Well, I never thought it would happen to me but it has happened.
I agreed to buy a laptop I had seen advertised on the net. The deal was I buy it in person, swapping cash for goods. On the day I realised I
couldn't withdraw that much (over £500) so that morning I transferred the cash to him online. The transfer was a faster payment and was through
in a few hours. I rang him to get the exact address and got no response, the number would just ring out. This continued for a day then the number was
disconnected. No contact with the guy, no cash and no laptop. Bugger.
I have rung the Police, got a crime number but they can't help any further, it is a civil issue I am told. My bank, RBS, cannot help as the funds
are gone from their reach. Barclays cannot help me unless I have a UK Court order (which I will try the ALS to help with if they can) to reverse the
funds. So, if anyone works for Barclays or the Police and may be able to help me can you PM me?
Any other advice then please fire away. I have the blokes name, old mobile number and bank account number and sort code. I basically need any contact
details for him, address, telephone....
Regards
P.S. I know I have been an idiot.
if you have been given a crime number then it is not a civil matter, it is a crime.
Simply, it is fraud by false representation.
is he still offering items for sale ?
Get a mate or one of us on here to pretend to be prospective customer and get the info you require.
regards
Agriv8
Can't provide any assistance but you have my sympathies.
IMO the police should be over this like a rash.
Have you tried typing his name and his phone number in to google, facebook, myspace, etc?
Davie
im sure someone will work for barclays and find his address for you. DPA is only a guideline lol
Bummer, bad luck.
But I'd agree if this aint a crime, what is?
In all my time on the net only one deal has ever gone bad with the bloke taking the money and trying to disappear. I hunted him down to another forum
where he was offering graphic design services and posed as a possible customer. I got all the info i needed then sent him an email that must of put
the fear of god into him as he paid the cash back into my bank via his local branch straight away.
In my search I found pictures he'd sent into his local bbc site they had put online of sunsets. He'd taken it from his bedroom window so I
could cross reference to exactly where he lived.
So roughly people don't realise how much of a trail they leave on the net, google and the other search engines/social networking sites are your
friend. An example is putting the wording of the advert into google to see if hes put the ad anywhere else to check for other usernames/forums he
frequents etc.
I wish you the best of luck and fingers crossed your money back
Cheers
G
[Edited on 28/7/11 by Mr G]
Bloody hell, and the old bill won't help! It would take getting off their arses or out of their cars to actually do something though
wouldn't it? If what has been done is not a crime then what's going on when you can get nicked for things like smoking a cigarette in the
wrong place etc.
I can see that working for a living is just not the way to get by these days, would anyone like to buy a computer as I have one for sale, cash
transfer only thank you!
PS. I really hope you get the gits address, sounds like he could use a friendly visit
Are you sure you have a crime number and not an incident number? A crime number is 6 numbers followed by a letter then a forward slash and in this
case 11.
Oh, you can't get "nicked for smoking a cigarette in the wrong place". It's a civil matter The council deal with that.
[Edited on 28/7/11 by mistergrumpy]
Maybe we can help with the 'search' if you provide as much info as poss. Perhaps we can 'put the fear of god' into him too? 
[Edited on 28/7/11 by Daddylonglegs]
Tell the police that the laptop had child porn on it, that will prick their ears up!!!
If it aint a subject in the media spot light, easy to fine or cost cutting then the police just are not interested.
Good luck though, go play bounty hunter on his ass!!
quote:
Originally posted by Mr G
In all my time on the net only one deal has ever gone bad with the bloke taking the money and trying to disappear. I hunted him down to another forum where he was offering graphic design services and posed as a possible customer. I got all the info i needed then sent him an email that must of put the fear of god into him as he paid the cash back into my bank via his local branch straight away.
In my search I found pictures he'd sent into his local bbc site they had put online of sunsets. He'd taken it from his bedroom window so I could cross reference to exactly where he lived.
So roughly people don't realise how much of a trail they leave on the net, google and the other search engines/social networking sites are your friend. An example is putting the wording of the advert into google to see if hes put the ad anywhere else to check for other usernames/forums he frequents etc.
I wish you the best of luck and fingers crossed your money back
Cheers
G
[Edited on 28/7/11 by Mr G]
quote:
Originally posted by bi22le
Tell the police that the laptop had child porn on it, that will prick their ears up!!!
If it aint a subject in the media spot light, easy to fine or cost cutting then the police just are not interested.
Good luck though, go play bounty hunter on his ass!!
quote:
Originally posted by mr_pr
I rang him to get the exact address and got no response, the number would just ring out.
I have the blokes name, old mobile number and bank account number and sort code. I basically need any contact details for him, address, telephone....
I have rung the Police, got a crime number but they can't help any further, it is a civil issue I am told.
P.S. I know I have been an idiot.
) just by using the default number, I really can't believe that this isn't illegal!
give us all the details you can
Im pretty good at this
dont waste your time with the police they are pointless
a couple of friends and some tools/knives/duct tape - I guarentee you will make a profit out of this
It might be an incident number I was given then...
XXX - n - XXXXXX
I will have a search through 192 and see what I can find first then and go from there.... Failing that his details will be on here. I just need
someone from Barclays who fancies helping me get a fraudster what he deserves!
quote:
Originally posted by mr_pr
It might be an incident number I was given then...
XXX - n - XXXXXX
I will have a search through 192 and see what I can find first then and go from there.... Failing that his details will be on here. I just need someone from Barclays who fancies helping me get a fraudster what he deserves!
Oh, and another story about being tracked down.
I met a bloke I'd known at work at B&Q. Talked about what we were doing now etc. etc. and then parted ways and I thought nothing more of
it.
A couple of months later I got a message from him on Friends Re-united asking me to contact him- bit weird I thought and did nothing. Then, few days
later I got a had delivered letter through the door from him asking him to contact me! 
Called him up and basically he was asking how I'd got my new job, were there any others going etc. etc.
I asked him how he'd got my address... He'd tapped up some mate at the council who looked me up on the electoral role for him!
So, basically all this stuff is pretty easy to do.
Living 'off grid' and having a normal life is basically impossible- I mean, just look at John Connor in Terminator 3!
Cheers,
James
An old school friend of mine is a copper and he got a right telling off for looking at the criminal records of our old school friends. hehe
yeah, you'll not get anyone working for barclays to get involved in this by asking off here. would have to be reported to barclays then someone
would take it on from there.
its against data protection, and they'd get a lot of trouble for it if found out.
"The deal was I buy it in person, swapping cash for goods. On the day I realised I couldn't withdraw that much (over £500) so that morning I
transferred the cash to him online. "
This is the bit I dont understand. If he was a scammer and there wasnt a laptop to be purchased, what would have happened at the "buy it in
person" stage. I guess they may not have turned up, mugged you or whatever. But it is not the normal Scam approach from these lowlifes.
Did they try and get you to send the money electronically in the first place or was it always going to be a Face2Face sale until the cash withdraw
issue?
Face to face until I changed my mind. That is what made me have some trust.... I guess maybe he could have mugged me? or maybe he was going to cancel
the meeting? Who knows...
Anyone got any free 192 credits on here?
Hi,
Sorry to hear of your problems.
Suggest you make a complaint to Barclays - if the person is committing fraud or potentially money laundering they are obliged under their own rules to
investigate it.
They may not tell you that they are (there is a very large fine for 'tipping off' a money launderer) but they may not wish to be the bank
for that individual and if they find evidence of criminal activity they will pass it on to the authorities.
If Barclays refuse to invetigate it, see if someone like Watchdog, Daily Mail or The Guardian will take on their lack of assistance - if nothing else
it will promote the dangers of such scams to a wider audience.
Stick it to 'em any way you can.
quote:
Originally posted by mr_pr
Face to face until I changed my mind. That is what made me have some trust.... I guess maybe he could have mugged me? or maybe he was going to cancel the meeting? Who knows...
Anyone got any free 192 credits on here?
quote:
Originally posted by James
I really can't believe this isn't a crime! If it's illegal just to phone up someone's voicemail and "hack" it (hah- call that hacking???
cheers,
James
quote:
It's not that it isn't a crime, it's just that they can't be arsed for that small an amount.
I reported a fraud involving over £4K of public funding and the officer in the fraud squad told me "If it had another nought on it we might be interested".
[Edited on 28/7/11 by Confused but excited.]
Jon Ison - 28/7/11 at 01:28 PMLast but one weekend ago over £3k was stolen from our paypal account.
We have already received it all back via paypal.
We also have £850 in our account that the fraudster won online gambling with it.
I have met the fraudster (power of the net and him been as twonk on facebook) He is happy we keep the £850
Go for it.
James - 28/7/11 at 03:07 PMhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/jan/07/personalfinancenews.scamsandfraud
For once you're got his details! ;-)
Mr Whippy - 28/7/11 at 03:10 PMI'd say never buy anything on e-bay unless it's through paypal, if anyone says they can't accept payment with it then chances are it's a scammer since it is very easy to set up an account. I got stung once and never again. Since that time I have never had one bit of bother and I buy loads on the web.
Don't go with just an email, takes a few minutes to set up an account on any machine so it means nothing to have their email. A phone number is just as worthless.
Kwik - 28/7/11 at 03:20 PMthis mobile number that is ringing, did you give him yours as well?
what you could try is ringing from another phone maybe a land line (phonebox?) and he may pick up if he thinks its not you ringing.
maybe make up a story that means you need his land line number and once you have that its easy to get address and all sorts....
maybe make up a story that sounds important and make the connection sound bad and request a land line, there are probably lots of well written stories on the internet.
its a long shot but it might work?
scootz - 28/7/11 at 04:58 PMBugger!
Sorry to hear of your woes!
It does sound like the Police have given you an 'incident' number and not a 'crime' number. The reason the police treat these incidents as a 'civil matter' is because they get inundated with complaints of deals going 'wrong' every minute of every hour of every day. Experience tells them that even if they could find the other party (more often than not it's a straightforward affair), then he/she will likely counter-claim that you got your lappy and that you are trying to pull the fast one.
I can understand your frustration / anger / disbelief about them not getting involved, but honestly, Forces would be even bigger basket-cases than they already are if they took on board these sort of investigations.
As I see it, the problem doesn't lie with the Police themselves... it's the politicians who dictate the staff numbers and the judges who don't clamp down on the b*stards that can't behave that create the problem!
Paul TigerB6 - 28/7/11 at 05:20 PMBummer!!
Have you google'd the sort code at all?? My sort code gives my local branch address. May help you narrow it down a little
Ninehigh - 28/7/11 at 06:01 PMquote:
Originally posted by James
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/jan/07/personalfinancenews.scamsandfraud
For once you're got his details! ;-)
Actually that's a good point, surely you got his details that he gave you to transfer the money, shall I give you the details of an old bank account I have so you can set up a £500pm transfer?
Hellfire - 28/7/11 at 06:22 PMPost some details and let the LB forum members help you track him/her down......
Phil
Steve Hignett - 28/7/11 at 06:43 PMquote:
Originally posted by Paul TigerB6
Bummer!!
Have you google'd the sort code at all?? My sort code gives my local branch address. May help you narrow it down a little
It gives you the number of the branch that you set the account up in Paul, and that is prob your local branch.
I set up my account in a branch that is not local to me now.
So, whilst it's a good idea and may give away his area, it also may give away an area that he no longer lives in.
I used to work for Barclays for four years and I would have been able to get away with checking his account details, however I don't know anyone well enough anymore to ask I'm afraid.
What area is it that he's in - if someone on here is local, there's a million in one shot that we may know of a friend of a friend etc bragging in a pub.
As above, post as many details on here that you know and "we" will try and help if "we" can, I'm sure...
mr_pr - 29/7/11 at 07:32 AMAs the police are now investigating the matter I am going to leave it with them. They have been very helpful suddenly!
If nothing comes of it then it will be released to the power of the forum....
Cheers for all the advice though guys, it is some of your advice which has sparked the Police interest!