New Zealand Mall Ousts Israeli Hucksters for ‘Aggressive Selling’ to Elderly

[Idaho Kid]

A New Zealand TV station has reported on how "youthful, good-looking Israelis," took advantage of  mainly elderly and disabled customers.  The station calls it "one of the most cynical and exploitative examples of retail sales practices we can recall seeing in New Zealand for a long time."

from http://www.boldfacenews.com/new-zealand-mall-ousts-israeli-hucksters-aggressive-selling-elderly/
New Zealand Mall Ousts Israeli Hucksters for 'Aggressive Selling' to Elderly

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A mall in Aukland, New Zealand has kicked out a group of Israelis selling Dead Sea cosmetics from a kiosk inside the mall. The owners of LynnMall took the action following the airing of a report on a New Zealand TV station on how the sales people, described as "youthful, good-looking Israelis," took advantage of customers, mainly elderly and disabled people.

The station's anchor calls it "one of the most cynical and exploitative examples of retail sales practices we can recall seeing in New Zealand for a long time."

He goes on:

    A Dead Sea beauty kiosk in a shopping mall in Auckland's Newland–that's out west–and an 82-year-old woman sold a total of $5,000 worth of cosmetics under circumstances that defy any notion of decent or ethical service.

You can go to the station's website here and view a video of the report (along with a print version of the same story), and here to view what appears to be a followup report that aired the next day. The second report features interviews with two additional people who, like the 82-year-old woman in the first report, were scammed by the Israelis. One of them is a man with short-term memory loss, the other a man who has autism. Both were swindled out of substantial sums of money. We're talking up in the thousands of dollars.

I strongly recommend you go and watch both reports. I would embed the videos here, but there is no embed code–but please do check them out, because they make for some enormously interesting viewing. Again, here is the first report...and here is the second.

When a Jew murders a gentile ("Cuthean"), there will be no death penalty. What a Jew steals from a gentile he may keep.

--from the Talmud, Sanhedrin 57a.

Here is how the New Zealand story is being reported in Israeli media:
NZ Mall Ousts Israelis for Aggressive Selling to Woman, 82
YNet

Israeli salesmen were escorted from New Zealand's Lynnmall shopping center and asked not to come back with their stand of Dead Sea cosmetic products after convincing an 82-year-old woman to empty her bank account to buy $5,000 worth of anti-wrinkle cream, Auckland's News3 reported on Wednesday.

The elderly woman, who told News3 that she'd rather not be identified, apparently spent the large sum of money on two separate occasions when Israeli sales staff kept her after the shopping center's closing hours and even escorted her to an ATM to withdraw more money.

"I feel as if I'm a silly old chook," the woman told News3. "Honestly, at my age spending all that money on that product is ridiculous."

The incident sparked concern over possibly aggressive and manipulative marketing strategies used by young Israeli sales staff who can be found in many shopping centers in New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Canada, the US and other countries.

Israelis who find themselves to be successful sellers generally enjoy the experience as an opportunity to travel and make money, which many use to pay for higher education or fund later travels.

Roger, the son of the elderly woman, wasn't convinced of the Israelis' good intentions. "I'm sure they can spot people a mile off," he told News3 after the second time in as many weeks that he found his mother's bank account empty thanks to the Dead Sea stand.

"They know if they keep talking and using their sales patter on the right sort of people they can wear them down and keep selling to them until the well is dry," Roger told the media outlet.

The woman also disapproved, in hindsight, of the salesman's tactics. "He would say 'you're such a lovely lady. I'll give you this for free, extra,'" she told News3, though she also said that the Israeli was a "lovely guy" who gave her hugs.

The News3 report also suggested that prices on products were based only on how much the salesman thought a potential buyer might be convinced to pay. "There are no prices on anything," the report said. 

The woman's money was refunded and an apology issued, but the mall's owners, the Kiwi Income Property Trust, told News3 that Dead Sea salesmen would not be allowed to set up shop again at Lynnmall.

This is not the first time that such stories have emerged; a report Thursday claimed that a man suffering from short-term memory loss was charged 12 times for a total amount of $13,000 by an Israeli saleswoman who media called "attractive".

The man, Robert, told News3 that he had undergone surgery that had affected his memory. Just minutes after charging his credit card, he would forget that he had bought anything. When his card was maxed out, the saleswoman suggested that he go to the bank to withdraw more money.

The New Zealand news agency also reported that a man suffering from autism had been sold $4,000 worth of products in just 30 minutes at a Dead Sea products stand.