Friend scammed on sale of vehicle - help!

madeallup

Hi there,

A friend of mine has just been scammed selling her vehicle on Facebook marketplace. The long and short of it is that a guy got in touch about her van, offered her a good price, came to see it and did a bank transfer, saying ‘it will take two hours to come through with it being a business account’. She saw the transaction go through on his phone.

Obviously no payment came through and he’s blocked her on both Facebook and his phone.

She’s reported it to the police and they’ve basically said there’s very little can be done.

Is there anything that can be done about this??

Thanks in advance for any words of wisdom!

DE_612183

If's they have done the V5 transfer, then yes there is little that can be done unless she has any other info about the buyer - name address etc...

di she actually get a piece of paper signed that details the sale?

MyRealNameToo

madeallup said:

Hi there,

A friend of mine has just been scammed selling her vehicle on Facebook marketplace. The long and short of it is that a guy got in touch about her van, offered her a good price, came to see it and did a bank transfer, saying ‘it will take two hours to come through with it being a business account’. She saw the transaction go through on his phone.

Obviously no payment came through and he’s blocked her on both Facebook and his phone.

She’s reported it to the police and they’ve basically said there’s very little can be done.

Is there anything that can be done about this??

Thanks in advance for any words of wisdom!

They can speak to their insurers but probably worth reading the policy book first, many exclude theft by deception 

mta999

What has happened is a criminal.offence - fraud basically.

Go.back.to.the police, ask to speak.to someone 'higher up' - make a complaint if necessary 

born_again

Did she not get their address on updating vehicle details on V5 or DVLA website. Or did she just give them the whole V5?

pinkshoes

madeallup said:

Hi there,

A friend of mine has just been scammed selling her vehicle on Facebook marketplace. The long and short of it is that a guy got in touch about her van, offered her a good price, came to see it and did a bank transfer, saying ‘it will take two hours to come through with it being a business account’. She saw the transaction go through on his phone.

Obviously no payment came through and he’s blocked her on both Facebook and his phone.

She’s reported it to the police and they’ve basically said there’s very little can be done.

Is there anything that can be done about this??

Thanks in advance for any words of wisdom!

Other than chasing the police then not nuch to be done.

(Hindsight is marvellous but for anyone else selling their car privately,  then this is a common scam using a fake bank transfer. Never release the goods until your own banking app shows the funds cleared).

I'd start by getting any CCTV from neighbouring houses to see if you can get an image of the person. Police don't usually have time for this so might be worth doing some groundwork yourself.

I'd then put out a social media post with a picture of the car saying it has been stolen and can anyone help with info.

Ectophile

mta999 said:

What has happened is a criminal.offence - fraud basically.

Go.back.to.the police, ask to speak.to someone 'higher up' - make a complaint if necessary 

The police don't do fraud investigation unless Action Fraud ask them to.  You're supposed to report the matter to Action Fraud.  Who will do nothing unless they see a larger pattern of repeated frauds.

Small scale fraud has effectively been de-criminalised in the UK.  It's now a civil law problem.  Unless it's the government you're defrauding, of course.

mta999

The fraud was not something like APP which I agree they don't persue but  a vehicle with a licence  plate and they should act on that.

Alderbank

The level of proof which the Crown Prosecution Service requires to bring a prosecution is formidable, much higher than the balance of probabilities asked for in the civil courts.

If he was interviewed, he will say he paid her in cash. He will say, 'The wily old bird wouldn't give me the keys and the logbook until I had counted out every penny in front of her'.

MyRealNameToo

Alderbank said:

The level of proof which the Crown Prosecution Service requires to bring a prosecution is formidable, much higher than the balance of probabilities asked for in the civil courts.

Criminal law's hurdle rate is "beyond reasonable doubt", so yes much higher than civil law's on the balance of probabilities. 

Add to that the CPS have to ensure there is a reasonable prospect of conviction, unlike us in civil law they can't just take a punt and see if a conviction sticks or not. The consequences of such an approach would be vast, not only do you get innocent people incorrectly punished but that leave the real perpetrator free and not under investigation.  

born_again

Only way they would stand a chance of getting police involved, would be if they could find several other people that they have done this too.

Odds on that the facebook profile is a new one that will be gone & they start a new one up.

All though OP's username may give people a hint 🤦‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤣