Reply With QuoteFacebook is full of this sort of thing unfortunately. Sorry to see you got scammed, it’s possible the seller has just blocked you.
I will have a search on the market place now - edit. Checked Bedford, couldn’t see anything.
To cut a long story short, I come across a Seiko Samurai Blue Lagoon on the Facebook sales page.. Fully boxed £200.00, condition looked very good, plenty of images too.
Messaged the seller and it was still available.
Great! :)
Watch was in Bedford and I'm on the east coast, so asked if she wouldn't mind posting the watch.. Not a problem she said... Great! :)
Asked if PayPal was ok.. She didn't have an active account, but said I could pay either by Google pay or BT.
So without really thinking I paid via BT...
The watch was meant to be posted today, so went to contact the seller to see if it had been posted as promised.. The listed seems to have been removed from the Facebook Market Place and the Facebook account linked to the sale has been deactivated.
Absolutely gutted.
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Facebook is full of this sort of thing unfortunately. Sorry to see you got scammed, it’s possible the seller has just blocked you.
I will have a search on the market place now - edit. Checked Bedford, couldn’t see anything.
Last edited by Sean89; 25th July 2019 at 19:23.
Thank you greatly appreciated Sean.Originally Posted by Sean89
I have the bank details, so I could potentially go into it further with my bank, but I doubt they will reimburse me.
The listing was under "Seiko Prospex"
Here is a screenshot of her FB account and the listing beneath it and also an image if the watch that I saved :-
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Last edited by senraw; 25th July 2019 at 19:27.
I would have thought it would be an obvious scam as they only signed up to face book this year. Anyone of this age would have had a FB account for at least 10 years
Couldn’t find that or the seller unfortunately.
Assuming you have the bank details you can google the sort code see if the branch is actually in Bedford. That will give you an indication of if this is an amateur trying to get lucky or a more sinister scammer doing this all across the uk.
It could just be a chancer. The Facebook page might reactive in a week or two
To be honest, I agree.
But at the time, I didn't notice that.
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Thank for looking Sean, really do appreciate it.
I think I'll contact the bank and see what they say. But I'm thinking I should at least leave it until the weekend, just incase it's a problem with there FB account and they have actually posted the watch. It's a very slim chance I know.
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Don’t suppose you had a address as I’m only down the road from Bedford
I think her photo probably blinkered anything else you should of been reading,we live and learn ,at least it wasn’t thousands.
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It’s unlikely the bank will refund you as you have authorised the payment. They will be able to see the receiving banks details and then query it with them for fraud. With faster payments nowadays crims transfer between loads of banks so tracing it will be a pain in the ass for the bank. I wouldn’t expect them to be overly helpful.
As I said a google of the sort code will tell you the recipient bank and location.
I dont unfortunately.
Apparently she worked as a Midwife at Bedford hospital.
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Who's name was the bank account in?
I would have been warned off by joining in 2019 and by a girl selling a Seiko if I'm honest.
Definitely pursue and report to the police. Wouldn't waste any time.
The name on an account is irrelevant. The banks don’t cross reference that so even if she put Lucy when in fact the name on the account is Steve for example.
Banks are introducing regulation this year to cross check the name to prevent fraud.
All that is needed for a payment is the correct account number and sort code.
The sort code was; 110427
The name I sent the payment to was the name on the FB account; Lucy Murdoch.
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Sort code indicates the branch is Halifax Bank. Kingsthorpe, Northampton - so it’s not far from Bedford
Thank you Sean, greatly appreciated.
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It happened twice with me on FB.
The first one being a Pulsar G10, paid for it, but no watch arrived.
The second time around traded a watch of mine but no watch in return. A massive lesson learnt.
Last edited by MADDOG; 25th July 2019 at 20:20.
No problem. Banks and omega planet oceans are my only two areas of expertise 😂
I’d just hand over everything to the police now. I know in the grand scheme 200quid isn’t much but if they keep getting away with it then it all adds up.
This persons listing and account may well have been removed for scamming somebody else already.
Really sorry to hear that John, absolutely devastating.
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Yep, bought the seller.
The sell should have rang massive alarm bells:
"He (presumably ex-boyfriend) left this behind and had told me to keep it, so selling it for £200 so I can buy an apple watch :lol:"
The classic woman-scorned scam
I know.The sell should have rang massive alarm bells:
"He (presumably ex-boyfriend) left this behind and had told me to keep it, so selling it for £200 so I can buy an apple watch"
The classic woman-scorned scam
The more I think about it, the more angry I keep getting with myself.
I also think that because I have completed hundreds of bank transfers without any issues before involving watches, I was in auto pilot.. Lesson learned.
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In amongst the scammers there’s idiots too. I’ve taken the view best to avoid watches on Facebook altogether.
A guy near my dads house had a 2011 bond seamaster for sale at 1800 never serviced and with the bezel pip missing.
I messaged with a view to buying it but significantly less as it needs a new bezel and a service.
I was given an expletive laden reply and told a new bezel pip is 14.99 from eBay and you superglue it in. The Swiss as you know are well known for their use of superglue on these models. That tells you everything you need to know about a seller
I feel for you as I have bought motorcycle parts off Facebook and so far have been ok. Its a great place to connect like minded people, but unfortunately the sharks circle.
Recently there was a player on a classic Kawasaki site bounced as he was a scammer. The forum was about as obscure as an obscure thing, but still they haunt us.
I used to buy pp friends and family but now I just use paypal so if it all goes wrong I may......have some recourse
Last edited by higham5; 25th July 2019 at 21:03.
I don’t think the bank will be interested BUT you would think in this day and age it would be easy to trace
If they wanted too ?
If it were me I’d offer a trace for a fee but I guess GDPR would put an end to that !
QUOTE=senraw;5157605]To cut a long story short, I come across a Seiko Samurai Blue Lagoon on the Facebook sales page.. Fully boxed £200.00, condition looked very good, plenty of images too.
Messaged the seller and it was still available.
Great! :)
Watch was in Bedford and I'm on the east coast, so asked if she wouldn't mind posting the watch.. Not a problem she said... Great! :)
Asked if PayPal was ok.. She didn't have an active account, but said I could pay either by Google pay or BT.
So without really thinking I paid via BT...
The watch was meant to be posted today, so went to contact the seller to see if it had been posted as promised.. The listed seems to have been removed from the Facebook Market Place and the Facebook account linked to the sale has been deactivated.
Absolutely gutted.
Sent from my SM-A750FN using Tapatalk[/QUOTE]
That's absolutely nuts. No wonder fraud is rampant when you can just make up a name and your account number is effectively anonymous.
“I don’t think the bank will be interested BUT you would think in this day and age it would be easy to trace
If they wanted too ?
If it were me I’d offer a trace for a fee but I guess GDPR would put an end to that !”
Bank will have zero interest the buyer paid end of and the lesson is never pay anyone via a BT unless your absolutely sure that they are 100% above board
I FEEL LIKE I'M DIAGONALLY PARKED IN A PARALLEL UNIVERSE
Unfortunately there isn’t a Lucy Murdoch on the Nursing Midwifery Council’s register.
EDIT: not that it would have given any useful information in any case.
Dave
Don’t beat yourself up for being scammed, happens to the best of us (especially those that still have faith in the best of others)
Lesson learnt, and in the big scheme of things, not financially crippling.
Move on and don’t waste anymore of your own valuable energy. Life really is too short.
Even in the case of a mistaken bank transfer there's little the bank can do if the recipient has removed the money.
They can send a polite letter asking for the funds to be returned, but that's about it.
Indeed it is. This is how the scammers operate with the ol calling from your bank scam where they con people into transferring into a ‘safe’ account in the persons own name.
Hence why new regulation will cross check name and account number
Alarm bells ring when people don’t take PayPal. If they’re tech savvy enough to use FB , eBay etc then there is no reason they shouldn’t have a PayPal account.
That said I have taken the chance of BT a couple of times. When I do use BT , I do a few searches on the person , google the name, check sort codes , how many FB friends, Instagram etc and try and do as much due diligence as I can. I also only risk what I can loose.
Don’t beat yourself and waste anymore time stressing (easier said than done).
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Thanks for all the input everyone, i really appreciate it and I feel a little better now. :)
I'm going to have to take this one on the chin and let it be a valued lesson.
I'm now enjoying a fantastic thunderstorm with amazing lighting on the east coast with a big smile on my face.
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I have to say fair play to the OP for admitting to being scammed and sharing his experience. Many in that situation would say nothing. For one I never would have known about the name on account loophole.
I thought that I would be best to share, I'm not really angry about the loss of money, more at myself for being so naive.
Most of us on here don't think twice when sending large amounts of cash via bt for items we buy on SC, i've done it for years and never had a single issue.
As I mentioned earlier, i think I just went into auto pilot and sent the funds as I would, if dealing with a member on here.
A valuable lesson has been learned, next time I will definitely be more hesitant when dealing outside the TZ community.
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Out of curiosity, did you really think it was her on the profile photos?
Rory
Last edited by VDG; 26th July 2019 at 00:01.
Fas est ab hoste doceri
Don't beat yourself up, it isn't worth it. Sometimes you just want to believe something is real, even if it's giving you alarm bells.
Thank you for the honest timely reminder.
Initially I did, yes.Out of curiosity, did you really think it was her on the profile photos?
Rory
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Out of curiosity, did you really think it was her on the profile photos?
Out of curiosity,what do you really think a scammer would look like on their profile photo?.
And interestly!,what has you thinking anything sinister in the profile pics?.My family have similar pics taken on holiday so nothing out the ordinary IMO.
Rory
Whilst that might be useful, it doesn't mean much on its own. I live in Peterborough (someone has to !), but the sort code of my bank is in Bournemouth, where I opened my account.
I wouldn't necessarily connect a bank account somewhere other than the place the item for sale is to be dodgy.
Sorry to hear about this. Being scammed for any amount, no matter how little, leaves a sour taste in the mouth.
There's a similar looking Lucy Murdoch from Bradford on FB, but I'm guessing too young to be the same?
I don't want to put up an image as I don't want to implicate a potentially innocent person, but a Google search brings it up.
This really sucks, and so sorry to hear you got scammed. Thanks for sharing... as it might help somebody else avoid the same nasty experience in the future
Karma will address this imbalance at some point... don't let it ruin your week fella
Buying anything without meeting or any sort of protection is seriously mad IMO
Doesn’t matter what it is
I sell quite a lot via FB and never post anything or offer to
Lesson learned
OP, you need to report it to the police, she/he/they may have done the same thing to 50 other people.
Very wise! I'd think Lucy Murdoch is probably a made up name.
I suppose we need to watch out for it on the second hand market. Did you retain any identifying numbers?
Oftentimes these scammers steal the photos of legitimate users and create a profile with the same name, photos etc.
The scammer is likely not even a woman.
You can do a photo search on google which will show where the pic of her or the watch is previously from / currently still being used. This may help you track the alias down or at least you if they have rejoined FB to try the stunt again. (don't ask me how you do the photo search as despite being 30 I'm close to a neanderthal when it comes to technology, although my brother tells me its very straightforward)
Right click on the picture in this thread and select 'Search Google for image'
The problem is that it will bring up every image of a blue Seiko ever uploaded to Google
I’d suggest reporting the scam to action fraud but without specific details I’m not too sure you’d be able to lodge it.
I would also try pursuing with your bank, most of the time they won’t be in the slightest bit interested but they do have a fraud department who might investigate.
Why wouldn't a bank give the account owner's details to the police in this circumstance?
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