Captain Colonial Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 Hello all This arrived in the Support Desk inbox last night, and thought I'd share it with you (identity withheld to protect the victim): "HiyaI had just about saved up enough money to buy an S2000 engine & almost the 1st Modual of the Westfield Mega S2000 kit. I was unfortunately the victim of a scam where by I found an S2000 Engine & Gearbox on Gumtree & the seller was very very convincing & talked me into doing a Bank Transfer. I subsequently lost the money.Aparently this is a common scam on sought after engines. Just thought If I let you know, you could do a post to prevent any Westfield guys from falling for the same scam. If you need further details, just let me know.Anyways, it wont hold me back to long & when im ready, no doubt you will see me joining the forum." Now some of you will think "that will never happen to me", but there are a lot of nasty people out there and some of them can be very, very convincing. All I'm saying is file this in your memory as a sad and cautionary tale, and remember it when you're shopping online. It's all too easy to be in the flush of excitement and end up getting ripped off. Please take every precaution when buying, including using a credit card (not a debit card) wherever possible to protect you. (On big ticket items, I tend to buy them on my credit card, then pay the identical amount off my credit card later that day so I'm protected but pay no interest.) Hope it works out for our poor victim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 Oh dear, how gutting for the poor devil. What a kick in the teeth, it really knocks your faith in human nature too, when things like that happen to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SootySport Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 Shows why being a member of WSCC is important. We have a few times in the past been reminded of direct transfers to a vendors bank account is fraught with danger, on auction sites. Let this be a further reminder to go through the auction companies payment process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingster Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 For a big ticket item like that, I'd always insist on paying in person on collection - leave a deposit yes, but £000's up front? not unless it was a known recipient that I trusted! Having said that - I very, very nearly fell for a scammer on Gumtree - it was only when they sent a 'post office payment request' (complete with logo), that was in fact a direct transfer to a paypoint type thing, that I realised their meaning of 'cash on delivery' was different to mine! Needless to say, I un-politely told them where to get off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue ass fly Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 Gumtree is full of it I almost got caught buying a smeg fridge Contacted seller to arrange a view,it was in bristol- ime in east mids but was working in the area "She" noticed i was a way away and said that she worked for a well known delivery company and could get it to my door foc I could then check to see if i was happy before paying Result ! She said go to the post office and get a ukash voucher - similar to a postal order Pay your money and they give you a voucher The receiver then takes it into a post office and cashes it - no id needed Then give her the 16 digit number on the top asap so the driver knows that its the correct voucher for the item when ge delivers Not having heard of them i googled it Turns out you dont need the voucher to cash the amount,just the number - so if i messaged her the number she goes straight down the post office and draws cash on it Then disappears I read up on gumtree scams and there was loads of examples,all similar wording and all using a womans name Saved me £600 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tisme Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 All so sad but true - I'm at an age where I don't trust anyone now (this forum excluded !! ) - I only buy on eBay from sellers with a good history and 99.5% or more feedback and have only ever once bid for an item (a Haynes Astra manual) - which didn't turn up and eBay refunded costs ! I didn't used to be like this but unfortunately there are now too many ways to catch people out (and I think perhaps "scamming" has got worse due to the ease of on-line media and "EU" influenced crime) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dombanks Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 shocking but not surprising on gum tree. The only problem with paying via credit card is not everyone takes them and if they do often they apply a surcharge. hopefully the guy isnt too much out of pocket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clansman Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 Sad fact of life these days way too many "low life" ready to rip off some unsuspecting person. Hope the victim bounces back and completes his build with no further grief. Best to be suspicious from the start sadly ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rednop1 Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 Gumtree is full of them there are some knocking about on ebay it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XTR2Turbo Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 I really don't understand, with all the money laundering rules now for opening accounts, that these people aren't easily traceable and prosecuted in the same way that they had carried out any other theft. I suppose Paypal is a bit safer as atleast you can see if they are verified and you have some protection. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingster Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 Gumtree is full of it I almost got caught buying a smeg fridge Contacted seller to arrange a view,it was in bristol- ime in east mids but was working in the area "She" noticed i was a way away and said that she worked for a well known delivery company and could get it to my door foc I could then check to see if i was happy before paying Result ! She said go to the post office and get a ukash voucher - similar to a postal order Pay your money and they give you a voucher The receiver then takes it into a post office and cashes it - no id needed Then give her the 16 digit number on the top asap so the driver knows that its the correct voucher for the item when ge delivers Not having heard of them i googled it Turns out you dont need the voucher to cash the amount,just the number - so if i messaged her the number she goes straight down the post office and draws cash on it Then disappears I read up on gumtree scams and there was loads of examples,all similar wording and all using a womans name Saved me £600 Yep - that was pretty much exactly the same as the one I was talking about - also a woman, said she was visiting relatives near me so could drop it off etc etc - claimed the ukash voucher was C.O.D. payment - and that was when I got suspicious! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Algar - Competition Secretary Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 Not even sure Paypal is that safe David. But I have heard of it working the other way round. You sell something which you then send to buyer. They open a dispute and claim it never arrived etc etc. Signed delivery notes ignored by Paypal who then give the buyer his money back. So no cash and no item !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lloydox Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 Sorry if this sounds harsh but why would you buy an engine that you've never see or heard running never mind off a person you've never met bank transfers are just like giving someone you've never met money hoping they return with the good's I feel sorry for the guy for loosing his hard earned but he's just given someone he's never met money for something he's not even seen does not make sense to me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XTR2Turbo Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 The worse case I came across was a few years ago in France. Driving down to Le Mans the tyre on the Tuscan delaminated. We were in the middle of nowhere well past Rouen. Limped into a small town with a small tyre garage close to closing time. Not many French cars have low profile tyres but they couldn't have been more helpful and went home and took some well warn tyres off the owners clio cup track car so we could make it to Lemans and buy some new tyres there next day. Anyway whilst we were waiting for the owner to return with clio tyres one of the young mechanics came over to look at the car. When he realised we were English he asked for help. He had bought a car from UK unseen and paid for Transport company etc. From memory it was about £6k 4 weeks later car had not been delivered and guy was not answering his calls etc. We rang the number a few times when back in the UK and tracked down his address by pretending to have a delivery for him etc. Reported it to the Police but basically no interest. How do these people sleep at night. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aerodynamix Ltd Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 A friend of mine bought a cheap banger off gumtree and was talked into paying for it by bacs , he got it that night as that was the only time the seller was able to meet him for collection . In daylight the next day he discovered the car was the same colour but not the one in the photos , luckily it was only a banger . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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