I paid for a mobile phone via bank transfer. Nothing delivered.

21amo

I know I will sound like an idiot but this is what I ve done.

I've paid for a mobile phone was on gumtree via bank transfer; guy sent me his driving licence bank details so I made the payment. After numerous attemtps to contact the seller after payment was made no success so far?

What are my options? Any chance to get my moneyback? It was £590.

eskbanker

21amo wrote: »

What are my options? Any chance to get my moneyback? It was £590.

No options involving your bank (you'd have had some protection if paying by card rather than bank transfer) so you'll need to pursue him via small claims: https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome

[Deleted User]

Bank transfer is the worst way to purchase an item you lose all of your normal protections - it’s almost identical to cash in hand.

18cc

Yes don't pay for anything via bank transfer - it is almost equivalent to putting cash in an envelope and posting it to him - except that with bank transfer you don't even know his address.

If I asked you to post £590 to me in used notes to Mr Smith, PO Box 34786, London - would you?

agrinnall

You said it!



You'll have to hope that the driving licence was actually his and that the address on it is where he lives, otherwise your small claim will fail at the first hurdle.

Hasbeen

21amo wrote: »

I know I will sound like an idiot

Any chance to get my moneyback? It was £590.

Have to agree, sorry,

Virtually no chance:(

tucrulodru

All of the advise above is wrong. Contact your banks fraud department. They can't refund but they indemnify the funds back. The money still needs to be in the recipient account for it to be successful. If your fraud department logs it as scam with the bank the money went to the account can be frozen asap.

What bank are you with?

BoGoF

tucrulodru wrote: »

All of the advise above is wrong. Contact your banks fraud department. They can't refund but they indemnify the funds back. The money still needs to be in the recipient account for it to be successful. If your fraud department logs it as scam with the bank the money went to the account can be frozen asap.

What bank are you with?

Yeah, because that is what scammers do isn't it......leave the money in the bank for a rainy day.

That money would have been withdrawn/transferred elsewhere almost immediately.

tucrulodru

BoGoF wrote: »

Yeah, because that is what scammers do isn't it......leave the money in the bank for a rainy day.

That money would have been withdrawn/transferred elsewhere almost immediately.

Well as someone who works in a Faster Payments fraud department I'm gonna have disagree with you there.

To the OP. There is less than a 50% chance you will get your money back. The sooner you act the better. The other bank may have frozen the account for a number reasons. For example, another victim may have already reported the same thing as you. You want to act before the other bank releases the account back to the recipient.

dj1471

It's extremely unlikely you'll see your money again.

By all means report it to your bank but the money will have been moved on so won't be there to be recovered. The account probably belongs to a mule otherwise it'll be a disposable account with Monzo or similar, opened online with fake documents. Naturally it won't be the scammer's real driving license.

The_weedie

Next time you're giving away money, please just send it to me.