Fraudsters get away with it, because no-one actually does anything.

gfmoore

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82056085#Comment_82056085

I'd have liked Gumtree to provide some fraudster alert button to warn any other users and investigate the user and ban his ip address/account. They should also offer some kind of escrow account for £300 and over transactions. They should also make it much easier to contact them. That applies to a lot of companies on the web. The bank should have reversed the transaction and put the funds into an escrow account and mediated the issue. But Action Fraud should have sent a couple of police round to talk to the bloke at least. I thought I was contacting the police! Royal mail don't care that people misuse their name.

Woodstok2000

I think you said Gumtree have removed him, so thats something. Beyond that I think you are expecting way too much. Gumtree are not a sales platform like ebay - they have no interest in getting involved in financial transactions and they specifically advise users not to transfer cash.

Same with the bank - you sent money direct to this guy, if you wanted an escrow account, or mediation or some level of buyer protection there are plenty of services out there that offer this. It was your choice not to use them - thats not the fault of your bank.

Totally agree regarding action fraud, theyre useless, and the police are overwhelmed.

jon81uk

Gumtree does now offer some buyer protection and escrow type payments, but need to use the buy now button on eligible items. How To Buy and Sell Completely Online  - Gumtree Lifestyle

Everything else should be treated as cash on collection only.

savergrant

What did the original listing say about payment and delivery? Was there an option to pay through gumtree and was the item marked as sold?

"Then I heard nothing. I did get a Whatsapp message - he asked for my email and phone number so he could send me the Royal mail tracking information (probably not a good move in retrospect) "

This is a bit contradictory, you heard nothing but got a WhatsApp message? I can understand you being a little concerned about giving your telephone number (it makes it harder for you to call them if they don't want to talk to you although you could try from another number) but as has been said it is useful for the courier to confirm delivery arrangements.

Can you prove what the money transferred was for? Did you receive an invoice of some sort for that amount, and what reference did you enter when you made the payment?

SevenOfNine

Action Fraud changed it's name to Report Fraud, probably because their 'action' was actually 'inaction'! They take a report from people, but that's IT. Nothing more, presume just a data counting of various fraudulent activities.

Didn't this didn't qualify for Authorised Push Payment (APP) Fraud with Nationwide? I was stupid enough to fall for a scam, thankfully EVERY person I know was astounded, so I must have always given the impression I'm not as stupid as I was/am. 😁

Anyway, worth a bit of research perhaps? Between them Lloyds & Santander recovered my money, if they couldn't then they refund the full amount between them but with a small 'excess' charge. The latter didn't happen so I presume they'd recovered my money.

Lloyds were very good, advised me they'd removed the payee from my account, & said they'd report it to 'Inaction Fraud' on my behalf. Subtle question of whether there was "any vulnerability I wanted to record on my account", but stupidity isn't classed as one it seems.

retiredbanker1

'Gumtree' & 'Bank Transfer' = recipe for disaster.

Never ever send money by bank transfer to a total stranger.

My guess is that as soon as your £300 hit the fraudster's account it would have been either transferred again or withdrawn at an ATM.

Money_Grabber13579

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82056085#Comment_82056085

Some punishment would be nice. Perhaps if there was a deterrent from doing things like this, we would live in a much nicer, kinder and caring society, where people actually thought about each other rather than themselves. But with no deterrent, these low life’s continue to do what they do and others join them because they know they’ll get away with it.

sheramber

Your option is to sue him but you need an accurate address for that.

The one given may or may not be his address.

HedgehogRulez

Perhaps the OP should consider their personal responsibility in the purported fraud, rather than pointing the finger of blame at organisations which are trying to educate him on how to avoid such scams.

My commiserations for living in Stoke-on-Trent.

horsewithnoname

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82055943#Comment_82055943

however it is the stranger who has committed the crime and should be nicked for it. Yes we should all be careful, but put the blame where it belongs- the criminal. And so long as they get away with it, they won’t stop.