Help!!! Need Advice!!!!

masterpiece

Hello MSE Readers,

I got scammed by a company ABC Electronics (www. electronic - abc dot uk) to list an item on eBay and remit funds to their account. I listed an item and the customer paid via paypal.

Initially since this was my first transaction with the company, I only released half of the funds (`~£1500) SENT VIA BANK TRANSFER to the companies account.

They got the customer's contact details and email address and faked an email from the customer confirming that he had received the item. I asked the buyer to drop feedback via eBay and then sent the balance to the company account. Only for the buyer to respond to me that he hadn't received any item.

The company had sent the buyer a couple of emails reassuring him that the item will be sent but nothing till date.

I have the ID of the purported sales rep, bank details and phone number of the company. As expected the buyer has launched a complaint with paypal and my paypal account is in the RED (£-3.8K)

I realised that I wasn't covered when I called the Bank because it was a 'conscious' transfer. I have submitted a police report and reported to Citizen Advice's Bureau.

I need help on any avenue to see if I can recover the funds or not have to pay it???:(

Thanks

Ben8282

Yes I'm afraid to say that it looks as if you were well and truly scammed.
I don't really understand the basis by which you apparently agreed, after contacting/being contacted by a sales rep from this online electronics store, to offer one of their products for sale on e-bay.
By the figures you give above, I am assuming you were offered a price of £3K for this product which you then re-sold on e-bay for £3.8K.
I am also assuming that there was an agreement in place for you to pay 50% of the purchase price at the time of order and the balance on delivery as you could not have had a reasonable expectation of them delivering the goods if it was otherwise.
What was this new electronic item that the customer purchased form you on e-bay costing £3.8K? In all honesty, if I wanted to buy such an expensive item which is obviously new, not some sort of antique electronics item, why would I have bought it from you on e-bay rather than from a high street electronics retailer or a specialist store?
When you say they got the customers contact details I guess that means you gave the details to them so that they could deliver the goods.
They then faked an e-mail to get you to send the rest of the money, sent the customer nothing and left you in the ****.
What can I say?
Be more careful who you do business with in the future.
Have you tried contacting or writing to the actual management of the company concerned?
What do they say? Do you get a reply?
What is there reason for refusing to deliver the goods?
Is there some sort of genuine problem affecting deliveries?
Can the order be cancelled and refunded to you?
Has your customer allowed a reasonable time for delivery of the goods?
Try to find out the actual location of this company and if in UK start a small claims court action against them.
Report them to their local trading standards.

grumbler

Ben8282 wrote: »

Try to find out the actual location of this company and if in UK start a small claims court action against them.

I know, it a sad story, but can't help Loughing Out Loud.
http://electronic-abc.uk/index.php?controller=contact
Contact us

ABC Electronics Ltd
London , United Kingdom :rotfl:
Email [EMAIL="office@electronic-abc.uk"]office@electronic-abc.uk[/EMAIL]

.uk is meaningless

Report them to their local trading standards.

Even our UK Trading Standards is probably the most useless and helpless local body. Even if the company has physical location somewhere, most likely there are no any standards there.
Hardly a surprise that at 9:45 GMT their 'Live Help' is 'Offline'. Is it ever online?

Another laughable item on the website is "In-store exchange". What store?! There is some funny link » Discover our store(s)! to some map with a 'store' in Florida (no address). It's some retail park and it's obvious that you won't find any 'electronic-abc' there.

Secure payment is even more laughable:

What is it? ... (in other words a bank-to-bank transfer/payment)
...
What do I Need? As a domestic buyer – Presta Electro Ltd full Account Name, Account Number and Sort Code

Indeed, secure...

Ben8282

Love the legal notice. Federal courts of the United Kingdom.
Cell phones too.
My guess is China ...

Eco_Miser

Whois says:

Created Date : 17-Oct-2015
Registrar Information: 1 & 1 Internet SE [Tag = 1AND1] URL: https://www.1and1.co.uk
Registrant:
Mathew Clancy

Registrant type:
UK Individual

Registrant's address:
The registrant is a non-trading individual who has opted to have their
address omitted from the WHOIS service.

Data validation:
Nominet was able to match the registrant's name and address against a 3rd party data source on 17-Oct-2015

So at the very least the applicant has lied about being a non-trading individual.

masterpiece

@Ben... I sold a Canon Lens on Auction which sold at £3850 on eBay and no I didn't agree £3K+, It was listed for auction and sold higher. I agreed a couple of hundreds for my weekly wages for a couple of items listed on eBay. I only ended up listing on and the weekly wage seemed reasonable

Yes We agreed to sending half payment but they later wanted me to send everything to them after I sent half wanting them to send the item first. They even tricked me and sent me an ID of the so-called sales rep and asked me to send mine as well which I did.

Yes I initially gave them the customer delivery address without the email address but they insisted on his email address so that they could email him. They mailed him so that he could be patient whilst they faked an email from him to me claiming the item had been received. I only realised a couple of minutes after I released all the funds to them via bank transfer with the buyer contacting me via eBay.

In terms of contacting the company, They even wanted me to list more item and continue their fraud.

It is a fraudulent organisation, their reason for not delivering is because THEY NEVER PLANNED TO DELIVER...

I have a couple of addresses of the sales rep and on the website but I do not think these addresses are real. See them below:

Hill House, 1 Little new street, London, EC4A 3TR

Sales Rep House address on Drivers License: 36B Hermon Hill, London, E11 2AP

These addresses are real but I doubt the company actually exist on there. I am reluctant to go and check because on the action fraud website - it says I should cease contacting them. Also I am not quite sure the driver's license sent belongs to the individual who sent it.

I checked Whois as well and it says the address of the registrant has been verified - i dont know how possible this is but for them to have a website and be in operational when its quite clear they are a scam group beats me.

I have reported them to the citizens advice bureau and they say they will follow up with the trading standards. Does that count as reporting to Local Standards? Or what is the procedure here?

And so far, no one has been able to mention anything I could do to get a refund??

Live help is online during days.. You can try chat or send them an email

office@electronic-abc.uk and electronic-abc@outlook.com

Thanks

jimjames

Have you reported to the police with all the info you have? CAB and trading standards are fine for trade queries but they are not the ones to deal with fraud.

I'm sorry to say but the chances of getting money back are slim. Chances are the ID and info you've been given is as fake as the info the buyer had from you.

masterpiece

Ben8282 wrote: »

Yes I'm afraid to say that it looks as if you were well and truly scammed.
I don't really understand the basis by which you apparently agreed, after contacting/being contacted by a sales rep from this online electronics store, to offer one of their products for sale on e-bay.
By the figures you give above, I am assuming you were offered a price of £3K for this product which you then re-sold on e-bay for £3.8K.
I am also assuming that there was an agreement in place for you to pay 50% of the purchase price at the time of order and the balance on delivery as you could not have had a reasonable expectation of them delivering the goods if it was otherwise.
What was this new electronic item that the customer purchased form you on e-bay costing £3.8K? In all honesty, if I wanted to buy such an expensive item which is obviously new, not some sort of antique electronics item, why would I have bought it from you on e-bay rather than from a high street electronics retailer or a specialist store?
When you say they got the customers contact details I guess that means you gave the details to them so that they could deliver the goods.
They then faked an e-mail to get you to send the rest of the money, sent the customer nothing and left you in the ****.
What can I say?
Be more careful who you do business with in the future.
Have you tried contacting or writing to the actual management of the company concerned?
What do they say? Do you get a reply?
What is there reason for refusing to deliver the goods?
Is there some sort of genuine problem affecting deliveries?
Can the order be cancelled and refunded to you?
Has your customer allowed a reasonable time for delivery of the goods?
Try to find out the actual location of this company and if in UK start a small claims court action against them.
Report them to their local trading standards.

jimjames wrote: »

Have you reported to the police with all the info you have? CAB and trading standards are fine for trade queries but they are not the ones to deal with fraud.

I'm sorry to say but the chances of getting money back are slim. Chances are the ID and info you've been given is as fake as the info the buyer had from you.

Yes I have reported the case with the police.

Won't the bank hosting the company's account hold or cease their funds?

gunsandbanjos

masterpiece wrote: »

Won't the bank hosting the company's account hold or cease their funds?

If a bank gets notification that a payment into an account is fraudulent then yes they should freeze the account and request proof of entitlement.

However I would be very surprised if the account the money was paid to had any money in it. It'll have been bounced straight back out again and distributed elsewhere.

Chances of you getting any money back are pretty non existent.

jimjames

masterpiece wrote: »

Yes I have reported the case with the police.

Won't the bank hosting the company's account hold or cease their funds?

I'd expect the recipient of the funds may well have been someone like you who has no knowledge of their source and could have been given a small handling fee for using their account to transfer on.

ChiefGrasscutter

Hill House, 1 Little New St, London, EC4A 3TR is Deliotte and Touche Head Office!

E11 2AP exists in the PO's postcode database as Flat B, 36 Hermon Hill, London.