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Have I lost this money for good?
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And how is this supposed to get the money returned or the job started?
The guy will either ignore it or it'll just start a war of words about the minutiae of what was agreed in a verbal contract which both parties will disagree with.
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No, I haven't posted anything to warn anyone else, I don't want to do that until I definitely know he has no plans to do the work or return the cash.
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I'd agree, posting negatively on social media won't help the situation in the short term. I can only imagine it would make matters worse at this stage.
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No chance of them doing it here, "fraud" from the bank's point of view would mean something like a third party hacking into the OP's account - this is a payment which they fully intended to make to the recipient. Banks don't reverse payments simply because you later have some sort of dispute with the payee.
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You might want to check who owns the house. And/or engage a tracing agent to check if they can find any more likely address for him.
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Sounds like he had no intention of doing the work and put a false address for his contact and therefore took the money under false pretences (fraud)
you should definitely notify your police station - it may not do anything but if others come forward with the same experience they might take action
At the same time tell your bank that you have been the victim of crime and ask them to recall the money. Stress that not only had he taken your money but his address details are dodgy. Hopefully that will also result in the the gardener's account being frozen at his end and a cfias marker
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At the same time tell your bank that you have been the victim of crime and ask them to recall the money.
As above I very much doubt a bank will take action based on the say-so of the payer - you can imagine the potential for fraud in the other direction if you take payment and later have the money snatched out of your account because the payer accuses you of fraud.
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It does happen though, at least anecdotally - there have been various threads about this in the past, such as those mentioned in this one:
It would appear to be more normal for the recipient's bank to freeze their account first, while investigations are carried out, and clearly any such actions should be supported by reasonable evidence.
It'll probably be academic anyway, in that if OP's gardener really is a fraudster then they'll probably have emptied and/or closed the account…
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Banks can freeze your account and give you a cifas marker for a 'misuse of facility' marker if you use your account for going around scamming people
The first stage in the process is for you to report it to your own bank as a victim.of crime
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So, I have let the bank know what has happened, he is with the same bank as us which makes it easier for them to look into. They gave me the details for action fraud too so I have filed a complaint with them as well. I got his address by paying £10 to access the electoral register, if he is no longer living there but that is still his 'legal' address can I use that address in any action? Otherwise I have no clue where he actually lives.
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