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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Been scammed

301 replies

Fuckfuckbollocks · 19/02/2020 07:30

NC for this. Feel really terrible right now. My husband bought a car through a website that sell on behalf of the actual seller and deliver the car to you. The money is paid to the company and after the car is delivered the funds get released to the seller. The company have a glossy website and claim to do all checks on said car.

Anyway we found this car and checked all the history out and were sent the service history with all the garages names on so we phoned them all and they all had record of this car being serviced with them etc. Multiple reviews online for this company saying how good they are and forums with people saying they've used them and it all seemed fine.
Husband transferred the money and got a confirmation type email with delivery date and time and the car didnt turn up.
I feel so awful for him, he isnt stupid and was weary about it but did so many checks and paid for checks to be done but everything we questioned there was a plausible answer for. Nothing seemed wrong at all. The company even comes up on Google maps with reviews. Apparently all fake

Sorry this isnt an AIBU I just needed to get it out and hopefully warn anyone considering buying a car this way. We feel so stupid and have lost a lot of money.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
6
PinkiOcelot · 19/02/2020 17:26

OP I hope you get your money back. It’s absolutely disgusting x

FlamingoAndJohn · 19/02/2020 17:56

I'm not sure why people think the scammers were Scottish?

This is true. They could be anywhere, just using a Scottish address.
It makes sense that Action Fraud doesn’t cover Scotland as the legal system is different, but I would expect a similar equivalent rather that it just being up to the police.

coconuttelegraph · 19/02/2020 19:23

Did you have any luck with your bank today OP?

HavenDilemma · 19/02/2020 20:13

Sounds like these scammers were pretending to be the real Devsale...... Hence all the real, genuine reviews

DerbyshireGirly · 19/02/2020 21:53

I don't think for a minute that OP is stupid, but so what if she is? Do stupid or gullible people deserve to get scammed? Of course not. Some of these smug posts almost read like victim blaming.

I like to think my bullshit sensors are fairly well tuned but those car forum posts had me going. They made it look like those posters were regulars - I'm sure one had 2000-odd posts next to their name? So while the company website was a bit naff looking, the reviews did look convincing.

Original poster
Fuckfuckbollocks · 19/02/2020 22:00

Quick update, all reported to police and bank so now we just wait while it is investigated. Bank said we did all we could to check it was genuine which will hopefully go in our favour. The police said we aren't the only ones taken in by this scam.
@HavenDilemma DevSale trading doesn't exist at all and all the forum reviews are fakes to make them seem real and genuine.

OP posts:
NemophilistRebel · 19/02/2020 22:05

That’s positive. Will keep my fingers crossed for a good result for you.

Jayfee · 19/02/2020 22:08

I really hope you get some justice ( and your Mooney back). If they are based in Scotland,I think you have a fair chance.

DowntownAbby · 19/02/2020 22:17

@HavenDilemma

Sounds like these scammers were pretending to be the real Devsale...... Hence all the real, genuine reviews

No, it wasn't that.

The reviews are fake and they're posted on fake websites made to very closely resemble the real websites/forums, even having links out of the fake pages into the real ones to make it very hard to spot.

It's an elaborate scam in that respect.

Jayfee · 19/02/2020 22:17

money not Moonie ( damn that autocorrect!)

HavenDilemma · 21/02/2020 02:53

@DowntownAbby That's what I meant

Jayfee · 21/02/2020 10:02

If Random is correct, I would forward that info to the the police OP. If they catch someone you might but get some money back?

Jayfee · 21/02/2020 10:04

Also, in case anyone does not know, eBay offers no protection on the selling of buying of any cars or caravans

Noconceptofnormal · 21/02/2020 19:50

Yes jayfee, ebay are useless. Not a car, but I bought a refurbished mobile phone from ebay from a proper online ebay store that said that any handset bought had a year warranty and they'd replace any in that time. Of course within a few months the phone wasn't working and this shop didn't respond to my contacting them about the phone.

Ebay did nothing and allowed this shop to continue to advertise year warranties fraudulently.

Expensive mistake, lesson learned. I don't mind buying second hand toys on there for a few quid but I'll always, steer clear now with higher value purchases.

FlamingoAndJohn · 23/02/2020 12:42

Any further news, op?

thecatsarecrazy · 23/02/2020 13:30

Can you talk to the bank? my husband bought something online for £50 and it turned out to be a scam. £50 not an earth shattering amount but obviously I would rather not lose it. They got it back for us in days

Original poster
Fuckfuckbollocks · 24/02/2020 13:38

If anyone is still interested we are still waiting to hear the bank's verdict.

We found the real advert for the car that is actually for sale on autotrader. The scammer had contacted the real seller a few weeks ago enquiring about the car and the service history and the real seller unwittingly sent him the copy of the service book as he thought he was a genuine buyer. The scammer then listed the car on ebay with the pictures lifted from the real advert on autotrader. That's when my husband saw it and contacted the scammer through ebay messaging to enquire.
We have checked that message and when you click on the username for the 'seller' to visit their Ebay page they had somehow linked it to a real ebay seller who sells cars regularly so if you clicked on that you would think you were looking at someone who is legit selling cars for a living!

Honestly you couldn't make it up they must have been planning it for weeks. They've thought of everything.

The ebay username of the scammer was DevSalt... (would never have noticed that as when you click on it it took you to a different user). We have informed Ebay and they arent interested. But this person somehow hacked ebay too. How else can you link your username on ebay to a completely different user? Any ideas??

Also the forums listed with the fake reviews within this thread are all now deleted so you can no longer find them.

And lastly we contacted the real seller to inform him his car details were being used in a scam and the real seller sent us an email from the scammer, sent a couple of weeks ago, asking for the service history and the scammers email address is a made up address that they've created with the same username as the real ebay car sellers username so it looks like it came from them!

Sorry that was long and hope it makes sense!

OP posts:
Beautiful3 · 24/02/2020 13:47

Thanks for the update. I really hope the bank gives you your money back, good luck.

coconuttelegraph · 24/02/2020 14:25

How else can you link your username on ebay to a completely different user? Any ideas??

I don't know the answer to this but my ebay user name was somehow taken over by a scammer who tried to con sellers of mobile phones. The first I knew about it was when I got loads of replies to messages I hadn't sent trying to make arrangements to buy the phones.

That was where the scam fell down though as I imediately told the sellers that they were being scammed and not to engage any further with "me"

In this case ebay were pretty quick to stop the scam but this was the second time I'd logged concerns about their security. Not surprisingly they wouldn't accept that the problem must be at their end, that's one of the reasons I've stopped using ebay, they don't care enough about user data or protecting people from frauds originating on their site

This one is very elaborate, you have to admire their ingenuity, hope you get your money back

Original poster
Fuckfuckbollocks · 24/02/2020 15:11

Thanks. I dont think Ebay is very secure either. It seems quite easy for people to hack it. My account has been previously taken over also

OP posts:
buttermilkwaffles · 24/02/2020 15:32

They don't have to 'hack' eBay, only the individual account, I would suggest to the real seller that they immediately change both their eBay password and the password of the email address they use for eBay as a precaution...

AJPTaylor · 24/02/2020 15:32

My ebay account was hacked twice by scammers. I simply cancelled it the second time

coconuttelegraph · 24/02/2020 15:42

My ebay account was hacked twice by scammers

When mine was hacked I had a password with all the recommended features, I don't think they cracked it I think it comes from inside ebay, at one time I got a spate of ebay messages that went directly to my email address rather than the ebay inbox, again I don't see how they could have known that without access to the ebay data. The ebay helpline pretended they didn't understand what the problem was, I don't have much faith in them at all.

MissConductUS · 24/02/2020 16:07

Thanks for the update OP, it was very clear. You were done in by a bunch of experts.

I used to sell my kid's clothes on ebay as they grew out of them but eventually between dodgy buyers and the hassle of dealing with ebay when there was a problem I gave up on it.

DreemOn · 24/02/2020 16:59

Thanks for the update OP. That's a sophisticated scam. I'm sorry you were caught out. I can see why you were.

I hope you get your money back.