Possible Scammer Alert

Defender

Hi all, if this is not the correct place to discuss, feel free to delete please.

I have an ad on Shpock and received a message from a very keen buyer this morning. He wanted to continue the discussion on gmail and sent his private email address. This is what I receive from his gmail account:

Awesome... please delete the ad and consider it sold as i am paying
your full asking price because i need to buy it for my cousin asap, i have
done thorough check on the advert and i'm fine with it,sadly i would not be
able to come personally to view or collect it due to house bound i went
through throat cancer surgery and couldn't talk more but will be okay soon
but i have an agent that would help me to pick it up at your preferred
location after you have received your money and i'll pay you via Bank transfer
today and pick up arrangement will commence after you have cashed your
money...if that is ok with you....
Where is the pick up location so that i can inform the agent about it now
and send me your Bank details as below,so i can make arrangement for
payment.Thanks
I need you to provide the following details so that i can proceed with the Payment
Your Full Name :
Your Bank Name:
Your Bank Account Number:
Swift Code:
Price:
Phone number:
Item Name: 
Pickup Address:
I am waiting for your fast response on this.....

I replied that it's only cash on collection, here's the answer:

I am sorry I have limited access to cash and other payment methods at the moment and I can only pay via bank transfer or PayPal at the moment it’s due to my health status hope you understand??

In the end I said "sorry" and explained I only accept cash and there were no more emails. I just wanted to share the experience and warn you. I believe he was probably a scammer.

mikeyrob73

Standard Scam mate, get them on gumtree all the time, just dont answer these people 

Defender

This is the first time I've encountered one

Philly_Q

Note how it doesn't make any specific references to the type of item, the price, any particular circumstances you may have outlined... so it's nice and easy to send exactly the same message to lots of people.

King85

Yep standard scam, report and move on.

Andy79

Always get these on the odd occasion I use Gumtree 

TINMAN82

What’s the person after then? Bank account details for identity fraud?

roberty

TINMAN82 said:

What’s the person after then? Bank account details for identity fraud?

Probably some way of recalling the funds

This would be a fairly typical Gumtree response sadly

Sassafras

Doesn't the throat cancer surgery bit bring a tear to your eye?
What a callous bastard you must be for refusing this tragic individual's very reasonable request.

Sassafras

This poor person is on their deathbed and yet still has the generosity of spirit to buy 'something' for their 'cousin'.
I'm ashamed to be a member of this hard hearted and highly cynical forum.

zepp76

If it is a scam what a fucking scummy thing to do saying you've got cancer, first class arsehole.

JezWynd

zepp76 said:

If it is a scam what a fucking scummy thing to do saying you've got cancer, first class arsehole.

Fairly common unfortunately. I was given a sad tale by a wheelchair bound woman wanting to purchase for her oil-rig bound nephew. What complicated lives these people lead. The deal was that I sent her money on the strength of a bogus PayPal receipt of payment statement.

thegummy

roberty said:

TINMAN82 said:

What’s the person after then? Bank account details for identity fraud?

Probably some way of recalling the funds

This would be a fairly typical Gumtree response sadly

Anyone know if it is actually possible to recall funds from a bank transfer?

Obviously I wouldn't fall for a scam like this (or even accept a bank transfer for a guitar) but would be very interested to know this in general.

thegummy

The punishment for scammers isn't enough to be a deterrent.

This is one type of crime where the deterrent angle may actually work but as it is, they see it that in the unlikely event they get caught, the punishment isn't that bad anyway so it's worth the risk to scam people. The punishment should be very severe.

midlifecrisis

word up to people saying a bank transfer cannot be recalled. WRONG it can. maybe not as easily as paypal etc but if a bank believes a scam has taken place it can be recalled until investigated.

thegummy

midlifecrisis said:

word up to people saying a bank transfer cannot be recalled. WRONG it can. maybe not as easily as paypal etc but if a bank believes a scam has taken place it can be recalled until investigated.

Who are you saying that to?

midlifecrisis

thegummy said:

midlifecrisis said:

word up to people saying a bank transfer cannot be recalled. WRONG it can. maybe not as easily as paypal etc but if a bank believes a scam has taken place it can be recalled until investigated.

Who are you saying that to?

anyone who wants to be aware of scams. I keep reading a bank transfer is safe as it cannot be reversed. I have recently experienced being scammed and complaining to my bank and after supplying evidence they got the transfer reversed.

darhart

midlifecrisis said:

thegummy said:

midlifecrisis said:

word up to people saying a bank transfer cannot be recalled. WRONG it can. maybe not as easily as paypal etc but if a bank believes a scam has taken place it can be recalled until investigated.

Who are you saying that to?

anyone who wants to be aware of scams. I keep reading a bank transfer is safe as it cannot be reversed. I have recently experienced being scammed and complaining to my bank and after supplying evidence they got the transfer reversed.

I had the opposite, I thought i'd bought a guitar on gumtree and foolishly sent the money by bank transfer. Once I'd realised my mistake I contacted my bank, the receiving bank, gumtree, and the police and was basically told tough shit you lost the money. No one was interested and I lost £400.

thegummy

darhart said:

midlifecrisis said:

thegummy said:

midlifecrisis said:

word up to people saying a bank transfer cannot be recalled. WRONG it can. maybe not as easily as paypal etc but if a bank believes a scam has taken place it can be recalled until investigated.

Who are you saying that to?

anyone who wants to be aware of scams. I keep reading a bank transfer is safe as it cannot be reversed. I have recently experienced being scammed and complaining to my bank and after supplying evidence they got the transfer reversed.

I had the opposite, I thought i'd bought a guitar on gumtree and foolishly sent the money by bank transfer. Once I'd realised my mistake I contacted my bank, the receiving bank, gumtree, and the police and was basically told tough shit you lost the money. No one was interested and I lost £400.

Sorry to hear that  

darhart

Thanks, I even booked a ferry to the isle of wight to pick it up lol (fortunately I was able to cancel that!)

midlifecrisis

thegummy said:

darhart said:

midlifecrisis said:

thegummy said:

midlifecrisis said:

word up to people saying a bank transfer cannot be recalled. WRONG it can. maybe not as easily as paypal etc but if a bank believes a scam has taken place it can be recalled until investigated.

Who are you saying that to?

anyone who wants to be aware of scams. I keep reading a bank transfer is safe as it cannot be reversed. I have recently experienced being scammed and complaining to my bank and after supplying evidence they got the transfer reversed.

I had the opposite, I thought i'd bought a guitar on gumtree and foolishly sent the money by bank transfer. Once I'd realised my mistake I contacted my bank, the receiving bank, gumtree, and the police and was basically told tough shit you lost the money. No one was interested and I lost £400.

Sorry to hear that  

I contacted my bank, who contacted their disputes dept who emailed me a bunch of forms and a link to upload any evidence, they give the other side 30 days to respond. I dont know if they responded or not , they wouldnt give me details but 5 weeks after i claimed i got a call from my bank and it was refunded back into my account, this was hsbc.