Been scammed, person has done a runner how do I go about small claims?

[newmummybear2019]

Hi, i've lost quite a lot of money through a scammer and he has done a runner with my money so no idea where he lives now, I looked into doing a small claims procedure but citizens advice told me because I live in Scotland and the scammer lives in England I would need a solicitor and I would also need to send a letter of claim or something? Don't know how i'm supposed to send that when I don't know where he is anymore, can anyone help!? Thanks. I can't really afford a solicitor or anything, i'm pretty skint and don't think i'm entitled to any legal aid i've had a look

Without knowing where he is you have little recourse to be honest.

That doesn't seem fair.. I know his old address and his e-mail that's about it (although he has prob changed his e-mail as well) everything else he has deleted/blocked me

Don't know what to do i'm lost :(

I agree it is unfair but sadly this is how the scammers operate. Was it a business transaction?

In all honesty if he's a practised scammer and a small-timer your chances of ever seeing your money again are pretty low. Especially if you don't even know his address.

What did you pay him for and how much?

How do you know the address you have is an old one? Is there someone who could go round there and check whether he still lives there?

Have you tried the obvious- checking 192com, looking for him on social media. How did he scam you?

That is terrible. You poor thing. I hope a lawyer on here can help you.

It was a ex friend I put my trust in (wrongly I know I feel like an idiot now :() I agreed to help him out with money issues with his bank/mortgage etc he said he was having (turned out to be complete lies) and he would pay me back with a little extra as a thank you, we even signed a contract and everything (it was just a normal piece of paper with our signatures on it so don't know if this is legally binding?)

I paid him just under £5,000 and I know his old address because i've been there before and when I go round now it is empty, he has done a runner and has deleted every social media/phone number/e-mail etc

Have you contacted the police?

You could use an enquiry agent to help locate them.

Yes contacted the police they just told me to contact citizens advice who told me I need to do a small claims which I obviously can't do because I need to send a letter before claim first.

I'm pretty much skint now if i'm honest really struggling with money so I won't be able to afford a solicitor or any of those tracking agencies :(

No mutual friends who might know where he is?

Do you not know any of his friends and family? Surely if you were close enough to lend him £5k and leave yourself skint knowing he had money problems then I would imagine you knew him really well??

Why did you give him £5000 when you are skint too.

If you've got l8afs to spare and are happy to lend it then that's one thing, but you're talking like this payment gas left you in difficulties. You clearly couldn't afford to lend the money. Why do it?

If you want to try a d get it back then you need to see a solicitor to find out if the paper you signed would be enough evidence and get them to sort the process. They can sort out investigators for you to find him, but it's going to cost you.

He's done a runner from everyone, apparently he's scammed all his family and a few other 'friends' as well so no-one knows where he is, i've looked all over social media asking his family members etc he's done a runner after finishing all his scams I guess

Because i'm a gullible idiot to be honest, the £5,000 was my savings and he agreed he would pay me back double as a thank you and that extra money would have really helped me out as i'm going through a tough time right now and this has just made it worse :(

He'd pay you back double? And you believed That? What was his plan got finding £10,000 to pay you? This sounds unbelievable.

Go and see a solicitor but you will need to pay for it. If you can't, then you'll need to accept you made a mistake. When someone says they will pay you double for that amount if money and you believe them, then you've sort of brought it on yourself.

Even if you could locate him, took him to court (I took someone once, whole process took about a year) and got a judgement in your favour, you still have to enforce it if he doesn't pay voluntarily. If you sent the bailiffs in, what does he own of value? Could you actually recover £5000+ court fees etc.

I think you were badly advised re: small claims. This money has gone and unless he turns up, you have no recourse. It's rubbish though.

A solicitor should advise you the same. Personally it sounds like you'd be wasting money seeing a solicitor if you can't track him down/ pay for tracing agent. And even if you found him, see my first post.

Yeah I believed him, I knew he could afford it as i've seen his bank balance etc but obviously I know now the reason why he has so much money is because he's a scammer. He said something about his account being frozen and was unable to pay upcoming mortgage payments or something along those lines, I can't remember exactly as it was really confusing so that's why I agreed to give him the money.

Is there some solicitors that do like a 30 minute free 1st session?

Can't you and the other people you now he's scammed join forces? Surely they're all keen to recover their money, so between you you might be able to put together a plan.
He can't have completely disappeared, some research might dig up some clues.

An enquiry agent is a lot cheaper than a solicitor. Can you afford £150 ish? I'd call round some enquiry firms if you can.

Looking into it, I have e-mail about a dozen different solicitors asking if they do a free 30 min session or whatever and take it from there

It doesn't say anything on the GOV.UK website about having to send a letter before claim before making the small claim, why is this? I could have easily sent it away and cost myself £400 in fees because I didn't know and I only found out by luck

Remem er you have 6 years to claim. It might worth being patient when he thinks he got away with it, become more careless with info he divulges about his address and possibly when he got back on his feet and is more likely to have the funds to pay back.

Thing is, if you track him down in the future and he's blown or hidden the money... What then? The court can't make him give you what he doesn't have. It's all but impossible to claim from someone with no assets.

Keep an eye out for him resurfacing but I'm afraid this may turn out to be an expensive and painful lesson in not lending money you can't afford to lose and being more suspicious/diligent in business deals.

Report to police, ideally with others.