UPS UKASH UKCASH Gumtree Scam and scams in general

Jezza414

Hi Guys, i nearly got done for £200 by Text removed by MSE Forum Team)

Trying to get cheap Motorbike helmets found a link to an ad for "Arai RX7 GP Haga WSBK Replica helmet medium (Brand New) " on Gumtree.

I also was saved by the look of "uh-oh" are you about to be fleeced? from the shopkeeper. I bought the voucher, photographed it and was about to send it when i thought i would check the trusty google. Hey-ho and here i am.

I thought i had lost my money but checked where i can cash the UKash voucher and realised i can just cash it on a betting website and then after 48 hrs bank transfer it back to myself. So if you are wondering how they get the money, that is probably it.

Hope some of the info i posted helps someone somewhere.

Jezza.

message examples are below

Hi Jeremy,
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 (Text removed by MSE Forum Team) low signal strength area but check emails regularly.
Ta,
Stacey.
P.S. Will take cash only.

below is the parcel force fake email


Parcel Tracking details
=================
At the request of [text removed by MSE Team], this notice is to confirm that the following shipment is in transit.

Important delivery information
Temporary parcel number: PBIE513248549 *Pending - Not valid to track online*
Packaged Goods: Arai RX7 GP Haga WSBK Replica helmet medium (Brand New)
Declared value: £200.00
Status: In progress(Arrived at delivery depot)
Ships to: silly boy

Payment required within 24 hours:
Instructions:

Find a corner shop, newsagent, convenience store, supermarket or outlet that has the PayPoint sign as you can see bellow:

Ask the shopkeeper for a £200.00 voucher.
Reply to this invoice directly with a readable scan or a photo of the UKASH receipt.
Our department will automatically validate your voucher and release the parcel out for delivery.
The delivery agent will call you on *078********* 1 hour prior to delivery. You are able to inspect the contents and if satisfied you will need to sign for it. If not, our agent will do a bank transfer and return the parcel as rejected.

Parcel Force Package Inspection Department

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information contained in and accompanying this communication may be confidential and is intended solely for the use of the intended recipient(s). If you are not the intended recipient of this communication please delete and destroy all copies immediately.
==================
Parcelforce Worldwide is a trading name of Royal Mail Group Ltd.
Parcelforce Worldwide's principal office is Lytham House, 25 Caldecotte Lake Drive, Milton Keynes, MK7 8LE.
Royal Mail Group VAT registration number: GB243170002

body_boarder091286

hey thanks for the advice! i just don't know how to go about it!? i was so angry lasnight and pretty much read through this whole feed. your emails above are exactly the same word for word pretty much! as mine! ive reported to action fraud and UKASH (which were hopeless) after seeing that nobody's had any luck throughout this feed, its just feels i cant do anything about it! , surely there must be some way of catching these guys! they making more and more money all the time catching out more and more people, and UKASH defo need to be more secure! maybe one day when they do catch them they may refund us our money back.

Cornwall2000

Just have to spread the word about Gumtree/Ukash. Posting duplicate ads on Gumtree is a good way to warn people I think.
[Text deleted by forum team]
Gumtree is ONLY good for face to face I have realised, no exceptions.

iwantgerbilout

hi. my news is'nt quite as good. My poor son just been scammed by this " [text removed by MSE Team]" f

---

!
Responded to a gumtree add 4 roland drum kit . Received identical emails as those above, unfortunatley he emailed the voucher codes for a tidy sum of £500. Kept saying he needs to talk to the seller in person. He just got caught up in the whole thing because he was so eager for the kit to be posted.
He was sent a google profile link showing pictures of a woman and her family. ( do these poor people know they are being exposed in cnnection to this scam, can't imagine this is the [text removed by MSE Team] ! )
Money was sent on mon 3 sept, I waited in all day for parcel force like a mug ,due to arrive today.
contacted gumtree tonight , the ad was still there ! hope no-one else paid for this non-excistant drum kit !
Can't believe this has happend, although i kept saying it was to good to be true.
Police are comming to see us tommorow. Now that i see others have been scammed by the same person/s , makes me slightly hopeful we might get lucky and get the money back . Could involve alot of money and hopefully worthy of a full investigation.
So many "if onlys " going through my head.
Great this forum excists, hope it saves someone else fromthe same fate.

frase64

Can't believe I fell for it and have been scammed by [text removed by MSE Team] via Gumtree :mad:

I am usually the most suspicious of people when considering buying things online and just let my guard down on this occasion. Emails have been exactly the same as all previous posts and only just found out after contacting Parcelforce who told me they had no parcel and it looks like I've been had. It was for £50 for a Cadac BBQ (again too good to be true - why didn't my head listen to me! :mad:) advertised in Stoke on Trent.

I've just contacted the police but despite me pointing all these threads out, they say I've got to..........
email her and give her the "benefit of the doubt" first of all, stating that the item hasn't arrived and that I'd contacted Parcelforce who say there isn't a parcel and they don't deal with UKash vouchers. If I don't receive a reply within 24 hours or a refund then I will be reporting it to the police.

Some good that will do! I got the impression that they thought I was wasting police time as they would have to send someone round to take a statement. Well, they can send someone round when I ring them tomorrow as I know I won't hear anything!

I will never buy anything again unless I can collect it myself. Lesson learnt :mad:

Mindless_Clone

Might be useful to add the email addresses to that list too, and if there's a pattern of types of goods and/or areas covered.

Cornwall2000

I have been buying on the internet for many many years with no problems and some of the things I have done (bank transfers to the US) have been a bit dodgy in retrospect but not burnt as yet touch wood.

We must spread the word about Gumtree and UKASH, I was almost caught out. In retrospect it was silly of me but I got complacent I suppose. There are so many scam adverts on Gumtree that one should really assume a scam if there is no phone number (do some of these ads have phone number? The one I was given after the inquiry always went to "voicemail full". I think it may be possible to get a UK PAYG number linked to a google voice account or something similar. I am pretty sure these scammers are not in the UK although their English seems not bad)
Google image search will reveal quickly where the photo/description has been lifted from.
The trouble is that the victims will not have got this stage of suspicion. All I can say is spread the word and post duplicate adverts on Gumtree to warn others where they are most likely to see it.

tootiredparent

I am ashamed to say that I have been scammed today the penny dropped this morning. [text removed by MSE Team] took £140 of my hard earned money for not sending me a sit on kayak. Does anyone know how I stand as I paid for ukash with a credit card? Any chance of testing my money back.

frase64

tootiredparent wrote: »

I am ashamed to say that I have been scammed today the penny dropped this morning. [text removed by MSE Team] took £140 of my hard earned money for not sending me a sit on kayak. Does anyone know how I stand as I paid for ukash with a credit card? Any chance of testing my money back.

So sorry to hear that you have become yet another victim.

I would contact your credit card company although I doubt you would get a refund from them as you used it to buy the voucher, not the item but it's worth a try.

Please make sure you report it to Gumtree and the police and also complete the online fraud report at actionfraud (details in my previous post)

Cornwall2000

Maybe the Mod team could clarify why they have removed the false names used by the scammers? It certainly helps warn others if the email addresses they are using are visible on the internet.