Is this a police job? Threatened by Vinted seller

[Reasonswhy]

I know I’m not, but posting for traffic as no idea what to do.
Item for Christmas arrived today and was clearly fake so applied for a refund via Vinted. I’ve had a series of threatening messages from the seller saying he needs the money, and he has my address so will come and find me. He included a photo of himself holding an air rifle. I’m not easily spooked but feel really scared now as he does have my address and seems very angry. I’ve filed a “help” through Vinted but they may not even read it for 48 hours. Do I call 111? On my own with 2 kids so feel really on edge.

The scary thing is this nutter will probably be back on there under another name selling dodgy stuff and threatening people again in no time.

Call 999!

RTFT

This! Yes!

Fake gun but real threats. Even if they're from a harmless nutter he needs warning that he's not allowed to do that.

Hope you’re ok this morning OP. And I hope that wanker gets a visit from some armed officers.

Another example of the shitshow that is Vinted not giving a toss about their users. It’s flooded with fakes and scammers and is tending towards being unusable now.

I've reported several scammers that sell fake Vivienne Westwood items but it's like whackamole. One gone and another pops up.

A nasty little keyboard warrior who also admits to selling fakes and expects you to be happy with it. Ludicrous. I hope the police read him the riot act. I also hope you are okay.

Jesus! I was thinking of putting some Lea Stein jewellery on Vinted as its quite pipular here but this has put me right off. I mostly sell on Ebay.com so at least theyr not going to come all the way from the USA with guns. If they have a beef I just refund them and put it down as a tax loss.

God who are the 2% who thought OP was being unreasonable? Even a fake gun picture is scary.

I was going to say this too. The Vinted labels I've received to send parcels are usually just a qr code with no address details. You scan it at the machine, the door opens and you put your parcel in. The In-post people add the address label later.

Or maybe there's another way you can do it, i don't know.

Either way I'd be really unsettled by that too op. I'm sorry. It's horrible. I hope you slept okay and feel calmer this morning.

If this is a well known scam, why aren't the consumer champions or police highlighting it? I bet some poor vinted users have been scared into dropping a refund claim, and possibly still living in fear that some nutter with a gun knows where they live.

Sorry op that's awful what a shit human being. I would say there is next to 0 chance of any threats being carried out. It's a scam to keep your money.

I dont think he will do anything but do not delete the chat, keep those screenshots. Call 111 its important they know hes shown a weapon (doesnt matter if its screenshot or ai) made a threat to you and your children with a weapon and has your address.

I dont think you need to worry. And i dont think he has your address, hes just trying to bully you into letting him keep the money. But thats irrelevant the police should address this

Keep us posted

She's already contacted the police. Read all of OP's comments to keep up to date.

🤦🤦🤦.
This is how this thread will go now, it'll be a new version of "cancel the cheque". Quite why people think that in nearly 400 posts nobody has thought to suggest the OP reports this is a mystery.

This is probably the only post I've seen on mumsnet that I wish was picked up by the media. I can not believe how vinted or the police handled it.
I hope you are ok OP.

There seem to be so many nutters on Vinted. I wonder if it's a reflection on society or just a magnet for scammers?

Agree. Would be great if the DM picked this up (although would probs just result in people ranting that it was likely an Albanian scammer).

Plot twist, it might have been. 😂

Thank you all so much.
Just waiting for the police to come at some point today I think, though inevitably my little one is poorly and needs an out of hours appointment so it’s all going to get a bit tricky. Will update once I’ve met with the officers, thank you all for helping me feel less alone last night. You are good eggs.

Take care OP and I hope DC gets better quickly.

Fwiw I’d bet a lot that this was just an attempt to intimidate you into giving money back, and not actually someone who would carry through their threats for what is presumably a fairly small sum.

Not that the police shouldn’t come down like a ton of bricks on it.

Sending a hug op x

We are here for you Reason stay strong.

How horrible! I would have been scared too & I live with DH & two 6ft DSs in their 20s!

I agree he’s probably just pulling this stunt with multiple customers for the money & not actually intending to send his “friends” round. He probably operates out of his nan’s back bedroom & doesn’t actually have friends.

The “what if” element is terrifying though and how would an ordinary person know if a gun is real or fake. Most of us don’t see very many . Glad the police are taking this seriously.

Hope your little one feels better soon.

So glad to see your update OP thank you for sharing this and warning others. I’ve used Vinted a few times and I have a feeling addresses aren’t shared but I don’t know for sure. I won’t be using it again after this though, such a shame. I use eBay sometimes too but now thinking it’s so dangerous giving out your address to people who could potentially do this, so I’ll be thinking twice in future, checking reviews etc.

Most people are good eggs, as shown on this thread. Always annoys me when the small minority ruin things for the majority of decent people.