazines and newspapers!

Elise Almeyda, shopper
"I couldn't believe that I had been scammed."

She tried calling the man's cell phone. But, of course, no luck.

Elise Almeyda, shopper
"Next morning, I just thought of e-mailing Channel 7News. I thought of Hank Phillippi Ryan."

Ok now shoppers, a smooth-talking guy approaches you in a parking lot and offers laptops cheap. Three little words: just say no. And this time of year, experts warn that the sale of phantom items is going to happen a lot both in person and online.

Jim Griffith, Dean of eBay Education
"There have been problems with, again, sellers not being able to fulfill orders because they haven't received all the inventory."

In fact, eBay says certain hot items -- Xboxes and the like -- are so likely to be phantom that they're making sellers prove they actually have the items!

Jim Griffith, Dean of eBay Education
"They have to show a receipt and actually show a photograph of the item, not a stock photo."

Ok, I know "Help Me Hank!" can usually help individual victims, but this time it's everyone else we're trying to help. Don't fall for these parking lot deals. They are 100 percent rip-offs.

(Copyright (c) 2006 Sunbeam Television Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)