UPS UKASH UKCASH Gumtree Scam and scams in general

leeuk_2

I myself checked to see if they still had the listing on gumtree for the honda generator only to be amazed it too was still on there for sale, I again reported it, this is what i said -

Hello, I am very upset to still see this seller offering this item still for sale on gumtree, I reported it to you 2 days ago as this seller is a fraudulent seller that takes money and has no intention of selling goods, as i explained to yourselves before i googled this persons email address - [EMAIL="angela75murray@gmail.com"]angela75murray@gmail.com[/EMAIL] and this seller is all over the forums, I have added my experience with this seller on the Money Saving Expert Forum as there are 5-6 pages of complaints about this seller offering items for sale on gumtree that simply are not there, they take the money but never send the goods, could you please follow this up and do something in regards to sellers such as this to make gumtree a safe place for people to buy there goods from, I would appreciate if this and other items this seller is selling on gumtree to be taken off sale as of immediate affect, I would also appreciate a replie from yourselves so as i can post your reply to the thousands of gumtree users to read on the Money Saving Expert Forum, This seller needs to be stopped, and stooped for good as it seems they have been using gumtree with different aliases for months if not years, sellers like this are giving gumtree a bad reputation as a untrustworthy site to buy goods from, I look forward to hearing from you in the near future, thankyou and kind regards L

Lets hope gumtree take this matter serious and use what ever resources necessary to STOP this scammer, as of yet Gumtree do not seem to be taking this matter serious at all, i reported it 2 days ago but still i have had no replie from gumtree and it is still listed and so this person is still making money from this email address. Shame on Gumtree i say for being so slow to react or even replie to this matter and other matters raised by the forum members.

leeuk_2

vax2002 wrote: »

Even some of the people taken in say "the police should do something "
What can they do, some facts:

Its not a woman at all !
They dont work and are busy
They are a gang of organised criminals working most likely thousands of miles away.
And the last fact, they can only scam fools !

How are you convinced its not a woman?
Your last fact - they can only scam fools !!,
And so your saying all Victims from this scam are FOOLS,
Dont you think that they just maybe unwary vulnerable people?, abit harsh i think calling this person/s victims FOOLS.

and so i am a little sceptic about your FACTS,
I wouldnt call them FACTS at all..

magus2000

Scammers are getting better and better at their chosen profession, the amount of people caught proves it. Nearly everyone, at some time, has thought "that's a good deal" and that is all it takes to get the hook in.
Ukash seems to be the newest way for them to get money, as most people are getting clued up on escrow and paypal scams.

A quote from UKash website

"Never email vouchers or give voucher codes in full or part by email or over the telephone to anyone as you will lose your money."

Mind you, it is only when you click into a link on their home page regarding extrabuy not being a Ukash merchant that you can read this. Pity it's not more easily seen when you go to the website though

Ul8

Vax2002 - if you are convinced the victims contributing in the thread are 'fools' and 'mugs' why don't you keep your opinion to yourself. There's a lot of upset people on here and you throwing insults isnt helping. You appear to be a keen member with a lot to say, don't you think it would be more constructive to offer supportive advice to fellow members who have been conned and lost a lot of money? The sheer number of people talking about this scam speaks volumes. If you can't offer friendly support or advice I suggest you dont bother posting in this thread of 'fools and mugs'.

cheesetriangle

'She' is now appearing as 'Angela Murray' -- tried to buy a lathe located in Bristol. Thankfully alarm bells went off before sending any money.

I've asked Gumtree to take down the ad, will be interesting to see how long it takes.

Exactly the same story btw, nearly had me fooled.

clumsymummy

Hi Everyone, Nearly got caught by this too. Just googled as seemed suspicious!

Same person is selling hot tub garden leisure 500. Nearly paid £900. Email received read:


Hi Vicki,
Don't know if it's been long since you've emailed, I've been out so couldn't follow up on my text message. Can't promise anything but visiting my mum shortly, wouldn't mind making a drop off . If you'll send me your postcode I can check out on my satnav the distance to yours.

Reasonable price and accurate description, it's worth the money, no bad surprises. I won't go any lower.

Can be reached on 07747516575 low signal strength area but check emails regularly.
Ta,
Angela.
P.S. Will take cash only.

lucyjoy

Elvisia wrote: »

As someone who worked on Watchdog please can people individually send in their own stories, because they all go into a database and the stories that have the most complaints get brought up as potential stories. However be aware that sometimes stories aren't run for what feel like bizarre legal issues.

I have reported it to Watchdog! thank you, it would be great if everyone had the time to as well as you say, they would be more likely to look into it and Gumtree's awful service at tracking/blocking members. I have reported to gumtree over 10 times, and heard absolutely nothing back.

SNOOPDOG

I see that ANGELA75MURRAY , also known as ALEXA BROWN is still advertising items for sale on Gumtree. She has a sauna for sale in the Guildford area for £200, and an outdoor spa/hot tub Jacuzzi for £300. Beware!!!! Police have been informed again, as has Gumtree, but the ads are still up.

Nana_gen

MrReesh wrote: »

Apologies if this has been posted many times before, but I had a search for this scam yesterday and found no results, and searched today and found an one (from this site) so I thought I would amalgamate all the points into one thread.

After contacting a seller from either Gumtree or whatever site you use, receive an email from that seller telling you that they are going to give you the item you wanted, and that they will provide for its delivery via a UPS business delivery.

Once you confirm that you want the item, you will receive two emails from "UPS United Kingdom", one of which confirms your details along with the shipping payment paid by the seller and is full of very convincing business stuff such as guarantees and shipping rules. The other will be from a person "in charge" of your delivery, and will request you to pay the value of your goods to UPS via UKASH using Paypoint, Payzone or ePay method, and send the 19 digit number to them for the shipment to be sent.

The seller will then email you saying that she (it tends to be a woman who may mention that she is a busy fashion designer) thought you would be able to pay at the door, and that you will be able to inspect the package before you pay, but either way you will have the option of rejecting the package and the driver will give you your money back.

I understand from the experiences of others that after you hand over the 19 digit number, the seller will either thank you or not make any form of contact whatsoever. No tracking number will be provided. No one will answer the phone number at the bottom of the UPS email you received. No one will respond to your faxes, though in all honesty nobody uses fax these days anyway. The payment will be lost and the money untraceable. You will be very upset, and feel foolish.

At all times the seller appears to respond within good time, and messages are not automatic.


Now if you have been caught up in this scam, don't go too hard on yourself as it is very convincing. However there are some tell-tale signs and tips which you can use to avoid such scams in the future:

• If the seller links their sale to a courier of some sort, verify this with the courier themselves. Go on their website (without using a link in an email) and call their customer services. Speak to a person and tell them about what the seller is asking, and what the email purporting to be from them is asking for. They will tell you if this is part of their standard procedure or not, and will confirm whether from their side it appears to be a scam.
  
• Unusual payment methods scream scam. I personally have never even heard of UKASH (or UK CASH) before yesterday, so instantly a red flag went up on the payment. Give it a Google to see what information you can find on the payment method, and if it is rife with scams (like UKASH actually is) then either request another payment method or simply move on.
  
• Check the emails. Couriers on the scale of UPS or EMS or DHL etc have their own websites and send emails to customers via that domain e.g. info@ups .com. Ignore the name on the email address and look at the email address itself. If it is not the courier's official website it is 100% fake, no question. The email I received from "UPS" was from "ups.package.inspection@post.com". The person clearly purchased the domain "post.com" and used it for the scam.
  
• Big companies use safe methods of payment. No self-respecting large scale company like UPS (which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange) will only ever invoice you, or request payment via Paypal (though Paypal is far less common and should still raise a red flag). These types of payment are usually more easily traceable, and so avoided by scammers and the like.
  
• Pay attention to the little clues. These are inconsistencies in the stories the seller is making with their story. I asked this "fashion designer" if she was able to make trench coat belts (as I needed one) and she said she couldn't make one as she only does women's dresses for special occasions. So you can make fancy dresses but are unable to put a buckle on a strip of fabric? Additionally how exactly would the driver be able to refund you the money you paid via UKASH? Do they drive around in their thousand pounds vans, carrying thousands of pounds worth of goods, carrying thousands of pounds? Risk assessment for such a company would be ridiculous.
  
• If its too good to be true it probably is. In my opinion the only perfect thing on the planet is fresh sliced bread, and even then it might not be perfect for someone with a gluten allergy. A great deal on an item (mine was a £380 13 inch macbook pro) with free 24 hour shipping, with the ability to reject the parcel and get a refund is sadly too good to be true and should be looked at with scepticism.
  
• Google it. If you're suspicious, there's no harm in Googling a few things to verify it.

Hopefully this should be of use to some, and any other tips on how to avoid scams would be appreciated.


And here are the two addresses used to contact me, please note that the person's name was "Anne" though it has also been reported that she may use the name "Jessica" instead:
annesigns@gmail.com
ups.package.inspection@post.com

just been scammed by woman called Nora palmer passed to police i am disabled so any lost money is hard please be very careful of this woman.dont get hurt like i did, wish i had seen this before.

Nana_gen

Feisty1UR wrote: »

I have come across one of these scam postings on Gumtree in the last few days, by Angela Murray, getting the usual messages from her. The reason I initially became suspicious was because I looked for a similar item on Ebay to see if the one on Gumtree was a good deal. What I found was the identical advert with identical photos on Ebay, the item said it had been Sold 2 days before the Gumtree ad appeared. So I contacted the Ebay seller who assured me it was sold, paid for & collected, I gave him the link to the Gumtree ad and he reported it to them, and it was removed for several hours, but then re-appeared, good old Gumtree!

So I checked a couple of other similar "bargains" on Gumtree, to find exactly the same thing had happened, they are Sold on Ebay and a couple of days later the wording & photos were taken from Ebay and used on Gumtree, with a different location, and usually at exactly half the price they went for on Ebay. I believe the Ebay sales are genuine, the seller was surprised that the scammers could copy the photos (of his house with the items in it!) so easily.

So if you do see a bargain on Gumtree it may be worth checking for the same item in the "Completed Listings" on Ebay, I certainly will in future

just been scammed by Nora palmer from gumtree so hurt lost money and trust in people i am disabled so any lost money is hard . be very careful !!!!!!