Amir Shahbazi is the owner of Amir's Rug Gallery Inc., which deals in high-end hand woven rugs from Iran, Turkey, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"I travel the world, buy these hand-made rugs and bring them here," he said. "Not many dealers like to go to these places as they can be dangerous places to travel to, but I speak the languages in those areas and was born in that area, in Iran, so I don't have a problem."

Operating in Oakville for nearly 20 years, Shahbazi recently became aware of a fraud taking place in Oakville in which a group of peddlers was approaching people at their homes and attempting to sell cheap machine-made rugs, which the sellers insisted were authentic Persian rugs.

"People bought them, and then they came here to get my opinion on them...then they realized that the rug they bought was a machine-made rug and was only worth $50 to $100," said Shahbazi.

"They sold it to them as a hand-made, pure silk rug from Turkey or Iran and they paid $3,000 to $6,000."

Shahbazi said these scam artists have become even more convincing in recent months as they have now come into possession of items to make their business practices appear legitimate.

The items in question are Shahbazi's business cards.

"They came here," said Shahbazi. "There were five of them and what happened was that after looking around for a bit they asked for business cards, for every one of them, and then they left."

The next day Shahbazi said he received a call from one of his clients, who informed him that someone claiming to be Shahbazi had just handed the client one of Shahbazi's business cards and tried to sell him a rug.

Less than a week ago, the group tried the fraud again, this time in north Oakville.

Again the group had the misfortune of approaching a family that had already done business with Shahbazi, but despite being told this they continued to push forward with their scam.

Shahbazi went over the story later told to him by his customer.

"The guy said that he was my son and that I was dying of cancer. He said I was over in Iraq and I'm not even from Iraq, I'm from Iran," said Shahbazi.

"He brings these rugs in and then he starts crying and sobbing, 'My father's dying, I need to send money for his pills. These rugs are $65,000, but just give me $5,000 or $6,000. I just need the money.'"

After the peddlers left empty handed, the targeted victim phoned Shahbazi for an explanation.

"I told them it was false, it's all a lie. My son is only 16 years old, this guy was in his 20s and my son's name is Shaun and this guy said his name was Rasheed," said Shahbazi.

"I told them to call the police."

While the scam artists' high-pressure sales techniques did not work in this incident another resident was not so lucky with the group using intimidation to conclude a $5,000 rug sale.

"She said they were really pushy telling her to go to the bank and get the money. She kind of couldn't say no because they were surrounding her, three or four of them," said Shahbazi.

"She probably was so scared of them that she said, 'What the hell, I'll just buy it and get these people off my back.'"

Upon bringing the rug to Shahbazi the woman was reduced to tears when she was told the rug was worth maybe $100 or $200 at the most.

For Shahbazi the situation has become intolerable with his business's name being damaged by every act of fraud these people commit.

"They're putting our business in jeopardy and they're making us look bad," said Shahbazi.

"It creates a mistrust. One bad experience can effect not just me, but other dealers in the downtown as well."

Detective Duncan Taylor of the Halton Police noted that the selling of counterfeit rugs is widespread in Halton with a large group operating in Oakville, Milton and Burlington last summer.

"It's a scam that comes in quite frequently. It's like when people approach you at the mall wanting to sell you speakers," said Duncan.

"It's not like it's stolen, but it's usually low-grade stuff that they'll pick up and then they'll try to sell it to individuals and people think they're getting a deal."

Duncan noted this practice is not always illegal, since reputable companies routinely mark up their merchandise, however, the line between legal and illegal is crossed when the salesperson says their merchandise was made by a particular company when it was not.

Either way, Duncan believes the buyer should beware.

"If a deal seems too good to be true it's not true and you're being conned," he said.

"If someone approaches you do your research. Never be in a hurry to buy something from someone."