I’ve been scammed - help me nail the bastard.

[Thebigblueballoon]

Hello AIBU fans. Shamelessly posting here for traffic.

I work in an interior designs field, and over the part two months ago I have ordered some stock from a person who I previously had a good business relationship with.

He hasn’t delivered the goods. Apparently because he’s had a “family crisis”. It’s been eight weeks. Eight weeks of excuses I have accepted, even when he’s cancelled a delivery on the very same day.

It turns out he’s a massive fraud, and has scammed dozens of people in our industry out of money. There’s somebody in Australia waiting on 15k. Literally thousands of pounds in some cases. Why this hasn’t been documented more online is beyond me, but there you go… now is the time.

I’m taking him to small claims court as soon as possible, I just need to get his address and details, and as much info as possible on this scumbag.
What’s the best way to do this? And how can I flag this arsehole up to everybody in the industry I work in?

I really do think you should name and shame this individual if just to protect other buyers. You owe him nothing, why should he get away with taking your hard earned money.

Have you tried Action Fraud? I think they're who you can report online scammers to.

You have the address for the premises this person used to have and the details of the Instagram account. The police have the expertise to trace the person in a way that you won't have. Who knows, they may already be investigating if this has been going on for some time and a lot of people are in the same situation as you.

I can’t guarantee he was ever a limited company.

If it does turn out to be a genuine family crisis (even if that possibility seems remote) then he'd have a pretty good case for going after OP for libel.

OP - take legal advice.

Yes report to action fraud on line, if there are other victims who may have reported to police, they get referred to action fraud. Action fraud is managed by City of London police and collate picture of fraud nationally. After they asses your report they may disseminate it to force where suspect resides. So say if he lives in Surrey, Surrey police fraud unit will receive referrals from action fraud.So they can be investigated collectively. And he may be known by action fraud if he has previously done similar and people have reported to action fraud. There may be financial checks done into his bank account to obtain his details etc.

Can you speak to your bank by phone? Seems quicker than going to a branch.

Make a post on LinkedIn and trade bodies

What do you know about him? If you have his name, and it's something a bit more unusual than "Dave Smith", and you know what trade he's in and his rough geographical area, it ought to be possible to find most people. Anything extra you know, like phone numbers, email addresses, any family information etc only makes it easier. There are so many sources of publicly available information online these days it's hard to know how he could be totally untraceable, especially when he's apparently still doing business.

I highly suspect he is, given what I’ve learned this past day. I’ll be on this tomorrow.

If you previously had a good relationship then why don’t you have his details - even if he has deleted it all since you must still have a record of it?

He’s changed his mobile number and moved house. It’s hard to describe the circumstances. He’s basically been doing the job for years, has built up his clientele and now and turned into a robbing bastard.

I'm sorry you've been scammed. Sounds like a weird situation. I know this might sound very basic, but make sure you have done everything you can reaosnably be expected to do e.g. demands good by a certain date then demand refund by a certain date, check the relevant laws etc then you'll know when/if you get to small claims you have attempted every avenue of redress.

Re contact details, What contact details were you using for him for the transaction? Did you transfer him money? (in which case, and I don't know whether this is possible) but the bank should know his address - whether they'd release it in relation to a small claims issue i don't know - not to you but they may do to the court.

you could go back to basics. Google his name with anything else you know about him and see if you can find additional details online. Obviously depends, but some people share huge amounts online without realising it and you may be able to locate him / get an address or whatever.

If you are absolutely sure that this person has scammed (not just genuinely been blindsided by a difficulty / been a bit of a shit business), you and the others who have been impacted could collectively share information within your community / business associates to highlight the issue. but as a PP said, you'd need to be v sure due to risk of libel.

does seem weird though. Is it the same person? Could someone else have taken on the original 'good' dealers identity and be trading on that knowing they have a good reputation.

If you’ve exhausted obvious sources of info, you could try a trace service offered by process servers. Be careful though as need to think about how much that costs v suns you’re owed. Also sounds possible the individual might become bankrupt / his company be liquidated and then need to form a line with other creditors

You have probably googled his name but maybe a wider term search might help. My friend had a late night door knocker who conned her out of a tenner ( very small amount but scary for her). When I googled scam caller knocking on doors in her area a photo popped up with his name for several areas around where she lives.

If you've been doing research for "days" why didn't you call your bank or go online and stop the transaction days ago?

Thanks for this. I’ve sent the letters demanding payment by X date. I transferred money and I’ll definitely be following this up tomorrow.
I’ve been Googling since last night and have found enough to find half a dozen other people who have experienced the same thing. Some of them got their money back, others not yet.
As soon as I can, I’ll be shaming this arsehole.

The gov Uk Companies House details given for him previously will still be online on their website, and will probably include an address for his accountant or auditor as was. These would be worth following up for a forwarding address possibly?

I paid for this weeks ago. He’s used a family issue as an excuse.

Have you searched his name to find out?

My Miss Marples instinct now aroused! I googled trusted antiques dealer scamming customers and a few names came up..let us know how you get on.

Has he ever been convicted? I ask this because a few years ago a guy called at the house wanting to buy antique, jewellery etc. He had a very elaborate posh looking business card, I played along and said I would keep his card, but he almost grabbed it out of my hand. However, I have a good memory and had by laptop open so checked him out straight away. I found he had a criminal record for scamming people. As he was working his way up our street where there are several elderly people living in very expensive homes, I was very concerned. I called the police on the non urgent number and they were round to my house within half an hour to get a description and then went looking for him.

If you PM I’ll confirm. He’s done it a shocking amount this year.

More fool you then.

I don’t think it’s the same guy. This one has built up a reputation for years and has now decided to fleece everyone he’s connected with. It’s really bizarre. Probably the big reason it hasn’t come out yet.