Any leg to stand on?

Voltaire7

stator wrote: »

Come here to gloat about how clever you are for not falling for this scam?

You don't have to be clever not to fall for this sort of thing.

glentoran99

stator wrote: »

Come here to gloat about how clever you are for not falling for this scam?

Gloating? Where?

garth549

Common scam unfortunately and I doubt you'll be able to get your money back.

If anyone you don't know and implicitly trust (ie they're not a family member or 'offline' friend) asks for money by Western Union/MoneyGram/Ria then 99% of the time it's a scam.

macca9

I steered clear of explaining the full in and outs of the scam itself mainly to save myself time.
Essentially the thief used a very, very good system of Paypal lookalike automatic emails.
The idea was the "woman" paid us, via fake paypal, to pass on money to a "courier". The full funds would be released on standard paypal buyer/seller. We paid the "courier".
And again, I was very reluctant to do this, however was talked round by my wife, but the proviso was we would pay by card, to western union, in order to protect us from fraud, ie, we believed we were paying for a service, online, which has turned out to be fraud.
For those offering genuine advice, thanks, for those who want to look down their nose at us, we all make mistakes, please keep your answers on the helpful side. Telling me how we shouldn't have fallen for this scam is pretty pointless now.

InsideInsurance

I still dont get it and find these things easier if you use actual numbers.... you sell a dress for £500 and P&P is £20

TP claims to have paid you the £520 using some form of scam.

You pay the £20 for P&P by your credit card for "extra protection" but the payment is via a TP.

Now I understand the £520 never really came to you but the only thing that was "lost" that you paid by CC was the £20 that you paid to the courier.

Even if you had paid directly as the courier charge was under £100 you'd have no S75 claim anyway. As the TP is in the UK I cannot see how a courier would be more than that and certainly not over the £100 required.

Did the dress ever go? Presumably it did? Does the courier report it as having been delivered? Presumably again it does. In which case you also dont have a case against them as they've done what you asked them to do. The fact the TP was a fraudster isnt the couriers fault nor liability.

TP = buyer in case it isnt clear

glentoran99

InsideInsurance wrote: »

I still dont get it and find these things easier if you use actual numbers.... you sell a dress for £500 and P&P is £20

TP claims to have paid you the £520 using some form of scam.

You pay the £20 for P&P by your credit card for "extra protection" but the payment is via a TP.

Now I understand the £520 never really came to you but the only thing that was "lost" that you paid by CC was the £20 that you paid to the courier.

Even if you had paid directly as the courier charge was under £100 you'd have no S75 claim anyway. As the TP is in the UK I cannot see how a courier would be more than that and certainly not over the £100 required.

Did the dress ever go? Presumably it did? Does the courier report it as having been delivered? Presumably again it does. In which case you also dont have a case against them as they've done what you asked them to do. The fact the TP was a fraudster isnt the couriers fault nor liability.

TP = buyer in case it isnt clear

I reckon a saving grace is the dress hasnt been sent


If its anything like my car scam then they tell you they will send a courier to pick it up, but the courier has to be paid by you the sender, they "send" you the money to cover it via paypal, and you send the money to western union, however they tell you they are having paypal issues and that paypal wont release the funds until the courier has been paid which i presume was the £300

If you dont send the money, they send all sorts of threats, and official looking emails to try and persuade you to do so

Wedding dresses seem to be a target now

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/67418094#Comment_67418094

macca9

Absolutely right, we've had hundreds of emails on the same theme... Disabled in Dublin, Scotland etc...
The reason it was around £300 was"SHE " wanted special courier to carry the goods, dress is worth a few thousand pounds new, and we are didn't want to be liable for any loss etc...
Dress is still available if there are any takers:p

glentoran99

macca9 wrote: »

Absolutely right, we've had hundreds of emails on the same theme... Disabled in Dublin, Scotland etc...
The reason it was around £300 was"SHE " wanted special courier to carry the goods, dress is worth a few thousand pounds new, and we are didn't want to be liable for any loss etc...
Dress is still available if there are any takers:p

I'll take it, but my dog currently has depression so i cant leave the house, Ill get my agent to pick it up though......

Voltaire7

macca9 wrote: »

For those offering genuine advice, thanks, for those who want to look down their nose at us, we all make mistakes, please keep your answers on the helpful side. Telling me how we shouldn't have fallen for this scam is pretty pointless now.

I'd imagine it probably is pretty pointless, as some folk never learn.

Scams like this are extremely well known on sites like ebay and Gumtree.

It's up to you and your wife to educate yourselves - the information is out there.

It sounds like your wife saw a week in Benidorm in her future, and all rational thought went out the window.