I was stupid and got ripped off on Gumtree - options?

ra2258

Posting here as I have been able to get good advice in the past...

So I just got done for 6 Nation rugby tickets on Gumtree. On the positive side, I did figure out how he scammed me.

My buddy is coming over from the USA and wanted to see England v Ireland at the 6 Nations.I paid for four tickets on Gumtree. Transferred the funds directly as he was up in Wigan. Been trying to get the tickets for several weeks.He has been claiming he has sent them and would send me the tracking number. What he has been doing is sending it a few doors down with a fake name so I get a tracking number - but then it is returned and he blames the post office.

Today I got up and went to the Post Office delivery and through a minor miracle, they still had the envelop he sent and I got it. It had two blank sheets of paper, and a clearly incorrect address and confirms my theory on what he was doing on the tracking number side of things...

In my desperate attempt to get tickets I was stupid - I realize this.

My question is can I do anything? I have his mobile (but it could be a burner). I do have his bank details. He is at Lloyds and I transferred the money from a Lloyds account. Can the bank help me? Is there such thing as a small claims court here in the UK? Or can I get a PI to get his contact details via his bank? Shoud I go to the police?

Any ideas would be appreciated - Thanks!

[Deleted User]

You can report it on action fraud which is the police, but no chance of getting your money back because you paid via bank transfer. 
 You can't take him to court because you need his name, data protection means the bank won't give you that, besides even  if the police get it it's probably fake. 

tacpot12

If you can get his correct name and address, you can sue him in the Small Claims Court. Not much point if he is renting or living rent free. He really needs to own the property he lives at to guarantee you success in persuing a court claim. You could even bring a private prosecution, but unless you can find other victims and work together to assemble evidence of a significant number of crimes, he will not get anything like a reasonable punishment. Again you need a stable address for him, otherwise he will just disappear.

Next time don't hand money over without either getting the good in your hands or having some protection scheme in place for non-delivery or fake tickets. 

soolin

I'm surprised he even bothered sending anything with tracking, this very well known scam using bank transfer usually results in nothing at all. 

Gumtree even warn about bank transfers not being safe.

As above I suspect this is very unlikely you will see any of your money again.

Zedicus

Go to your bank and make a claim of fraudulent activity.
If they do their job properly they will get the details from you and freeze his bank account.
If their investigation shows that your claim is correct, you should get your money back in a few weeks.
It is a persistent myth that money sent by bank transfer is 'lost'.

ra2258

The guy is still selling tickets on Gumtree...

Takmon

ra2258 said:

The guy is still selling tickets on Gumtree...

Gumtree is only for face to face transactions if everyone followed this then nobody would be scammed, unfortunately people seem to ignore this advice.

https://help.gumtree.com/s/safety?cat=Safely_Buying_Selling&article=Quick-Safety-Tips

ra2258

Even if you buy the tickets face to face, until you go into the venue and get your ticket scanned, you do not know if it is fake or not. I think for physical good, that rule will work. But not for tickets.

Luckliy my bank is working on the issue and I am working with "ActionFraud".

Takmon

ra2258 said:

Even if you buy the tickets face to face, until you go into the venue and get your ticket scanned, you do not know if it is fake or not. I think for physical good, that rule will work. But not for tickets.

Luckliy my bank is working on the issue and I am working with "ActionFraud".

If you buy tickets face to face the scammer has to first produce fake tickets that people will think is real and also the person buying them will see who they are. So takes far more effort and is far riskier for the scammer so is much less likely to happen. 

Undervalued

Although it is unlikely to get your money back have you reported this to the Rugby Union (or whatever it is called) or Twickenham or whoever sells the tickets?

I know Wimbledon (tennis) for example police black market sales of their tickets very aggressively and have regularly taken legal action against offenders.

It may help others in the future.

stelee844

ra2258 said:

The guy is still selling tickets on Gumtree...

How frustrating. Have you reported to Gumtree? At least so they can ban the user to stop others having the same fate as you. 

I had a similar experience in the past (With Britney Spears tickets - Granted a lot less masculine) in the end i pretty much relayed the above mentioning the Bank are investigating it with his bank (Remind him that you have his account details), You've reported the issue with action fraud who will likely involve the police. By some miracle (and maybe the person who scammed me was a novice scammer) they sent my money back after a couple of days. Sometimes the fear of getting caught is enough. 

A lot of people are ashamed to admit when they've been scammed and never actually do anything about it. For that reason, there are so many scammers around! 

Best of luck!