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AIBU?

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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
TruffleShuffles · 19/02/2020 08:44

When you say your were in contact via email do you mean with the seller or with who you thought were DevSale? Is there a chance that even though the seller says they were using DevSale, they were just using that as a front to scam you themselves?

PineappleDanish · 19/02/2020 08:44

Review from "Tim": Yes, this is a real company. I use this company service often and I never had a problem with payment and delivery. You can take a look at trustee service on this company internet web. You can safely use it easily steps to a secure transaction.

"Tim" says he lives in Crewe and is clearly not a native English speaker. This is a very clear example of a fake review where the writer has been told which points to push.

Again OP - Police. Today. Don't wait for the bank.

BillHadersNewWife · 19/02/2020 08:45

Pineapple yes, you can pay someone in India a few pounds to post a load of fake reviews.

SurferRona · 19/02/2020 08:46

@ceilingdrum that's an incredibly useful site, thank you. There is no way at all that it's legit for anyone to have had >6000 directorships in their working life Shock and certainly not by age of 40. You'd have hoped that would ring alarm bells, why is this person allowed to rack up so many directorships? Shouldn't be allowed Angry

FourDecades · 19/02/2020 08:49

@Fuckfuckbollocks am so sorry. It's completely shit

Yeah there are multiple forums saying they've bought cars etc which is all fake apparently to lure you in

Who has told you they are fake?

Mehooha · 19/02/2020 08:49

It is the worst thing ever to be scammed (I have been). Speak to the bank. It's a dispute. And they will contact fraud for you.

what a bummer.

Katiet123 · 19/02/2020 08:50

Scammers are getting increasingly sophisticated. It would be difficult for someone who doesn't investigate Scammers to be experts on every one they use. Don't be mad with yourself, they really are twats.

adaline · 19/02/2020 08:51

It's really easy to post fake reviews.

I just started up a business and there are loads of companies individuals willing to write fake FB and google reviews. Often it's not even for money - they run their own business and will do "'like for like" on FB pages or "review for review" on google.

Sadly it's all-too common. I've never participated in it but loads of people clearly do.

Original poster
Fuckfuckbollocks · 19/02/2020 08:52

Thanks so much to everyone for looking into this for me and your support. Will definitely contact the police today.

OP posts:
nameymcnamechangeagain · 19/02/2020 08:53

I was scammed buying furniture from a company in Facebook, they used the name and photos etc of a legit company but were not them (why the legit company, who were very aware of them, don’t mention it on their website I do not know....)

I randomly checked my bank (never do) and there was a payment for about 4K for leasing a car, my bank had the money back to me within a day, I don’t have a credit card, so it was just regular debit card payments and they fixed it

mrsBtheparker · 19/02/2020 08:53

I simply can't believe that anyone would buy a second hand car without seeing it and getting it checked out.

GoBrookeYourself · 19/02/2020 08:56

@FlamingoAndJohn that was completely different; in the thread with the pram, the poster asked about a pram then replied under the same username a year later to recommend it. All she did was forget that she’d made the thread in the first place; she wasn’t scamming or pretending to be someone else. she was genuinely recommending the pram but didn’t realise she was recommending it to herself.

Hope you get your money back OP- I don’t know how scammers sleep at night, disgusting.

LesLavandes · 19/02/2020 08:59

You must contact police

Cheeserton · 19/02/2020 09:02

Sorry this happened to you. You keep saying that you did all checks etc, are wary and cautious, but then you paid by bank transfer?? Bank transfer is never OK for this sort of purchase.

Runningonempty84 · 19/02/2020 09:08

OP, I'm sorry you're going through this.

At the same time though, I don't know how anyone could look at that DevSale website and not only think it's legit, but think it's legit to the point that you'd transfer (presumably) thousands of pounds without proper checks.
Look at how badly written the copy is, for a start. The mad use of capital letters and exclamation marks. The rambling paragraphs on internet fraud. And why is "Ronald" Campbell's name in speech marks throughout? Surely the sheer amateur nature of the whole thing set alarm bells ringing?

coconuttelegraph · 19/02/2020 09:09

I simply can't believe that anyone would buy a second hand car without seeing it and getting it checked out

They certainly do, I know from personal experience, not saying this is relevant here but some people want a very specific car, they are mechanics, know mechanics, don't worry too much if it's not 100% condition etc. This happens on eBay all the time.

The problem here is that there's no trusted intermediary to step in if the seller is fraudulent.

Interesting that the fraudsters had all the service history details to allow you to call the garages, that suggests they have had some contact with the actual car, or was that all an elaborate con too?

Can you contact the original seller through eBay to see if you can find out any more?

YappityYapYap · 19/02/2020 09:10

It looks to me like DevSale is not an actual company and they are claiming to be part of DMC logistics which is an actual company with registered directors at companies house.

DMC logistics is a legitimate company and they state no where that they have DevSale as part of their services. DMC have linkedIn and Facebook. If DevSale was a legit company, they would have an 01224 area code and not an 0800 number since they claim to have a warehouse/office in Aberdeen.

They claim to be placed at 11 Minto Place in Aberdeen which is actually less than a mile from my house OP. I will go and check out what business is actually running there on my way to work this afternoon and report back. It doesn't look to me that DevSale have an office/warehouse there as I've never heard of them and they would have an 01224 area code phone number

amusedbush · 19/02/2020 09:11

Bank transfer is never OK for this sort of purchase.

Yeah, I can't believe that didn't raise any red flags for you.

I've googled the company and found a few forums where people are asking if they are a legit business. The replies sound like they were written by robots! I can smell the scam from here!

FlamingoAndJohn · 19/02/2020 09:15

I know it was as different @GoBrookeYourself. I’m not saying it was a scam. Just that forum posts can be unreliable.

EmmiJay · 19/02/2020 09:17

I googled them and immediately knew it was a bunch of fake accounts commenting. Terrible! Call the police and report them but what will happen from there is any ones guess. I hate these scammer people but we have to be hyper aware of anything we purchase online these days. Good luck OP!

FlamingoAndJohn · 19/02/2020 09:18

They claim to be placed at 11 Minto Place in Aberdeen which is actually less than a mile from my house OP.

They is such a kind thing to do.

Looking at it on google maps they seem very big units for a small company.

YappityYapYap · 19/02/2020 09:20

It's an empty unit OP that is up for let, no cars in the car park or anything and a to let sign up. It's not being used as a business at the moment and it's an office building. The scammers have deliberately picked an empty office building and claimed it as their address. Curiousity got the better of me so me and DS had a drive past

BecauseReasons · 19/02/2020 09:22

Applauds Yappity for their dedication

Walkthedinosauuuuur · 19/02/2020 09:22

That website looks shit. Their logo is horrendous.

AnotherNightWatering · 19/02/2020 09:23

If your bank has already been contacted by another scammed person, and been informed that the bank account you paid money into is a scam, yet still forwarded your money, there's a chance you could get your money back.

Read busterjack.blogspot.com/

It happened to a relation of mine. The same scammy photos that lured in my relative still come up on ebay. If I see them, I report them, and ebay takes down the ad... but doesn't replace it with a message saying the ad was a scam... sigh.