What an idiot (me)

Ahh OP it happens expensive lesson learnt but honestly next time you have something of high value to sell either sell it to a reputable business or ask for someone else that's a bit more savvy and aware of how scammers work to sell on your behalf.

Hindsight is also a wonderful thing it's a shame at the time you couldn't have pretended your partner was a police officer at the time and tried playing them back at their own games stating you wanted it returned your partner was finishing there shift so would be home to deal with them I bet then they would have soon bloody not said anything more.

I'm unsure whether you could contact the police and stated you've been scammed but then it comes down to he said she said 🤷‍♀️.

Karmas a bitch I'm a firm believer one day they will try and scam the wrong person and regret it.

My ex fell out of the greedy tree and hit every branch, then landed in the tight-fisted bush, which is why he fell for any scam that he thought would make him loads of money or save him loads of money.

I'm not saying that about you! Anyone can fall for a scam. But when it happens time after time...

I nearly fell for a badly spelled email scam from a "friend" needing money in a foreign city because their laptop, phone, passport and cards had been stolen... because I had a friend more of a colleague and an ex-friend now whose written English is quite poor (not from the UK) who travels on business for about 6 months of the year, who is always losing their laptop and phone etc and has had to ask me to lend him money in any emergency he is a CF, and who had actually lost their phone the day I got the email so I got a message saying that the number was no longer in use when I tried to call him 😂

You have plenty of proof for the DVLA if the scammers get a fine - bank transfers, and several calls to your bank fraud team and the police.

Do you have legal cover with your motorhome or household insurance? It might be worth calling them for advice.

And to further cheer you up...

Ex also fell for the "we are fixing the road nearby and have too much tarmac that will go to waste, would you like us to do your drive?" scam (paid over the odds and they damaged the drive) and the "we were delivering a van of leather sofas but the client cancelled and we have to go to another job and need to get rid of them so we are selling them cheaply" scam (he bought 3 sets of nasty vinyl sofas at leather prices). He also lost £10k in some get rich quick scam, although I had already left him by then. You can see why he is an ex.

The person from the fraud team has said exactly what I was trying to say and prove with the text messages I suggested, just far more succinctly than me 😂

Don't worry about the DVLA. There is always a delay in notifying them as the documents have to be posted (or there was before you had the option of doing it online). You have plenty of proof that you aren't in possession of the motorhome if an offence is committed.

I would speak to the DVLA in person (don't do it online) to explain the situation and ask for advice about what best to do as you don't have the motorhome in your posession but you have refunded the scammer and want it back, they took the unsigned V5 but you don't have their details, and they are claiming it is being scrapped. You don't want to be held responsible for it as it is out of your control and posession but, equally, you don't just want to transfer ownership to them!

Well, as a PP said, you could get a bunch of parking tickets and speeding fines if it is still registered to you. Or a fine from the DVLA for not notifying them. Or (unlikely) the scammers could use it in a crime...

Not signing it could work in your favour though.

I would call the police again and tell them that the scammers took the log book before you could sign it or giving you the seller's part and they did not give you their details, and that you have asked for them to return the motorhome as you have refunded them but they are ignoring you, and you believe there was nothing wrong with the motorhome and they obained the refund by deception as they won't return the faulty vehicle nor give you the certificate of destruction, as they are claiming it has been scrapped. And all the stuff about all scams are the "victim's fault" by their logic... I might drop in that you are concerned they could use it for a crime as the DVLA hasn't been notified because they took the V5 and you don't know who they are to do it yourself.

The problem you have is that you have no proof a crime has been committed but if they are refusing to return the vehicle or tell you who has it, that could be enough. Worth a go. Although they may claim that they have paid you the scrap value, which is why they only asked for a partial refund.

I don't suppose you can read the trade plates on Ring doorbell footage or something?

Also, have you googled their names plus words like motor, car, trading standards, magistrates court, crown court, convivted etc to see if there are any convictions reported in local media?

If it makes you feel any better, my ex nearly fell for the same scam. He even spent the evening being wined and dined by the scammer, who claimed to be a car collector, at a 5 star hotel. There were massive warning signs, including a dodgy website for his "multi-million pound business" that looked like it was done by a child circa 1995. I only managed to stop ex after googling the man and finding that he had a string of convictions for credit card fraud in hotels, was unemployed and lived with his mum in Blackpool.

Yes. How could you not understand that when the bank employee told you that you were being defrauded?

No one is goading anyone, @Isthisit22 . I have been very clear that the OP needs to consider the risks. If she can gather proof that she has been scammed, she might at least get the motorhome back if they try to sell it on.

I doubt very much that they will threaten or harass her if she isn't accusing them of a scam or threatening to call the police. They will just ignore her.

I agree there is a tiny possibility that they might harass her if they think they can bully her to cough up the rest of the money without returning the motorhome but they didn't threaten or intimidate her last time. They would be pretty stupid to do that for a small amount of money when they already have the motorhome and most of the money back. Right now they have a 99.9% chance of getting away with it just by ignoring OP as she needs evidence there was nothing wrong with the motorhome and they obtained the refund by deception. If they start harassing or threatening her, there is a chance of getting caught if OP calls the police. It's not worth the risk for them for a small amount of money.

That said, I don't think OP has much chance of getting the money or the motorhome back unless they are stupid enough to incriminate themselves by text or forge her signature on the V5, so she might not want to take the risk. I imagine they will just claim that the "yard" have fixed the issues at great expense unless OP can prove otherwise.

I doubt insurance will cover it. If it does cover scams, it might help if OP has asked them in writing to return the vehicle now they have been refunded.

It is foolish to message the scanners after you paid them off to avoid harassment. All this will achieve is the threats you hoped to avoid in the first place. You will never get your money back from these people.
Don’t let people hear glad you into getting into a scary/ dangerous position.
Time to just let it go.

BTW, I don't think you've actually said whether you signed the V5, just that you forgot to get the seller part.

If you haven't actually signed it, that is significant.

You do need to tell the DVLA this has happened asap BTW. Otherwise the next thing you'll have is a speeding ticket or parking fine land on your mat.

Whilst I like to think my advice is valuable, 😂and I am confident that the police are victim blaming you, think carefully about my advice about dealing with the scammers. There is no easy answer to dealing with scammers and if you play with fire, you could get burnt. I would not want to push you into doing something that you might regret. I am just stating what I would do.

I don't think they will reply to your message because they won't want to give the prefectly good motorhome back nor send you the V5 if they are scammers.

The only way to scam scammers is to let them think you are a mug who could be parted with even more money.

I think the only chance you have of getting them to reply is if they think they will get more money out of you. You could try another message telling them that you feel really bad about what happened, which is why you want to collect the vehicle so they don't have to go to the trouble and cost of towing it. Then try the the messages I posted before. Or think of another way to make them think that they can get more money out of you. Once they reply, then sting them with the second message about ony giving them them money once you have the vehicle/certificate of destrustruction/V5. But, as I said in my previous post, there are risks with that strategy.

Actually, if you do send my messages, change the first one to:

"I feel really bad about what happened. I think I should collect the vehicle so you don't have to go to the trouble and cost of towing it. I also feel awful about keeping £XXX if the motorhome has to be scrapped. I'm wondering if maybe I should refund all the money."

That doesn't commit you to refunding them and might get a response. Not that I can imagine scammers would take you to court to get a refund promised in a text.

But maybe ask other people's opinions before you do that!

I suspect the scammers will ignore you.

I would text them so you have proof in writing.

Maybe lure them in with a text saying something like:

"I feel bad about keeping £XXX if the motorhome has had to be scrapped. How much did you get for it scrap, so I can deduct that and send the difference?"

If they respond, that proves the number is correct and they have/had the vehicle.

Then tell them:

"On reflection, I would like the vehicle back to use as a extra guest accommodation at home even if it can't be driven so can I have the details of the the yard that has it? Don't worry if it has been destroyed already, I'll get the certificate of destruction from them to send to the DVLA. I'd rather do that myself as I don't want to get fined £1000 for not notifying them! Also, can you return the sellers portion of the V5 to me so I can send it off to the DVLA, please? I'll refund the money once everything is sorted with the DVLA."

It could backfire, they might strip it and replace the engine with a genuinely broken one, they might send you a fake/dodgily acquired certificate of destruction, most likely they will just ignore you. Or it could turn out it isn't a scam and you end up worse off with a blown up motorhome and no cash never in a million years.

I can image the bank clerk will be telling his friends the story about the customer who wouldn’t take good advice in work for years.
I know it’s mean but so many people don’t get the opportunity to have someone try to tell them they’re being scammed as it’s happening and they choose to ignore it.