I've been scammed...

[Banzai_Joe]

Surely the police can approach the bank and obtain the account number's address.
The lack of comms on the sellers behalf won't help work in his favour if he claims he sent the phone out.

Can't beleive the bank won't do anything.
I had £1000 dumped into my account last year. It was in there for about 3 weeks, then was taken out again. I'm assuming it was put in there by mistake, maybe by simply typing in the wrong digit on the account number.

I'd certainly contact the police.

 

[mmj_uk]

Did you put a message in your bank transfer, something like "phone from Gumtree"? I would've thought if you did then it would be upto the seller to prove that he has sent it? otherwise it's fraud?

 

[Haggisman]

If the police wont do anything about it, tell them "unless you sort it, I'm going to go round there and kick the living **** out of him." See how quick it takes them to get involved then!

 

[Nemesis379]

I have all the texts messages on a .txt file, and proof of me paying including a piece of text saying "iPhone 5 64GB Whit".

So you guys reckon I should call the Police see if they can do anything?

Edit: I'm on the action fraud police website filling out the form now.

 

[AJK]

So you guys reckon I should call the Police see if they can do anything?

Yes? Why haven't you done this yet?

 

[Nemesis379]

I don't know, I thought they wouldn't be able to do much, I filled out a form on the action fraud website, and it's saying that it's not a fraud that they can report and that I should contact Citizens Advice and report it to them.

 

[Showboat]

OCUK detectives are perfect for this type of thing....

 

[Adam]

I was scammed on these forums (as were some other users) for the sum of £25. I collated everything and approached the police, they took a statement and the individual was arrested.

Unfortunately the CPS decided that it was not in the public's interest to proceed with the prosecution but I hope this guy being arrested made him think twice about doing the same thing next time.

You can't let people get away with stuff like this, they will do it to someone else until they get caught. Why let it get to that stage?

 

[Nemesis379]

I was scammed on these forums (as were some other users) for the sum of £25. I collated everything and approached the police, they took a statement and the individual was arrested.

Unfortunately the CPS decided that it was not in the public's interest to proceed with the prosecution but I hope this guy being arrested made him think twice about doing the same thing next time.

You can't let people get away with stuff like this, they will do it to someone else until they get caught. Why let it get to that stage?

What did you go into the police station?

I have all the text messages in a file, a file of the phone with his name, payment, emails and his details.

I'm now filling out a Fraud Report Form on Actionfraud, I did something wrong, but now it's working, thanks to the Live Chat.

 

[ps3ud0]

OP - you really have been sitting on your laurels, youll actively have to pursue this to get any vague justice done.

Just go down to your local police station and make them aware whats happened, just get everything pertinent documented with evidence as required so its clear to them whats transpired.

Hopefully that might be enough for them to verify who owns the bank account you put money into and to take further action - its unlikely youll get your money back/get a prosecution, as Adam above pointed out, but its better than apparently just rolling over. Least the guy will get the scare of his life if he gets arrested...

EDIT: I know youve already spoken to your bank, but theres no harm in calling them and seeking advice if you did go to the police what details/authority they would require to release such bank account details - might focus what you provide to the police and what you need to say to them.

EDIT2:

• Please be aware that each report cannot be investigated individually, although the information you provide will aid the police in building up a national picture of fraud.

Get off your arse Nemesis379 and get down to your police station...

ps3ud0

 

[Shimmyhill]

Action Fraud is the Police country wide fraud reporting scheme, if they feel its something your local force should deal with they will forward it on.

It sounds like online fraud rather than a deception theft so they are probably best to deal.

 

[Adam]

What did you go into the police station?

I have all the text messages in a file, a file of the phone with his name, payment, emails and his details.

I'm now filling out a Fraud Report Form on Actionfraud, I did something wrong, but now it's working, thanks to the Live Chat.

I called my local police station and said I had been a victim of fraud, and asked if they would consider looking in to it.

 

[Nemesis379]

Well I've reported it through the website all his details, they've provided me with some info for me to access my incident report.

 

[Peerzy]

Why have you not phoned the police station? How many times do you fill things out online and they get back to you 5 weeks later or something.

Unless £390 is a small enough amount of money for you to not consider an hour trip to the police station I can't see why you wouldn't have done it already?!

 

[muon]

How are people supposed to know that Gumtree is designed for cash on collection sales? I know now (thanks for sharing your tale of woe Nemesis) but really I think it was an easy mistake to make.

Errrr, does it need to be explicit. It's common sense.

If someone sent you an email advertising an iphone and you did the same, would it be the email providers fault?

If you were buying a car on autotrader would you provide a bank transfer for thousands of pounds to a private person who could easily be fake?

How about rightmove and someone asked you to transfer over £200k for a deposit on a house you've just been told about?

In the OPs case the police may do something about it. However, what would you do if the phone came significantly not as described?