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.

Apologies. Have now read the update.

Don’t do this. It would ruin any prosecution. This is bad advice

I think what might comfort me slightly is that I can’t actually believe someone would travel miles to turn up with a gun to someone’s house for 50 quid. I can see why you are worried though and I am so sorry its causing you stress. Hope the police get to the bottom of it.

NO. Shockingly poor advice
Your notion of giving the police an ultimatum is, umm interesting,.daft as fuck

Call 999 now. He has threatened you. He knows where you live. You have his contact details. He may be just trying to scare you but he is acting with malicious intent.
Ease let us know what the police say and good luck.

999 will direct your call to the relevant team. There are a lot of stolen good sold on vinted - I think they will look into vinted related crimes more and more. You could even go to the press with this I reckon, but that might not be so safe.

That's awful. This should be a priority.

Just tell them you misgendered someone... they'll be there like a shot, most likely with armed police.

Sad, but true.

I would be ending all listings.

I would also want to delete my Vinted account, but I suppose it’s evidence. You can always set up another one later once this resolved.

The police did bugger all!

Please RTFT!!!

I haven't read every post, but oh my gosh - this is absolutely shocking. To read that it's common on Vinted is worrying, too. Disgusting that the police haven't acted, and thrown the cowardly, nasty little sh*t in the cells.
Hope you're okay x

Sending you hugs OP ❤️

Please update us if the police actually do come and see you or if he messages again. I hope you have got some sleep tonight lovely 😩❤️

This is uncanny!

I hope you’re okay this morning, OP ❤️

How can a Vinted seller be abroad? I thought everything on UK Vinted was UK sellers and UK buyers? And if some sellers or buyers are abroad, how do you know? How did everyone know in this case?

There is a certain type of person that does this. It might not be a real gun but it's still intimidating and scary. We have had similar in a different situation (threatening our daughter and family in a grooming situation). The police were involved and the person was known to them for other crimes.

But just an aside, said daughter has the same tracksuit bought from Vinted. As much as I don't like fakes, she is happy with it and wears it a lot. The problem with sites like vinted is they are encouraging people to purchase fakes as they are cheap and so if it's cheap and new it's almost certain to be fake and those who sell fakes have links to wider criminality.

It's a trade that has been ongoing for a long time.

So sorry that has happened to you, OP. It must be so scary. Just wanted to mention that you were saying that he seemed "So so angry" but I would say he is probably not angry, he's just trying to scare you so he's using that highly aggressive tone. He wants you to believe that he's a rage-filled crazed individual capable of doing you harm so that you will just accept the item. That's the scam. He is very unlikely to be willing to do any of the things he's threatening. There's a huge difference between violent crime and fraud and what he's engaged in is scamming people, he wouldn't want to get involved in anything as messy as directly attacking people. But of course there's part of you which wonders if he could possibly mean it which is why it's hard to ignore. I would hide your Vinted account for now so you don't receive any more threats. This person is just the lowest of the low and I'm really sorry you've ended up crossing paths with him, you sound like a really kind person. Hope you get a decent response from the police.

OP has updated many times, sharing the actions she has taken since she started the thread.

Did you not read back?

I think they have recently opened it up to the United States too. I believe you can now sell items to the States.

Gosh how frightening. I agree with other posters that he’s highly unlikely to be prepared to carry out these threats, he’s just hoping to scare you into submission. Don’t respond but stick to the police recommendations.

Look at this tool using Black people, LOL. The obsession is real.

I would report but 100 per cent would not be worried.

I'm so sorry they have upset you like this, it's online bullying at its worst. I had death threats once through ebay because someone bought a foundation from me that turned out to be the wrong shade and they had opened and unsealed it and tried it and didn't want to return it, just wanted a refund - direct to their bank account, which had changed since they bought it, all the tricks in the book. I had to stop replying in the end because it just got too much. They threatened to pay me a visit and burn my house down (they lived the next county along so not a huge journey) and said some terrible things. I blocked and moved on, it was a £20 purchase. The online companies must see a lot of this. I tried not to let it rattle me too much!!

It could be a network of scammers rather than an individual.

I know where my cap lock is thanks.... And it's not where you've stated, thanks.

The OP is terrified, advising her to sit on her hands and hope the cops deign to visit at some point this year is the 'ummm interesting' thick as pig shit advice. The threats the OP and her kids have been subjected to should be taken seriously, if only to help prevent the psychological harm this type of thing does. The reason it's not taken seriously (and the reason we get such a shitty pick and choose response) is because so many dozy twonks don't question the poor service. I doubt there's anyone on this thread with faith that a prosecution is likely.

I think the moral of the story, ultimately, is don't use vinted.