Advice required on possible scam

CR_90

Hi guys. I'm new to this forum so I'm not sure if this is the right place to post such a topic, if not please feel free to tell me where it needs to be.

OK the story goes...at the start of this year tickets to see Beyonce in concert were released. As expected they sold out very quickly and unfortunately I missed out. A guy I know (I've met him once when I was at uni...I now live 100 miles from him) messaged me to say he knew someone who worked at Ticketmaster and could get them for me. Sheer naivety and want of the tickets persuaded me to go for it, and I transferred £300 over to his "girlfriends account". It gets worse.

Before I realised I wasn't getting the Beyonce tickets, tickets for Wireless festival became available. And sold out. And he said he'd sort them out for me too. £475 for 3 tickets.

When I didn't receive the Beyonce tickets I told him that I need the money back. He said he'd not been able to get in touch with his guy who was sorting them and didn't know what had happened. He later said "I think he might be in jail". Since then I've been pestering, nearly every week, for my money back. The responses I get are always the same..."message me after 5 I'm at work". I message him after 5 and I either get no answer or I get "I'll sort some for you this week". Going round in circles.

I can't tell whether it was a genuine thing and he just doesn't want to give me the money out of his own pocket, or if the whole thing was just a scam. It smells like a very badly executed scam to me.

I've spoken to my bank and they've said they can't do anything because I willingly transferred the money.

I'm just really stuck for ideas and have no clue how to sort this out. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks guys.

sleepygirl126

it sounds like a scam....contact the police they will advise you....I would consider this to be theft....trading standards can't help because he is not purporting to be a ticket agency. good luck x

CR_90

I have the more recent messages of me asking for my money but unfortunately not the original messages where he told me he could get the tickets which happened via direct message on Twitter. I also have the two internet banking transactions on my statements.

cynicalgit_2

You may have to go down the small claim court route.
Sometimes a legal threat can sort things out.

cynicalgit_2

However I would suggest that under no circumstances you should persuade a few burly gentlefolk to rendezvous with your aforementioned "friend" and ask him politely to return your stolen money after enquiring about his health.
IMHO this would be quite wrong.

CR_90

cynicalgit wrote: »

You may have to go down the small claim court route.
Sometimes a legal threat can sort things out.

Maybe tell him that I've spoken to my lawyer?

cynicalgit_2

I was hoping that a legal person would be on to advise.
£775 is a lot of money but a MCOL is fairly cheap to set up.
If he doesn't pay up or defend the action then Judgement is made against him.
You need further advice.

cynicalgit_2

If you search MCOL you can find further info.
It suggests a mediation service or a straightforward claim.
It will cost you £60 to file the claim.
Maybe just a threat might produce results. You'll need his details to serve the claim..
Hope someone legal comes on the forum to explain more!!

CR_90

cynicalgit wrote: »

If you search MCOL you can find further info.
It suggests a mediation service or a straightforward claim.
It will cost you £60 to file the claim.
Maybe just a threat might produce results. You'll need his details to serve the claim..
Hope someone legal comes on the forum to explain more!!

So it seems as though my two options legally are MCOL and Small Claims Court?

Thing is I don't even know his name, I only know him by his DJ name. I know the street he lives on but not the house number, and I'm not 100% sure he still lives there.

harrys_dad

CR_90 wrote: »

So it seems as though my two options legally are MCOL and Small Claims Court?

Thing is I don't even know his name, I only know him by his DJ name. I know the street he lives on but not the house number, and I'm not 100% sure he still lives there.

You need to do some investigation then, as otherwise you can just write off your money. An expensive lesson to learn, twice. Good luck. If you know his "DJ name" then maybe you can find out where he is "performing", turn up and ask him for the money in such a way that everyone knows he owes it.

cynicalgit_2

harrys_dad wrote: »

You need to do some investigation then, as otherwise you can just write off your money. An expensive lesson to learn, twice. Good luck. If you know his "DJ name" then maybe you can find out where he is "performing", turn up and ask him for the money in such a way that everyone knows he owes it.

Good idea!
Grab the microphone and tell the whole room what a cheating, thieving, scumbag this guy is.
Wont his DJ details be available online?
I'm sure with a bit of amateur sleuthing you can find his details.
You need to get some professional legal advice, i'm still hoping a pro will come onboard and offer some help.
You may need to post this onto another forum.
Sometimes as I said a legal threat can produce results.
Maybe speak to CAB or your local Police Station.
At least if you get a judgement against him his credit file will be trashed, something you might like to remind him about when you phone him next.
You might want to contact Ticketmaster and explain your plight, they may take pity on you and send you some tickets.