The Patek Philippe Watch Con

A Bronx man was arrested after selling a jeweler a cheap watch. According to Newsday, "serial counterfeiter" Ian Kosloff of the Bronx went to H.L. Gross & Brothers, saying he needed to sell a $20,000 Patek Philippe timepiece and even had a receipt. The jeweler gave him a $12,500 check, but then found "the inside of the watch was not Swiss-made Patek Phillippe -- but a nearly worthless Japanese imitation." The jeweler tried to cancel the check, but it was already cashed. Kosloff, who claims "caveat emptor," is being held on felony charges but a Garden City detective did admit to Newsday that the jeweler could have been more careful, pointing out that if he had called the number for the supposed Boston store where the watch was bought, "It's actually a woman talking in a thick Bronx accent."