UPS UKASH UKCASH Gumtree Scam and scams in general

hooverman11

She's obviously had a successful few days - I've just been scammed for £60 via a Gumtree ad for a Cannon gas cooker. Exactly the same wording on emails (would'nt mind dropping it off/too busy/Parcelforce etc etc).

The really annoying thing is I half smelled the rat and didn't Google "UKASH Parcelforce" which would have brought me straight to this forum. Just like a previous post, I hadn't heard of UKASH vouchers before yesterday - it was probably this bit of fog, thinking it was a good but not too good deal and trusting that no scam would involve Parcelforce that blinded me into being stupid enough to send an electronic pic of a voucher by REPLY to an email - may as well have handed the thing to a guy in the street.

I'll notify gumtree, not that there appears much hope of anything being done.

dgtjunior

bannerdown wrote: »

Just had a similar ParcelForce . UKash scam attempted by Alexa Connel from Gloucester trying to sell me a printer for £100. The Parcel force email is attached below to warn others what to expect.


Almost fell for it but couldn't see Parcel Force paying money back!

Dave


On 23/05/2012 19:12, Alexa Connel wrote:
> Unfortunately I got called into the office so very busy till next week. Back at work we have some shipments for large items with parcelforce all week long. Just thought it would save you time and hassle if I'll send it along with them free of charge company benefits .
>
> I asked around and it seems you can pay cash upon delivery/inspection. It's quite simple since they're able to wait for you to check it out, if not as described they can just void the shipment.
>
> If that's alright with you I'll need a name, address, contact number and time frame when someone's home, can book a specific time slot if it helps.
>
> Working long hours so If you want to pop in and pick it up you'll just have to wait till next week when hopefully I'll get my head around .
> Let me know either way.
> Alexa.
> You can check out Alexa's profile on Google+ here : addressurlhttps /plus.google.com/u/0/116731263126404310309

Parcelforce email

Parcel Tracking details
==================
At the request of Alexa Connel, this notice is to confirm that the following shipment is in transit.

Important delivery information

---

Temporary parcel number: PBIE5569536882 *Pending-Not valid to track online*
Status: In progress(Arrived at delivery depot)
Ships to: Address name
Road
Town
post code
tel no

Payment required within 24 hours:
Instructions:
1. Find a corner shop, newsagent, convenience store, supermarket or outlet that has the PayPoint sign as you can see bellow:

2. Ask the shopkeeper for a £100.00 UKASH voucher.
3. Reply to this invoice directly with a readable scan or a photo of the UKASH receipt.
4. Our department will automatically validate your voucher and release the parcel out for delivery.
5. The delivery agent will call you on *077xxxxx50* 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

I've had exactly the same scam pulled on me with this same template email (i'm really busy...ect ) by a PAMELA HOGAN. selling a Fender guitar amp for 180 pounds in the Milton Keynes area via gumtree using the email pamela75hogan@gmail.com . As an experienced ebay seller and buyer, I should have rumbled it after the request for a UKASH payment came in, but the Parcel Force email seemed genuine, and i expected the payment to be covered by UKASH against any fraud, in much the same way as Paypal protects people, but apparently not.

To "Pam" if you are reading this. Very clever. Just remember:
what comes around, goes around my friend.

dgtjunior

After skimming through 12 pages of scams perpetrated by this lowlife, isn't it about time Parcel Force took the initiative and launched a proper investigation? The same goes for Gumtree and UKASH too. It's not on that some joker is getting away with this. These are hard times and I for one don't have money to write this scam off as "experience".

dgtjunior

Skydivepaul wrote: »

Very nearly got caught out with this scam.

Pamela hogan selling a Gibson studio guitar on gum tree fo £330
Exactly the same email structure as before - please buy a ukase voucher and email a scanned copy of it to parcel force.

I very nearly lost the money. Alarm bells started ringing when I went to my local shop to get the voucher "just be careful, there are a lot of scams with these vouchers" the guy in the shop said

Anyway I came home with £330 in ukash vouchers and upon close inspection on the voucher it states. Never email or telephone anyone with the voucher code, treat these as if they were cash.

So I called ukase and asked them if parcel force was a supplier ? No they said.

So here I am with £330 worth of ukash vouchers sitting on my desk.

I suppose I will have to apply for a ukash MasterCard, load my vouchers onto it and withdraw the cash!

Could have been worse

As I've mention in another post; why aren't UKASH and Parcel Force taking some responsabilty for thisand launching an investigation? Obviously UKASH get paid whatever so they are quids in, so they have no reason to investigate... but Parcel Force are being heavily undermined here; they need to do something about it. People are falling for this by trusting in Parcel Force's reputation, so therefore they should assume some of the responsibility. I have already emailed them suggesting this. When I called them today to ask why my parcel never came, a guy casually said "sorry, yes, we've heard of this before.." he made it sound like it was rare occurrence, but looking at this blog this is a full-time wholesale scam . Who's scammimg who here?

Parcel Force really need to get a grip on this scam. And UKASH could be more help too, especially when selling these vouchers. I handed over money to a bored 18 year old Spar assitant, who offered no enquiry as too what i wanted the voucher for, no warning about scammers.. nothing.

This is all too easy for these lowlife. It's time it stopped.

Enfieldian

It will stop when people stop being bloody stupid and falling for an obvious scam.

Why should Parcel Force, UKASH or Spar be responsible for people not doing their research properly?

Kernel_Sanders

04joness wrote: »

.... I didnt send the voucher and instead put £200 into a bet365 account and bet on a Peruvian football team that were winning 4-0 in the 83rd minute against a team with only 10 men.

There are safer ways of recovering this money via betting exchanges, ways that would guarantee you a small profit too...
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/325861

akmehmet

Posting ads since May 2012
Alexa Edwards she called herself in email, then Alexa Esber on the link to google mail


Just gone through the Alexi Edwards experience. But thanks to everyone on this thread for saving me from a spanking.

kart.web.tr
ukashkart.tv.tr

ikonplayer

Beware pamela75 Hogan @gmail.com Brompton Bike North Yorkshire adverts. See other posts for details. Pamela Hogan

dgtjunior

Enfieldian wrote: »

It will stop when people stop being bloody stupid and falling for an obvious scam.

Why should Parcel Force, UKASH or Spar be responsible for people not doing their research properly?

Rubbish. It's been going on for too long now. How can this scammer /or gang be able to collect payments on UKASH vouchers every other day for so long, and not raise any suspicion? I'm sure they are smart enough to rotate paypoint vendors, but there aren't as many as you think. Why has no one not noticed regular payouts to the same faces? UKASH should be made responsible because their system is clearly flawed. They've had enough time to sort this out, the first reported scam by them on this thread alone is April 2011 - so at least 18 months of these scum happily ripping people off. That's just negligent.. How much would it take for UKASH to insist on proper identification from the collector, that pertains to the sender also. Just walking into Spar with a voucher number is a joke. Parcel Force could investigate too, its a big company and I expect to be able to trust their brand, so if someone else is using it to con people, they should pull their fingers out and take some action..

Enfieldian

You fail to see that the scam is not based on the purchase and use of the vouchers, but on the sale of non existent items.

The vouchers are being redeemed in accordance with the usage policy. Whether it is by a con merchant or not is nothing to do with UKash.

Also, a quick check before hand would show that Parcel Force do not offer the service described by the "seller".

Instead people are attracted by what appears to be a bargain, common sense goes out of the window and when they realise that they have been had and how easy it would have been to prevent their mistake then they want to lay the blame elsewhere rather than admit their own stupidity.