UPS UKASH UKCASH Gumtree Scam and scams in general

gandalfthewizard

Sadly i got scammed by this person (i was going to say lady but definately not one of them, probably not even female) just before xmas to the tune of 100.00 for a roland electric piano and can't understand why gumtree dont at least take the IP addres of all posters. At least that way, the police could trace who had that IP at that particular time via the ISP
I had the same emails from parcelforce (apparently) and they are the ones who told me it was a scam when i called with the temporary tracking number after no parcels arrived. Email from parcelforce was from [EMAIL="royal-mail@courier-updates.info"]royal-mail@courier-updates.info[/EMAIL] so seemed legit.
UKash were no help at all other than to say the voucher was cashed within 1 hour although they must know the account that this was paid into from their side. They just recommended that i call the police.
Is there a reference number that we all have that all complaints can go against to make one big case rather than lots of small cases that by themselves are probably not even being looked into by the police??
[EMAIL="Amanda78turner@gmail.com"]Amanda78turner@gmail.com[/EMAIL] was the email this swindler used and if only i had searched the email first i would have been saved by this site and the who calls me site which tells you who uses the phone number you have been sent. As soon as i searched it, i knew i had been done. Just makes it more difficult to trust anyone again and now i will scrutinise everything before committing and if they don't use paypal or COD, no go. Definitely never using UKash again and will advise all my friends to boycott them as they know these scams are taking place and are aiding and abetting by still transferring our cash to know scammers.

tightfifer

I was also scammed by janet78brown@gmail.com - now £55 lighter!

I can't post a link but if you use her email address you can find her' Google+ profile online.

Given the language used in her profile I would say that is someone who's first language isn't English. I'd also guess those photos aren't 'Janet'.

Has anyone had any joy whatsoever recovering their cash?

Has anyone contacted the police? What did they say?

The Police make take it more seriously if we can locate the 'Janet' and family in the photos and inform her they're being used in this way. Not only does it become a scam it then becomes identity theft.

gb12345

It is highly likely that the scammers are based in somewhere like West Africa or the Far East and I'm sorry to say that your chances of recovering your cash is nil.

The police in the UK will not be interested in investigating an international case involving such a small amount and the local police will also likely not be interested.

Gumtree is designed for face to face transactions and every time you reply to an ad, the page has some safety tips. The include tips such as meeting face to face and not using money transfer services such as Western Union, MoneyGram and UKCash. Unfortunately you chose to ignore those tips and you've found out the hard way why those tips are there.

As to the photos, these will likely have been stolen from someone who is silly enough to post their whole life on Facebook without restricting who has access to them.

GTK

Hi tightfifer and gandalfthewizard, I am sorry you were both scammed. There was a flurry of new ads over Xmas/New Year. I spent a couple of hours and reported many scam ads (all each individually linked to an actual “sold” eBay item of few months back, and using the same text and photos). They are easy to spot once you know what to look for. You were unlucky in not spotting it was a scam, and you are not “alone” in being scammed.

Thanks susanelainef for the alert.

People have got part of their money back from Ukash...

See post #350 (Pg 18) for how to make a detailed claim to Ukash and getting a Crime Reference Number. (Posted by dgtjunior).

See post #489 (Pg 25), where there is a summary of other posts that may help spotting, reporting and getting compensation.

gb12345, you are right about Gumtree being designed for face to face transactions. Gumtree's secure email system is the safest next step, if the Seller has not provided a contact number on their ad. It is better than eBays (as it hides your real email address), yet this is not promoted enough on Gumtree's on the "Reply to Ad" page.

GTK

keyser666

GTK wrote: »

Hi tightfifer and gandalfthewizard, I am sorry you were both scammed. There was a flurry of new ads over Xmas/New Year. I spent a couple of hours and reported many scam ads (all each individually linked to an actual “sold” eBay item of few months back, and using the same text and photos). They are easy to spot once you know what to look for. You were unlucky, and not “alone” in being scammed.

Thanks susanelainef for the alert.

People have got part of their money back from Ukash...
See post #350(Pg 18) for how to make a detailed claim to Ukash and getting a Crime Reference Number. (Posted by dgtjunior).
See post #489 (Pg 25), where there is a summary of other posts that may help spotting, reporting and getting compensation.

gb12345, you are right about Gumtree being designed for face to face transactions, but I’m discovering that many online buyers dont expect to “meeting” or indeed wish to “talk” over the phone to the seller. So they are more at risk from this type of scam, and are unaware of the danger of starting a diaglog onto their private mobile by txt with a total stranger and so not using Gumtree's excellent secure email system (which scammers do not like using).

I believe there needs to be a process (or national agency that can assist) whereby once an email address account has been linked to fraud (or money laundering), even if for only £100, it should be quickly disabled, as each of these ads are “honey traps” scamming a large number of individuals. Mind you, as scammers keep using the same email address, it is easier for “safe” online shoppers to detect them on google! GTK

If you need to link to the post, right click the post number and left click copy link and then paste it in here.

cheekychap00

janet brown [EMAIL="janet78brown@gmail.com"]janet78brown@gmail.com[/EMAIL] gumtree ukash parcelforce scam
just an update
waiting for the foi from the met police regarding the information that actionfraud has as to the number of people scammed and the duration before submitting this to the financial ombudsman.
and as to the inability of the police at this point to bring this scam to an end when i get the above information i will make a complaint against the police.
i am informed by my contact that this can be done at any police station at any time.
the person who will look into the matter initially is the duty inspector who is on duty at the time i suggest other victims do the same.
also remember the financial ombudsman is the person who can direct ukash to repay you your money.
i have a complaint lodged with the ombudsman but have not given full details yet as waiting for the foi request.
just as a matter of interest has anyone been as far as the ombudsman as i am alarmed to read that my chances of getting my money back are nil or is it just someones opinion.
i also feel that every poster should include a phrase at the top periodically to include the latest scam name and words like gumtree ukash parcelforce scam. This enables a person who is just about to make a ukash voucher purchase and who googles any of the above words to get info will then come across the forum
keep up the good work cheers

gb12345

cheekychap00 wrote: »

janet brown [EMAIL="janet78brown@gmail.com"]the inability of the police at this point to bring this scam to an end when i get the above information i will make a complaint against the police.[/email]

The scammers are not in the UK and will be collecting the money anonymously/using false IDs - there's not really much the UK police can do.

cheekychap00 wrote: »

also remember the financial ombudsman is the person who can direct ukash to repay you your money.

Unfortunately, you appear to have ignored Ukash's terms and conditions -

5.1 You may use the Ukash payments system to make payments to Participating Merchants. You will not pay any charges to Ukash for making such a payment. Participating Merchants are listed on the Ukash website www.ukash.com and you should satisfy yourself that a merchant is a Participating Merchant before submitting the Ukash voucher code to a merchant as payment. Ukash is not liable for any loss under any circumstances resulting from the presentation of voucher codes to anyone that is not a Participating Merchant.

They also have a security tips page here - http://www.ukash.com/en-LY/security-tips/ which tells you never to reveal your code to anyone else and never to send it by telephone or email.

The way the scam works is that the victim gives the code to the scammer (and in doing so breaks 5.1). The scammer goes to a participating merchant and redeems the code.

Ukash have done nothing wrong they have provided a means for you to buy something from a participating merchant.

cheekychap00

ukash parcelforce gumtree scam janet brown
11/4/2012 UHASH CEO david hunter telling the chesterfield post that he to is horrified that his company is being used to potentially defraud the public and reassuring them that they are working with the relevant authorities to stop this happening.
david hunter says that they are aware of scams of this nature and welcome the opportunity to explain the details of the product, educate customers and the public to prevent further exposure to fraudulent activity of this kind.
so what are these scams that are potentially defrauding the public.
well not including our janet we have
the computer lockdown virus that comes under more than a dozen names including the ukash virus but all include ukash vouchers.
now here are some warnings
west mercia police - large sums of money- ukash vouchers
ukash voucher scam loan-telephone calls targeting the highlands
suffolk police warning shopkeepers - ukash scam
hampshire county council - ukash payment fraud
west yorkshire police - ukash on going ppi scam
ministry of justice ukash fraud
north yorkshire police warn against cash voucher scam
suffolk trading warning ukash lottery win and ppi scam
south staffordshire police warning ukash voucher scam
trading standards wales on ukash voucher scam
cleveland police warn of voucher scam
tayside police ukash scam warning
northen ireland retailer loses 1,750 in ukash voucher scam
hull and east riding ukash voucher telephone scam
tip of the iceberg
questions to posters
Do you believe david hunter is doing what he said he would do in the first paragraph
Do you believe that david hunter can do what he says without changing the ukash terms and conditions
Do you believe the ukash terms and conditions are fair and correct for a financial company in this day and age.
Do you believe that this scam will continue until david hunter changes the terms and conditions

gb12345

cheekychap00 wrote: »

Do you believe david hunter is doing what he said he would do in the first paragraph

There really is not much that he can do (but see below) to stop a scam that is happening due to victims handing over their voucher codes to the scammers.

cheekychap00 wrote: »

Do you believe that david hunter can do what he says without changing the ukash terms and conditions

As it stands no he can't - there is currently no requirement for the verification of ID of the person cashing the voucher code. Even if that changed you can guarantee the scammers would find a way round it.

cheekychap00 wrote: »

Do you believe that this scam will continue until david hunter changes the terms and conditions

This scam will continue for as long as there are victims around who ignore the warnings on sites like Gumtree and Craigslist. If Ukash come up with a method of stopping the scammers then the scammers will just find a new way of collecting the money. Previously they used Western Union and Moneygram (still do in many cases), they moved to Ukash because the transfer agencies started to warn people about the risks of sending money to people they don't know.

keyser666

I suppose it might be worth campaigning to them to put on the receipt not to email/photograph this to other as it is likely to be a scam.

I have bought their vouchers before and there is enough space to put a message on there???