Ripped off at Perran Sands by private owner

Hushmahoo

Anyone have any advise? To cut a long story short have paid a sun if money to a caravan owner at perran sands & now she is completely un able to contact! The site I got her details from can't get hold of her, nor can perran sands. Who's advise was to contact the police? I'm shocked the park itself can't help me further! I'm so furious & upset!

forgotmyname

Data protection will prevent them giving owners details to you.

But they police will be able to find out if you paid the genuine owner and not some scammer.

How did you pay them?

wealdroam

Hushmahoo wrote: »

Anyone have any advise? To cut a long story short have paid a sun if money to a caravan owner at perran sands & now she is completely un able to contact! The site I got her details from can't get hold of her, nor can perran sands. Who's advise was to contact the police? I'm shocked the park itself can't help me further! I'm so furious & upset!

You do have the name and address of who you paid your money to?

It's not clear what you want from them other than reassurance, but write them a letter demanding whatever it is they are not supplying.

Hushmahoo

forgotmyname wrote: »

Data protection will prevent them giving owners details to you.

But they police will be able to find out if you paid the genuine owner and not some scammer.

How did you pay them?

I paid via cheque so my bank are unable to help, the site I found the van on cannot get hold of her, nor can Perran Sands, there advise was to contact the police, so I imagine she no longer owns the van, however they did confirm she has in the past. The telephone she provided isn't valid either, and numerous email attempts are just ignored!

usignuolo

I assume you have had no confirmation of your payment or details on how to get into the caravan on the dates booked. Perran Sands can presumably check out if anyone is staying there now. Perran Sands cannot contact her - so has she done a runner? Presumably she has to pay to rent the pitch. Was cheque cashed in her name? If so she must have a current bank account. Is it still advertised on the site where you booked it from? Did she have to pay them and has done a runner there as well? You need to report fraud to the police and tell the web site and the bank and Perran Sands that you have done so.

Hushmahoo

usignuolo wrote: »

I assume you have had no confirmation of your payment or details on how to get into the caravan on the dates booked. Perran Sands can presumably check out if anyone is staying there now. Perran Sands cannot contact her - so has she done a runner? Presumably she has to pay to rent the pitch. Was cheque cashed in her name? If so she must have a current bank account. Is it still advertised on the site where you booked it from? Did she have to pay them and has done a runner there as well? You need to report fraud to the police and tell the web site and the bank and Perran Sands that you have done so.

Perran sands can't check anything. They won't ever confirm she owns the caravan, as it's data protection. The cheque was in her name, yes, but that doesn't mean it was necessarily cashed in her own vBk account. She no longer advertised on the website, they confirmed the listing was removed in late December. Yes its been reported to the police.

forgotmyname

You could have paid a scammer that stayed in the van and knew the owners name or even a previous owners name.

Visit the address you sent the cheque to?

WestonDave

Ask your bank for a copy of the cheque - they'll have that on their system even if as a scanned copy - having both sides of it should give some further details especially whether it has been altered to pay into another account.


To be fair Perran Sands have no contract with you and no responsibility to you beyond a minor PR issue if one of their tenants is ripping people off so clearly they aren't going to breach data protection for someone who chose to rent privately rather than with them direct. Its possible that this person has also left them out of pocket and they want their money before helping you get yours!


In general she may have run into financial difficulties, lost the pitch due to non payment of fees and be unable to refund you. Its not necessarily fraud - simply the risk you face paying an unknown individual who then goes bust. Its quite possible that rather than being a victim of fraud you are an unsecured creditor in line to get your money back from someone in financial difficulties - the distinction may seem academic but if she acted in reasonable faith, the police (even if they can find her) may not be in a position to bring charges (and even then may not be able to recover the money).