Help me track down a scammer, or report to police?

[rIcK]

Good evening folks!

I have purchased things off the internet for years and generally things are OK, scams are usually fairly obvious and easily avoided.

I have been looking on Facebook marketplace for some bike bits and a 105 group set for a reasonable price came up which was meant to be collection only, after a bit of a chat with the seller he agreed to post it to me. I sent the money by bank transfer was around £130.

Now a few weeks have passed, he is ignoring my messages and I have clearly had my money stolen. I would like a bit of advice on how I should approach this, do I simply report him to the police or try and track him down by way of friends, workplace etc?

This is the chap

https://www.facebook.com/people/Allan-Brown/100008742404599

He has a couple of likes on one of his pictures, there is some info about where he worked and I have his name and bank details.

The item in question has now been removed but was described specifically as 'Shimano 105 groupset 5800. In black finish.' and here is the picture

 

[413x]

Money is gone.
Never pay by BT for an item from an individual you do not know

 

[rIcK]

Money is gone.
Never pay by BT for an item from an individual you do not know

Yea I realise that, these things happen. However if I can get him punished for being such a scumbag. IE a small court appearance, community service or similar. Then that is worth it.

 

[Kill_Phil]

Take it on the chin and move on.

Im more amazed you haven't been done over sooner if you've been sending money to people on fb marketplace

 

[Haze]

Paid by BT lol, natural selection, taking people like that to court is a waste of time

 

[AndyCr15]

Surely that doesn't look to be a genuine Facebook account. Why would you send it money?

 

[Scania]

I did a similar foolish thing a while back, bought an item off Faceache marketplace and Royal Fail lost it, contacted the seller who basically replied “I’m not a shop,no refund” thankfully I could access his profile which happened to have a photo of his business, which I googled, found the address and kept a note of where it was until I was next in that neck of the woods, he rocked up one morning to find my artic parked across his gates and started giving me grief for parking there (I’d parked there late the previous evening), he was quite shocked when I asked him if he remembered a Faceache message conversation with someone he owed money to who said he’d find him!

I made no threats to him but I can be quite intimidating when I want to, plus he couldn’t get into his premises and he had no power of moving me on, I was on a private industrial estate and I’d had a word with the estate security about my plan the previous night and they said they’d not get involved as he was a bit of a **** anyway and found it amusing!

Whilst it could have got heated, it didn’t, he ultimately went off to get my money and I moved off once he’d paid me.

So OP, track him down, find out where his business is, get a class 1 license and go and barricade him until he pays up.

 

[Malevolence]

Police will do **** all bar sneer at you and give you a crime reference number, because investigating crimes like this doesn't seem to be part of their remit anymore. You'll need to bait the guy into insulting you on social media if you want to them to kick his doors in at silly o'clock in the morning.

If you can get the info on the guy then your best bet would to be sort it out personally, man to man.

 

[NoobCannon]

Paid by BT lol, natural selection, taking people like that to court is a waste of time

This

 

[jsmoke]

Can't find anything. Is his name Allan brown on the transaction?

 

[Thecaferacer]

Report it. Police have an obligation to investigate and you have his bank details. It's the easiest fraud case they'll have to investigate. You prob won't get your money back but it will cause him inconvenience and maybe a criminal record.

 

[mmj_uk]

The seller will just claim he sent them so it'll be OP's word against his, the police will do jack all apart from record it.

 

[Burned_Alive]

Have you tried ringing the The Potting Shed in Bingley and explaining the situation or even asking for Allan?

 

[jsmoke]

Let's all phone the potting shed.

Also found the brown cow in bingley...

 

[Rannoch]

The seller will just claim he sent them so it'll be OP's word against his, the police will do jack all apart from record it.

This is exactly what he would do. The police won’t be interested.

 

[bloodiedathame]

The police will be interested. Whether they do anything about it is another thing. They might have had multiple problems with the same person and this is the last straw. You've nothing to lose by reporting it on 101.

 

[Diddums]

The police will be interested. Whether they do anything about it is another thing. They might have had multiple problems with the same person and this is the last straw. You've nothing to lose by reporting it on 101.

^this.


And grow some common sense.

 

[Rannoch]

All they will do is record it.

 

[BDEE]

scams are usually fairly obvious and easily avoided.

I have been looking on Facebook marketplace

I sent the money by bank transfer was around £130.

What a massive contradiction.

Why anyone would send money via BT to anyone on that cesspit of a market place is beyond me!

 

[200sols]

I have purchased things off the internet for years

Then you surely know never to pay via BT.