Help, I've been scammed online need help as bank won't help me!

jonesMUFCforever

shottsguy22 wrote: »

Yes I have his postal address but the police said he could be an innocen guy who's had his identity stolen! Think I might try writing to him

My advice - forget the money and move on - learn from this!

meer53

If a complete stranger came up to you in the street and said "wanna buy a phone ? it's £100, pay me now and i'll bring it round to yours later ?" would you give it to him ? No, thought not, but thats exactly what you have done.

opinions4u

shottsguy22 wrote: »

Yes it was a transfer as a payment though ! They obviously know who has the money as we both bank with Halifax they could contact him and tell him to send it back

"Dear Mr Scammer. Please will you send the money back to Mr Shotts. Here are his account details." - what planet are you on with this?

The guy has broken the law and the bank think it's ok how can that be right ?

Who says he's broken the law? This country has a presumption of innocence until proven guilty. The Halifax cannot simply dip in to somebody's account, help themselves to the money and hand it back to you.

It is absolutely a matter between you and the "scammer". Take him to court. Ask for a court order to reimburse the funds. But Halifax cannot suddenly announce themselves as judge and jury. They cannot even provide the address of the "scammer" to the police without an appropriate order.

If you hadn't authorised the transaction, then they reimburse you because their systems had failed in some way. But you did authorise it. The money that has been paid was paid because you told them to pay it.

It is naff all to do with the bank. It is totally a matter for you, the "scammer", the police and the courts to resolve.

pmduk

I can understand your frustration. However, the Halifax isn't responsible for the honesty of its customers, Neither you nor the seller. Unfortunately Gumtree offers no protection to people buying via on the ads, you use it at your own risk. The Halifax promise you mention in your original post refers to purchases made with your debit card, not a bank transfer. I suspect you may not see this money again, I'm sorry but at least learn from it.

edit: My post crossed with the above. We're both saying much the same thing.

opinions4u

pmduk wrote: »

The Halifax promise you mention in your original post refers to purchases made with your debit card, not a bank transfer.

It actually relates to online fraud where the transaction is not carried out by the account holder. Visa chargeback would offer a level of protection for this sort of thing via a debit card.

Bottom line is the OP needs to accept the blame lies away from the bank on this.

david39

So, I buy a phone from a private seller 200 miles away and authorise my bank to transfer £100 to him.
The phone arrives, but I pretend it didn't and I ring the bank up and tell them I expect them to get my money back as I have not received the goods.

This is an equally possible explanation of the problem.

I am not suggesting that the OP has done this but, from the bank's point of view, both explanations are equally probable and there is no way that they could be expected to divine which one is true.

That is why the bank are unable to act and why it needs the OP to sort it directly or to persuade the police that they should investigate to establish the truth.

shottsguy22

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

My advice - forget the money and move on - learn from this!

Yes why not £200 is nothing isn't it?

shottsguy22

meer53 wrote: »

If a complete stranger came up to you in the street and said "wanna buy a phone ? it's £100, pay me now and i'll bring it round to yours later ?" would you give it to him ? No, thought not, but thats exactly what you have done.

Is that not what you do on eBay? Amazon in fact any online website do they send you the product before you pay? Didn't think so

Lokolo

shottsguy22 wrote: »

Is that not what you do on eBay? Amazon in fact any online website do they send you the product before you pay? Didn't think so

You using your debit card for transactions.

A BACS transfer is not the same as a debit card transaction, they are completely different.

erdd2

shottsguy22 wrote: »

Yes I have his postal address but the police said he could be an innocen guy who's had his identity stolen! Think I might try writing to him

Why do you think it is the bank or the polices responsibility?

As repeatedly stated there is no element of fraud or theft. If the item does not arrive this will still not be the bank or polices responsibility...you could raise a small claim action.