advice on a scam

[VAL]

Hi, i purchased a camera on gumtree and after i made the bank transfer the seller did not send my item.I have his name along with the sms texts and bank transfer transaction.
The bank states that they cannot return my payment.
Any advice appreciated.
Thanks in advance

 

[MBE1]

Report to the police, but chances are you have lost your money.

 

[VAL]

I did.You are telling me that anyone can use this scam and get away with it?
Not even with all the evidence if i go to small claims cannot do anything about it.
That would be insane!

 

[Bob]

That unfortunately is the problem with Gumtree
How much is involved?
Police may note it but unlikely to be interested unless they have had many similar complaints.
Are they local? Can you visit them?
Otherwise if enough money is involved you could make a court claim online

 

[MBE1]

The bank might provide the information to police if asked, and there is no guarantee the police will be that bothered. Even if they get the account holder details, chances are they will be false, but it's worth a try.

NEVER send bank transfer/cash etc for gumtree purchases, pick them up and then pay. As you mention it's a very common scam, you have to hope the seller has been lazy or careless to have much hope of recovering any money.

 

[VAL]

He is in London 520 was the payment.How can the account holder details be fake if he has a UK bank? Halifax.He posted on gumtree for 9 months how can this scamer get away with it.
Im sure im not the only one he scam.

 

[VAL]

Thanks for you replies, here is what i do not get.This thief at first said to pay by paypal but stupid me trying to help him save a bit on fees i said let me do it by transfer.
Now i called paypal and told me that you are protected by them if transaction was made thru paypal and that the money will be held until i received my item.
So this thief had a paypal account.How can that be fake? When i set up mine i went thru a lot of verification.
I think is time to pay this crook a visit!

 

[alasdair1982]

Its fairly straightforward. You have little protection as you paid via bank transfer which is irreversible. You should always when paying for anything online pay with paypal or pay cash on collection. Gumtree, ebay and the likes all advise against paying for items using bacs for this very reason

Go and knock on the guys door firstly to ensure that he actually lives at that address. If you get no results i would then use the MCOL small claims court. Google MCOL i have used this numerous times with success.

 

[VAL]

Thanks for the advice, he finally replied today by sms saying not to use inapropiate language , and said that his grandma died.I said do not worry thief will pay you a visit and that the police was notiffied. I told him if he is legit just to send me a pic of his licence in which he replied that does not have one.He has some set of you know what but i think is scared and a small timer.
Thanks again.