Scammed on Gumtree any help or info would be appreciated!

calnmui

So, I have foolishly fell straight into a scammers hands, could honestly kick myself for it!

Trying to book a caravan holiday for myself and my 3 wee kiddies and all holiday parks in and around the central belt were full up, so started looking at facebook and gumtree.

Popped a wanted ad on Gumtree and on Thursday morning at the back of 8, i received an email from 'Stef' to say that she had a cancellation at her caravan and the dates had become available to give her a call.

I called her a little later on and spoke with her, she offered the caravan, passes and bed linen all in for £225.

Decided to take it and called her back, I asked where the caravan was on the park and she said she couldn't tell me as they had been broken into 6 months earlier I hesitated and phoned her back saying I would need to know. she said she would need to speak to her hubby and call me back, she text me saying what part of the park it was in but no caravan number.

i accepted her offer as when she spoke she knew everything - check in time, check in procedure, what was on the park, i told her about my three little ones and how they had loved that park - how we couldn't go abroad as my youngest 11 months had bad allergies.

she old me she worked for the police and her hubby the prison service they had a daughter at 3.

I paid (stupidly) by bank transfer and upon receipt was promised a holiday confirmtion, which has never arrived. I have texted her a few times and this morning tried calling her at 8am, no answer, i ended up e-mailing her via the gumtree response and texting her saying i was getting worried as i had no infor about the holiday and no contact.

she text me saying she had been called into work and would get the confirmation to me today. i text her straight back and asked for the number of the van. There was a delay and evantually a number came through.

I felt uneasy and called the holiday company who confirmed my horror :eek: that van was not privately owned and was simply owned by the holiday company themselves.

again contacted her to say this and she came back saying it was shared ownership - again contacted the holiday company who have said this is nonsense.

they have attempted to contact her and she has answered the phone and claims not to be 'stef' doesn't know anyone of that name and does not own a caravan.

so obviously when she has went to speak to her hubby regarding the location of the van she's been looking up the park map???

so there you have it scammed for £225 - the police are coming out to the house tomorrow.

smalltimepro

You have a bank transfer, so surely there is an owner on the account that can be tracked. You have a phone number and text communication. Now just hope that the phone is registered to someones name and not just a throw away pre-paid sim.
Keep a record of all email and text conversation with her. Try to make a backup if you can.

Hopefully when confronted by the police with the evidence, she will return your money

arcon5

The police can put a request in to the bank to get the account holders details. It's likely if they are uk based and a real account they will receive a conditional caution (condition being you get your money back). If they are repeat offenders then probably a conviction which you are unlikely to see your money again.

Then of course the account could be in somebody else's name in which case you are unlikely to see your money again.

For time being let the police get your statement and investigate.

soolin

arcon5 wrote: »

The police can put a request in to the bank to get the account holders details. It's likely if they are uk based and a real account they will receive a conditional caution (condition being you get your money back). If they are repeat offenders then probably a conviction which you are unlikely to see your money again.

Then of course the account could be in somebody else's name in which case you are unlikely to see your money again.

For time being let the police get your statement and investigate.

No the police cannot get access to a bank account holder without this having gone through the courts. Taking a legal route may cost the OP more and not actually get any money back anyway.

The reason these common scams work (and gumtree have prominent warnings about bank transfers) is that the bank details are private.

pinkshoes

Bank transfer + gumtree = ohps!

There is nothing you can do, so learn from your mistake and move on.

keyser666

arcon5 wrote: »

The police can put a request in to the bank to get the account holders details. It's likely if they are uk based and a real account they will receive a conditional caution (condition being you get your money back). If they are repeat offenders then probably a conviction which you are unlikely to see your money again.

Then of course the account could be in somebody else's name in which case you are unlikely to see your money again.

For time being let the police get your statement and investigate.

What a load of !!!!!!!!, where did you dream all that up from? All assumptions there, the police have no access and cannot get the details. The only way that can happen is by a Norwich Pharmacal order.

As for them getting a conditional caution? That is laughable, for that offence they would not get a caution at all and to assume so is ludicrous.

earthstorm

yes the police can put a request in to the bank to get the account holders details, but this relies on the banks fraud department accepting their is just cause to hand over these details, which most likely they would only accept this in major fraud cases, so a court order would be needed in the OPs case.

mo786uk

The banks will release the data to the Police but some banks will take ages about it.

I worked for a law enforcement agency and we could access bank details - and you can be sure the Police can to when there is crime involved.

arcon5

soolin wrote: »

No the police cannot get access to a bank account holder without this having gone through the courts. Taking a legal route may cost the OP more and not actually get any money back anyway.

The reason these common scams work (and gumtree have prominent warnings about bank transfers) is that the bank details are private.

keyser666 wrote: »

What a load of !!!!!!!!, where did you dream all that up from? All assumptions there, the police have no access and cannot get the details. The only way that can happen is by a Norwich Pharmacal order.

As for them getting a conditional caution? That is laughable, for that offence they would not get a caution at all and to assume so is ludicrous.

Actually i'm not wrong - and i'm speaking from experience in a very similar situation to ops where I was accused of being the scammer and had the police knock on my door having made a request to my bank account provider for my details - they had evidence I received the payment made to me also, fortunately it didn't really matter as I had nothing to deny and nothing ever came of it after putting my very legitimate side to them in an interview.

As for a caution, it would depend on the individual and their history, but why you feel it's laughable is beyond me. For a first time small offender this would be an ideal route to help their statistics.




@keyser666, what a pleasant person you are!

keyser666

They still need an order for it.

keyser666

arcon5 wrote: »

Actually i'm not wrong - and i'm speaking from experience in a very similar situation to ops where I was accused of being the scammer and had the police knock on my door having made a request to my bank account provider for my details - they had evidence I received the payment made to me also, fortunately it didn't really matter as I had nothing to deny and nothing ever came of it after putting my very legitimate side to them in an interview.

As for a caution, it would depend on the individual and their history, but why you feel it's laughable is beyond me. For a first time small offender this would be an ideal route to help their statistics.




@keyser666, what a pleasant person you are!

The police still need an order to access the details. How can you have a first time small offender? For a first time offender they will be charged if it passes the evidential and public interest tests and will go to court.

Thanks for the compliment, your not the first to say that