Gumtree Item not received what should i do?

lorra62

I bought an Iphone 5s on Gumtree a couple of weeks ago, firstly I paid on paypal, but then received an email to say the seller was having problems with paypal and will refund me, can I pay into her bank account instead. I was a bit dubious but as my son was excited about the phone, I did, She did refund the money to paypal straight away so I agreed to pay part of the money and then the rest when i received the phone! The seller supposedly sent the phone that day. When it didn't arrive a few days later I asked for the tracking number, which she sent eventually, but guess what! it said it was incorrect on the PO website. We have emailed back and forth, Seller making lots of excuses and saying that she had contacted PO and they were looking into it, 3 weeks later still no phone. Seller said she had received email from PO and the delivery had been signed for and sent a pic of signing.(wasnt my name btw) I was getting a bit annoyed by this time and did some research on google and guess what found the same picture of the signed item on google images!!
I have given her the benefit of the doubt for 3 weeks but now need to do something about it, How many other people has she defrauded in the same way. I know i am unlikely to get my money back but I really cant leave it there. Would the police be interested. I was thinking of plastering her name and address all over the internet as a fraudster, but I would probably end up in trouble!! Advice welcome.:(:(

googler

I wouldn't do any Gumtree trading by post. Always person-to-person.

soolin

lorra62 wrote: »

I bought an Iphone 5s on Gumtree a couple of weeks ago, firstly I paid on paypal, but then received an email to say the seller was having problems with paypal and will refund me, can I pay into her bank account instead. I was a bit dubious but as my son was excited about the phone, I did, She did refund the money to paypal straight away so I agreed to pay part of the money and then the rest when i received the phone! The buyer supposedly sent the phone that day. When it didnt arrive a few days later I asked for the tracking number, which she sent, but guess what! it said it was incorrect on the PO website. We have emailed back and forth, Buyer making lots of excuses and saying that she had contacted PO and they were looking into it, 3 weeks later still no phone. Buyer said she had received email from PO and the delivery had been signed for and sent a pic of signing.(wasnt my name btw) I was getting a bit annoyed by this time and did some research on google and guess what found the same picture of the signed item on google images!!
I have given her the benefit of the doubt for 3 weeks but now need to do something about it, How many other people has she defrauded in the same way. I know i am unlikely to get my money back but I really cant leave it there. Would the police be interested. I was thinking of plastering her name and address all over the internet as a fraudster, but I would probably end up in trouble!! Advice welcome.:(:(

I'm sorry but you have fallen for one of the most common scams on the Internet. Yu have slot your money, I think you already know that, but you can try reporting this to the police as they make take a report from you. Also let gum tree know so they can block the seller, but frankly they will be using multiple accounts for this so are unlikely to worry about losing one account.

All the alarm bells should have rung from the start 'PayPal not working' was your first clue.