Scammed via bank transfer!? Help

Head_The_Ball

DamageCase wrote: »

So you guys are telling me that despite that the person committed a crime, there's nothing remotely I can do?

What crime?

Policeman: Mr DamageCase says he sent you £100 and didn't receive the item purchased.

Scammer: Yes he did. I delivered it to him personally a few weeks ago. Here is the receipt he gave me.

Scammer hands over fake receipt.

Policeman: Sorry to trouble you Sir.


In the very unlikely event that the Police bothered to trace this scammer and actually interviewed him, that or a similar scenario would take place.

Even if he was a regular scammer known to the Police it would probably just be your word against his.


Your only hope is that Auction Fraud can link this to similar cases so follow the advice you have been given.

RFW

Head_The_Ball wrote: »

What crime?

Policeman: Mr DamageCase says he sent you £100 and didn't receive the item purchased.

Scammer: Yes he did. I delivered it to him personally a few weeks ago. Here is the receipt he gave me.

Scammer hands over fake receipt.

Policeman: Sorry to trouble you Sir.


In the very unlikely event that the Police bothered to trace this scammer and actually interviewed him, that or a similar scenario would take place.

Even if he was a regular scammer known to the Police it would probably just be your word against his.


Your only hope is that Auction Fraud can link this to similar cases so follow the advice you have been given.

By your definition most criminals don't commit crimes. If I go and take £20 out of a someone's pocket and they report me to the police it's just my word against theirs that they didn't give it to me. That doesn't stop it betting a crime.

Head_The_Ball

RFW wrote: »

By your definition most criminals don't commit crimes. If I go and take £20 out of a someone's pocket and they report me to the police it's just my word against theirs that they didn't give it to me. That doesn't stop it betting a crime.

Fair point, my post was really addressing this bit in bold:

So you guys are telling me that despite that the person committed a crime, there's nothing remotely I can do?

I'm not sure the Police would record this as a crime even if the OP makes a complaint to them. It may well just be classed as a Civil Matter. It isn't as clear cut as someone taking money from someone's back pocket.

But it is also possible, if perhaps unlikely, that no crime has been committed.

DamageCase wrote: »

So bought a £100 item from gumtree. Long story short, i sent him the money and 3 weeks later no response. I dont have any of his details since gumtree is sort of anonymous. He only gave me his account number, sort code and his [false] name. Is there any thing i can possibly do ? Urgent help ? If i go to my bank and tell them that the money was wrongly transferred to someone else's account since he gave me a false name, can they do anything? Thanks

OP, what attempts have you made to contact the Gumtree seller?

There are possibilities other than fraud, although that is clearly the most likely.

The money may have gone to someone other than the Gumtree seller.

The Gumtree seller may have dispatched the item and it has gone missing in transit.

The Gumtree seller may have fallen ill or even died.

All less than likely but not beyond the realms of possibility.

The bottom line is that the OP ignored Gumtree's advice, took a major risk with his £100 and has almost zero chance of recovering it.

If Auction Fraud can't do anything about the situation then he/she should give up. The Police probably don't have the resources to deal with this and private court action will just result in throwing good money after bad.

RFW

Head_The_Ball wrote: »

I'm not sure the Police would record this as a crime even if the OP makes a complaint to them. It may well just be classed as a Civil Matter. It isn't as clear cut as someone taking money from someone's back pocket.

But it is also possible, if perhaps unlikely, that no crime has been committed.

If Auction Fraud can't do anything about the situation then he/she should give up. The Police probably don't have the resources to deal with this and private court action will just result in throwing good money after bad.

Fair point but there's no way of knowing what the police will do without contacting them. Taking OP at face value he's been the victim of fraud. It may well be that the culprit is a serial offender and OP's case could be the one that tips the evidence for a prosecution.
Also, no matter what their resources are like the police have to investigate a crime, even if that means just bunging some details into a database and seeing what comes out.