Gentleman scammed and I would like to help if possible

turnitround

I have a neighbour I would like to help. I'm at a loss as to how I can help and wondered if anyone has any ideas please. Ive tried emailing and phoning to ask for a quote.

He hired a landscaper by using a website called Bark who are one of these 'We find a trusted tradesperson' sites.

The guy has left him in a mess and taken a substantial amount of money from him. 

The guy now does not respond to emails and his number goes to voicemail.

A couple of things also alarmed me-
He has just 4 reviews which were all set up in 2 days last June, they are all badly written so look suspect.
He paid him using what he thought was the guys bank account but it is an account for Clearbank which is a middleman clearing bank. 

Bark take no responsibility despite recommending the guy. No one in the neighborhood has any cctv of his van and he is not responding to calls. Ive phoned him from different numbers and always voicemail.

I just hate the though he has lost a lot of money but cant think what else I can do.

[Deleted User]

Do you have an address for him? You'll need one to move forward with an LBA or claim against him.

m0bov

You, I mean your "neighbour" needs to speak with their bank, they might be able to freeze the money to get them to resolve the situation. They can also call Fraudline to report it, I'd do that first.

pinkshoes

Hire some heavies.

Call from a different number and get him to come to a different address to quote. 

Once he has arrived block his van in and make him refund.

(Or just accept the money is gone and move on)

macman

m0bov said:

You, I mean your "neighbour" needs to speak with their bank, they might be able to freeze the money to get them to resolve the situation. They can also call Fraudline to report it, I'd do that first.

The bank would only do that with evidence of criminal action, which is not evident from the info given. As stated above, the correct way forward is an LBA and the small claims. Assuming there is an address for him.

turnitround

Thank you all for the replies. Sadly I dont think there is a way forward now.  I only found out it had happened when I saw he had posted on one of the local neighbourhood sites. It's a few weeks since he paid him the money, he was waiting for him to return and obviously thats not going to happen now so he has tried repeatedly to contact him but only has the details which were on 'Bark', thats just a phone number and email address. He has no physical address for him and not even a surname. He turned up twice, did a bit of work once then the second time took 2 young lads with him and he has left his garden in a terrible state and just not returned after taking money for materials.

I think the gentleman has been niave but he said he thought he was getting him through a legit site. All he knows is a first name and that he has a thick Mancunian accent which is not going to get me far to help him.

Its probably too late for the bank to do anything but I will tell him to contact Action Fraud. I tried to contact him using the email address on Bark. It says there is a 13 hr response time which I though odd but I got no reply at all. Ive also tried calling him on the number the gentleman gave me but it goes to voicemail and no response to my message. 
I asked him about doing some work for me but in a neighbouring town and was hoping I could get him out to do a quote but I think he has dissapeared into the night. 
He has also used a business name which is for a landscaping company but they are based down south so I think maybe he chose that name because people may google it and see the legit website but not realise there is no connection.

macman

Does his email address identify his whole name, including surname? If so, you can use a tracing agent. 
But bear in mind there is no guarantee of recovery even with legal action.

born_again

If Bark are a responsible company and this person is still on their site. I would be asking them for full contact details on hom.

>>Bark is an online services marketplace with professionals in over 2000 different service types contacting customers every day through our website.

Hiring a professional you meet through Bark is much like hiring a professional through Google or a newspaper advert. We do not vet the professionals who use Bark and we do not vouch for any professional ourselves, however we do operate a reviews system which helps customers make an informed decision about who they hire.

Any potential arrangement or agreement is ultimately between yourself and any prospective professional that you choose to hire. When a professional responds to you, we will send you all their details, including reviews, website links and their Bark profile.

We would always recommend undertaking any due diligence as you see fit prior to hiring a professional you meet through Bark or anywhere else.<<

m0bov

macman said:

m0bov said:

You, I mean your "neighbour" needs to speak with their bank, they might be able to freeze the money to get them to resolve the situation. They can also call Fraudline to report it, I'd do that first.

The bank would only do that with evidence of criminal action, which is not evident from the info given. As stated above, the correct way forward is an LBA and the small claims. Assuming there is an address for him.

I beg to differ, I got my money back from a rouge tradesman before doing just that. I explained how I found the trader, the checks I did, what happened (charged for materials but never saw him again). They froze the funds until he explained his events (he never did). Then I got the money back.

macman

m0bov said:

macman said:

m0bov said:

You, I mean your "neighbour" needs to speak with their bank, they might be able to freeze the money to get them to resolve the situation. They can also call Fraudline to report it, I'd do that first.

The bank would only do that with evidence of criminal action, which is not evident from the info given. As stated above, the correct way forward is an LBA and the small claims. Assuming there is an address for him.

I beg to differ, I got my money back from a rouge tradesman before doing just that. I explained how I found the trader, the checks I did, what happened (charged for materials but never saw him again). They froze the funds until he explained his events (he never did). Then I got the money back.

So you provided evidence of fraud. Good. But the OP may not be able to provide a similar level of proof-we don't know. Banks don't just freeze accounts unless they have evidence of fraudulent use of the account.