Unnecessary scam

BEF

I have just been scammed for £1100.00 which could easily have been stopped. The parcel containing an iPad was given to the Post Office at 4:45pm just before they closed. Only 20 minutes later I discovered information that the buyer and the address in Scotland had a history of scamming! From that moment my whole family spent the rest of the  evening frantically texting, phoning and emailing to try to find some way to now STOP the parcel from being delivered! There was no possible way whatsoever? Even a call to the police told us it is best to wait a day or two in case the Paypal payment is activated. Of course it never will be... All we could do was watch and "track" my iPad move from the Post Office to the local sorting office then get collected and driven to Scotland overnight and actually get delivered the next morning at 09.00 into the hands of the scammer. How ridiculous is this system? Yes I insured the parcel but I cannot claim for it because of course the package was delivered and signed for! This could so easily have been avoided with a simple click box to cancel the delivery even making a charge to the sender for the inconvenient service? What is so difficult about doing this for the consumer? It is like the parcel no longer belongs to you after you've given it over to be posted!

davidmcn

BEF said:

What is so difficult about doing this for the consumer?

Quite a lot, I'd imagine. You seriously expect the Royal Mail to have a facility to fish out on request any item which they're processing for delivery?

Aylesbury_Duck

BEF said:

I have just been scammed for £1100.00 which could easily have been stopped. The parcel containing an iPad was given to the Post Office at 4:45pm just before they closed. Only 20 minutes later I discovered information that the buyer and the address in Scotland had a history of scamming! From that moment my whole family spent the rest of the  evening frantically texting, phoning and emailing to try to find some way to now STOP the parcel from being delivered! There was no possible way whatsoever? Even a call to the police told us it is best to wait a day or two in case the Paypal payment is activated. Of course it never will be... All we could do was watch and "track" my iPad move from the Post Office to the local sorting office then get collected and driven to Scotland overnight and actually get delivered the next morning at 09.00 into the hands of the scammer. How ridiculous is this system? Yes I insured the parcel but I cannot claim for it because of course the package was delivered and signed for! This could so easily have been avoided with a simple click box to cancel the delivery even making a charge to the sender for the inconvenient service? What is so difficult about doing this for the consumer? It is like the parcel no longer belongs to you after you've given it over to be posted!

If you wanted the ability to interrupt the postal service you should have selected a carrier that allowed you to do so.  I'm afraid Royal Mail can't be blamed for doing their job.  It's not ridiculous at all.  You paid them to deliver it, which they have done.

How did you come to learn about the potential fraud just after posting?

Lomast

When the royal mail handles many millions of items a day there is no way they could handle a system to stop any item once it's in the system.
It's not their fault you fell for a scammer

Yellow_mango

So did you post before receiving payment? I’m not clear on how this scam was operated. 

I don’t see how they could have disputed the payment if you have proof the item was delivered and signed for. 

shaun_from_Africa

You gave the package to the Post Office who would have then given it to Royal mail, a totally separate company so stopping the delivery would be far from easy.

Under the Consumer Contract regulations, when returning goods for a change of mind, a company must refund within 14 days of receiving proof that the goods have been handed over to a courier.
If it was easy to stop deliveries and get goods back, this could make it very easy for someone to drop a package off and get proof of this then submit this proof to the business and then get the shipment back.

BEF

Okay I get what you are all saying. It just felt so frustrating (having made the blunder in the first place) that I couldn't then stop the process :-(

soolin

BEF said:

Okay I get what you are all saying. It just felt so frustrating (having made the blunder in the first place) that I couldn't then stop the process :-(

So how were you scammed , have you not been paid at all and just shipped expecting payment later, or has a claim been made against money that you did receive? 

theonlywayisup

BEF said:

I have just been scammed for £1100.00 which could easily have been stopped. This could so easily have been avoided.

That really sums up your post.  

Did you fall for the email-from-Paypal scam or the post-it-immediately-and-as-soon-as-you-upload-tracking-the-unauthorised-payment-scam?

BEF

yes unfortunately both of those... It was actually my grandson doing the deal - I did try to warn him but he was convinced the Paypal email saying the money would be released once the tracking details were passed over, was genuine...

theonlywayisup

BEF said:

yes unfortunately both of those... It was actually my grandson doing the deal - I did try to warn him but he was convinced the Paypal email saying the money would be released once the tracking details were passed over, was genuine...

Oh dear.  Unfortunately it is one of the oldest in the book, but that won't make him or you feel any better.  Unfortunately there isn't much you can do other than report it to Action Fraud and hope that he learns a lesson in the future.