Advice - think i've been scammed.

martynh99

We use internet sites to find holiday homes and book direct with owners, we tend to do this 2 / 3 times a year and have never had a problem.

In June we did the same and booked a caravan for the wifes parents in the UK.
After making contact, speaking on the phone we made payment via internet banking with the balance about 10 days ago - they are due to go on Saturday. We've been trying for 10 days now to get in touch with the owner to get teh keys but the phone just goes to vmail.
The 'advertising' site don't have a tel num, just an email and they are useless (legitimate company at companies house).
Caravan site is useless as it's not one of their caravans they don't want to get involved.

Went to Police to report fraud, they say it's a civil matter.
Conmans bank don't want to know, DPA barriers go up.
Caravan site - DPA barriers go up.

Any idea where we go from here, we have sort code, acct number and a mobile number - thats it :mad:

browneyedbazzi

Did you receive any sort of booking confirmation/contract/terms and conditions when you booked? Do you have full name and address details for the owner of the caravan? It's a bit late to say this, but it's not the wisest move to transfer money to someone you don't know for a product/service you haven't seen particularly if you do so without any paperwork.

If you have been conned then you should contact Consumer Direct who will refer the case to your local trading standards. They will have more luck than you in getting the bank to release details etc if they are required as part of an investigation.

scheming_gypsy

http://www.nominet.org.uk/other/whois/

will give you the details of who the website is registered to.

Although there is a chance they're on holiday too