A scam story....pitchforks on standby?

Surfer

Surfer

Surfer

Soldato
Joined
31 Dec 2005
Posts
11,179
Location
Glasgow
I wasn't sure the OcUK army would be interested in this. I know in the past OcUK detectives have been on the case!

Here's the situation:

An eBay seller (lets call them H) has scammed a friend of mine out of some money (not huge amount but still). They did this by building up a good eBay profile and relationship with my friend over some months. Buying and receiving goods from H etc and emails chats etc To the extent that they made the mistake of paying this seller by bank transfer on the last few purchases. ( i know i know!!)

On the last purchase the seller doesn't deliver on what my m8 paid for and it turns out this seller has done the same to *at least* 30 other eBay buyers. Unfortunately because my m8 paid using BT it is unlikely he will get his money back.

Obviously feeling a bit aggrieved (he has tried emailing and phoning H to no avail) my m8 did a bit of detective work and has managed to get her Facebook and Twitter account. He has also found a news report online of an interview a Sheffield paper did with H in 2016 Now unfortunately when he tried to speak to her on FB she blocked his account. She has now started selling stuff on Facebook as well.

Currently he is thinking to perhaps get in touch with the Sheffield news reporter who did the news report on H. Not sure they would be interested in it though.

What say you Ocuk readers? If i was the one scammed i would be messaging all the ebay buyers who got scammed by her. If she suddenly received a lot of messages on her facebook and twitter account asking her to refund all the money she scammed out of these people it would at least stop other people from buying from her (she is now selling on facebook).

I havent given further information as im not sure what the situation is legally and i'm also waiting on the go-ahead from my m8.

All he wants to do is warn other people as atm she seems to be getting away scot free.

He has tried the police - they have said let ebay deal with it. Doesn't help him get his money back though.

Suggestions?
 
First mistake...paying by BT. Never EVER pay by BT on eBay, dumbest thing you can ever do really. Always pay by PayPal, at least that way you are protected.


Not sure what else you or your friend can do, put it down to experience and be a lot more smarter in the future.
 
Why not simply post on every FB post she makes asking for your money and everyone else's to be returned. If the FB selling site is anything like my local one, contact the admins and ask them to post a warning about her past behaviour and get her banned from the group too.
 
I'm being a fool I know, but if your friend knows the individuals name can they not take them to small claims court. If you get 30 people to do it even better.

Or is this fully covered under caveat emptor.
 
So you, and a whole load of other people who have been scammed out of money, know this person's real identity, and yet you want to try and resolve the situation by posting messages on Facebook?

PlacidCasual said:
Or is this fully covered under caveat emptor.
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There aren't many protections for private sales, but the items do have to be "as described".

If you've bought X, but received nothing, then you haven't received what has been described, so you would IMO have a case (but I'm just a keyboard lawyer, so don't take my word for it :p)
 
Small claim is basically for any civil dispute like that if you've entered a contract and not got what you paid for (and not got your money back) that is fair grounds.
 
First time I've ever heard of someone building a relationship up via ebay selling :confused:

Small claims court.
 
Not sure if you are aware, but there is an organisation called the "Police" who investigate when crimes have taken place. Might be worth giving them a call?
 
Adam said:
Not sure if you are aware, but there is an organisation called the "Police" who investigate when crimes have taken place. Might be worth giving them a call?
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not sure if you are aware, but the OP already mentioned the police :p

Surfer said:
He has tried the police - they have said let ebay deal with it.
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to OP - Judge Rinder is your friend. let us know when they'll be on the show
 
Police said let ebay deal with it lol?

Did you make clear to them a large volume of other people have been ripped off by this individual?

Go in again and make a complaint.
 
If you know their address, can't you use the Money Claim website to get the cash back? I've used it before in the past and most people just pay up when they get an official letter through the post.
 
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