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Original poster

A right good Rodgering and the £500 service charge...

299 replies

Hiphopapotamus4 · 21/05/2017 07:53

Sorry for not coming back sooner with an update. To be honest I was a bit creeped out that more than one of you had looked on Rightmove at every single house for sale in the entire county. I mean, there are literally thousands, who has the time for that?!
But also I didn't want to be like the Victorian safe poster and some of you did offer some helpful suggestions so I am back.

The bad news is, this is looking more like a scam. The council don't have any record of it and the local landowners and parish council know nothing either.
Roger called a street meeting and the 10 houses that pay agreed that a "man from the council" had come round years ago to explain what it was for and they have all paid it since. The other house that doesn't pay and us are much newer to the street which explains why we don't pay and neither of our solicitors mentioned anything when purchasing.
Some of them have a direct debit set up and some of them send a cheque. The bank details and address are different to the council tax ones Sad
Roger has reported this to the police and I'm awaiting further updates from him.
Some of them want to keep paying it because they are convinced it's real and don't want to get behind on their payments. Two of them think we are just kicking up a fuss to try and get out of paying it Confused

The general consensus at the end of the meeting was that it might be a scam, but it might not be. I'm convinced that it is Sad

Sad news all round really (but Rodger did come and now my lawn with his new mower!)

OP posts:
SenseiWoo · 22/05/2017 18:33

You (or Roger) need to contact www.actionfraud.co.uk. That's the nation fraud and cybercrime thingy run by City of London Police. You can report online.

Dulcimena · 22/05/2017 18:42

Thanks so much for updating, OP. What an awful situation. Good on you for not letting it drop though.

user1471548375 · 22/05/2017 18:49

Thanks for the update OP. I've been wondering for days about it!

Really shitty that it sounds like a scam, on the bright side, you might turn out to be the hero who puts a stop to it!

TesticleMeElmo · 22/05/2017 19:04

Yet another one here who's been wondering about this. Blatant scam. Awaiting further updates....

Twitchingdog · 22/05/2017 19:05

Thanks for update . Very sorry that It look like scam.

BoredandConfused · 22/05/2017 19:16

Hadn't read the last 20 pages or so of the old thread, so thought it was best to get fully updated before making a tit of myself

I'm so sorry it looks like a scam OP. A big part of me hopes you're wrong and it isn't.

Is Roger single? I think I love him a tiny little bit.

goodeyebrows · 22/05/2017 19:22

I hope they figure it all out soon

29Palms · 22/05/2017 19:39

On the positive side, if it is a scam, they won't have to pay it any more! Grin

Caenea · 22/05/2017 19:50

Honestly though, I'm not really all that surprised that people just pay money out without questioning it.

I used to work in debt recovery and we would send out payment review letters to people who had consistently been paying a low but constant amount over several months or even years (by DD so every month) offering a final payment and at least one in ten would come back with "what the hell is this? I never owed this money." and I'm being serious when I say they had literally never ever questioned it until it was shoved under their noses. And they weren't all elderly either.

It's genuinely astonishing to find people can be paying - in one case - £50 pcm and literally never even wonder why.

InvisibleKittenAttack · 22/05/2017 20:14

So glad you were nosey! I can see they don't want to admit they have been scammed. Hopefully the police can get to the bottom of it. Sad

ssd · 22/05/2017 20:22

bloody good on you op, the world needs more people like you to stick up for the elderly!

Rufus27 · 22/05/2017 20:26

Thanks for coming back, OP.

MiddleClassProblem · 22/05/2017 20:32

Just seen this update. Well done, Hiphop. Hope the police can sort this out asap!

QuitMoaning · 22/05/2017 20:32

Have we had confirmation it is a scam? It seems very dodgy but we don't know it is a scam yet do we?

Sherahhhbaby · 22/05/2017 20:40

Thanks for the update, I'm hoping it's not a scam but it seems dodgy and if it's not then hopefully your neighbours will at least know what they are paying for. Hopefully you can save them each £500 a year though, I wonder what Roger will spend it on?!

BluebellsNsunshine · 22/05/2017 20:42

Perhaps you should get the name of the police contact from Roger, just to make sure the mastermind has been in touch Grin

LeninaCrowne · 22/05/2017 21:08

Regarding Action Fraud (who the Police pass frauds onto) there are so many frauds going on that they only investigate the ones where loads of people have been affected, so all the people who have been paying money need to contact them about this scam.

ALemonyPea · 22/05/2017 21:09

Any news yet?

MyNameIsJane · 22/05/2017 21:48

I hope that if it's found to be a fraud that they find the person responsible and they have to forfeit their home to pay the money back!

hellsbellsmelons · 22/05/2017 22:52

Wow. Could someone step in and take the money and keep it to one side until it's resolved?
Some people are pure scum.

TellMeItsNotTrue · 22/05/2017 22:58

It would explain why you don't pay Sad get everyone paying and then just sit back and let the money roll in, knowing each house will stop at some point but keeping quiet so as not to arouse suspicions. Your house stopped paying when previous owners left and they have probably shrugged, surprised it has lasted this long, and decided it's best to keep quiet and be down £500 a year, than to try to get you in to the scam and possibly get the money but also potentially get you suspicious and they lose the lot.

PollytheDolly · 22/05/2017 23:00

What if it's in more than OPs street though? 🤔

ThorsMistress · 22/05/2017 23:32

Thank you for the update OP.

Read the previous thread but it was full by the time I read it all and wanted to comment!

Hoping it's not a scam Sad

missdebaroo · 22/05/2017 23:40

I've never used Right move before so don't know much about it but why has nothing flagged up on there about it? Don't estate agents have some in put into to?

welovepancakes · 23/05/2017 07:35

I think it's far too soon to assume it's a scam.

The local authority will have numerous bank accounts for different departments

I wouldn't expect a member of staff in one department to know what is happening in another dept. That's unrealistic / perhaps a data protection issue. eg I wouldn't expect the Council Tax folk to know if I have a library card. Why should they know this? Each dept only needs to know what's happening in their own dept

I expect the police can get to the bottom of it quite easily, by asking the bank for details of the bank account holder