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I'll admit I'm the idiot here but this one caught me surprise.. looking for some advice from the hive mind on how to proceed.
I bought a kids balance bike off fb marketplace to be posted. It seemed safe enough as it was a middle aged women with photos of her and her grandkids and full friends list, job description etc fully visible on facebook profile. So like a trusting idiot I used bank transfer to pay the £80. The bike never showed up and got no replies so contacted someone on her friends list who was clearly her daughter (in her 20s I'd guess). Turns out she was the one selling but via her mothers fb profile for some reason. Anyway she strung me along for a month with various stories and many long pauses in communication and eventually told me she would pay the money back. Since then no contact for several weeks and she has now made her friends list private which I am taking as a sign that she has done a runner.
I sent a final message and email demanding the refund about a week ago and still no contact.
How should I proceed? I have the following info on her: full name, home town, schools, bank details, email addr, instagram profile, her mothers name, mothers employer. Plus her mothers full friends list is still visible and I have taken the precaution of screen grabbing all of it. I'm pretty convinced that her profile and her mothers are genuine.
I'm guessing there is zero point in reporting this to anyone? A possible DIY course of action would be to (threaten to) send a blanket message to the friends list and shame her into paying it back. Any other ideas?
Who are you going after?
sadly, I think your options are write it off, or actually go in person to school or place of work and confront them.
And just because they''re a middle aged granny doesn't mean a thing, not all crooks wear black and white jerseys and carry swag bags.
Yes I've written it off as a loss - I'm kind of chasing it on principle at this point. Even if I never see the money, sending a mass email would at least cause her some trouble and not get off scot-free. It could well be the case that her mother knows nothing of this at all and she has borrowed her mothers fb profile.. perhaps if word gets back to her via friends her mother would make her do the right thing.
I’m guessing there is zero point in reporting this to anyone?
Eh? Why on earth wouldn't you call the Police seeing as you have oodles of information?
Even if I never see the money, sending a mass email would at least...
...make you look like a creepy and potentially libellous stalker?
It'll just be a shouting match with no real outcome, Police won't be interested, reality is that there are just so many scammers out there now you have to go full CSI on the buyer/seller before parting with anything!
As stated above, just because she's old doesn't mean she's sweet and nice, age happens to all of us, even the chavs and muppets.
I’d join their local fb community selling page and out her on there.
make you look like a creepy and potentially libellous stalker?
Not to me it doesn’t.
OP, can you tell if she’s on any local FB groups? If so, join them yourself & tell everyone on there. It would be a warning to others & it wouldn’t be a false allegation.
Similar thing happened to me but only with a £20 pair of pedals, except the guy in question vanished from FB soon after.
Not to me it doesn’t
It will if it turns out it's a hacked account or she did post it and now this bloke is claiming it never arrived and is harrassing her.
But it didn't arrive, If she's posted it she could claim on the insurance and refund him.
typed a massive response and lost it:
so. unless you really really want ot pursue it to small claims.. youve lost out
ive been there with ebay
got charged back
sent the buyer an email, polite etc...
no response
so with that in mind i decided they were deliberatley ripping me off (for less than £20 iirc)
so i wasnt having that..
they had a joint email address.. like billandsarahsmith@
so bill proceeded to get lots of adult cataloges etc.. some from the darker side delivered in his name to their address..
i took pleasue in hoping this caused some sort of marital disruption
alan1977
they had a joint email address.. like billandsarahsmith@
so bill proceeded to get lots of adult cataloges etc.. some from the darker side delivered in his name to their address..
OMG I wonder who I pissed off ... I get emails from the Tory Party (calling me Stephanie)
Ask your bank if they'll reverse it?
I’d join their local fb community selling page and out her on there.
This ^^^^
Plus join some selling pages from her area and post on there .
Sod writing it off even if it is "only" 80 quid.
You've got loads of details - time to start making some demands. I'd go straight in at the deep end with mentioning contacting her mum's workplace. Mention joining loads of local community pages and outing her and her mum as scammers etc. Soon get your money back I reckon.
Good idea on joining local buy/sell groups. Minor concern of retribution I suppose.. my fb privacy settings are on max but she does obviously have my address so I would be equally easy to track down via my own local fb groups!
Don't write it off the theft could escalate and the scammer could get greedy, it's probably already happening so best get it nipped in the bud.
I m sure I read on here about a teacher who started small time scams, which escalated into bigger scams, ended up in prison.
Report to police, it's theft, get a crime ref no. Then bombard social media with warnings. Crime ref will give u more cred.
We had a case at work where an employee ripped someone off, counterparty stood outside office with sandwich board explaining scam, this was pre internet. Soon solved.
Do you have access to frozen sausages, their shoes or an old pair of bombers? I'm sure the standard STW fix should see you right.
Is this not the kind of thing we can help out with. Put her details up and i am happy to shame her if you point me in the direction of the selling page. No way would i want someone else to get scammed by someone like this.
OP: First up, check this out: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/scams/check-if-you-can-get-your-money-back-after-a-scam/
Next, report it to the Police because you might the first to report them, or the last in a long line, you don't know.
Finally, tell Facebook using Report a Scam:
To report a scam by a seller on Marketplace:
1. From your Feed, in the left menu, click Marketplace.
2. In the left menu, click Buying.
3. Click the listing of the seller you want to report as a scam.
4. Click the name of the seller.
5. Click , then click Report seller.
6. Click Scam, then follow the on-screen instructions to submit your report.
HTH.
If you know the name and address, small claims court - but only if your willing to travel.....
Once upon a time I was on FB, but do remember the odd warning post on the local pages about anyone that had scammed a buyer/seller. The individuals were doing repeat scams. Wouldn't be hard to register for the local town/village page.