Reply With QuoteI've never heard of it, but thanks for the head up.
I hope your mate can get this sorted without too much fuss.
A friend has become the victim of this clever but obviously distressing scam. I'd not heard of it before but it seems so simple I thought it must be quite commonplace. However on searching the internet I can't see it mentioned explicitly. The closest I've found is where folk have had mobile phone contracts set up without their knowledge.
What happened was this. Friend bought a product off Facebook Marketplace (I know, I know). Reasonable price, bit below retail but not stupidly so. Product delivered, new as described and friend very happy.
6 months later, they've just received a threatening letter from the manufacturer saying they've been unable to collect their instalments. So what must have happened is the seller pretended to be the buyer and set up an instalment plan in their name, paid the deposit and had the product "drop-shipped". Probably using the buyers name and address but phone, email and payment details of their own choosing.
Has anyone come across this before? What was the outcome? Are there any mentions of it on the web I've missed that you could direct me to please? Thank you in advance.
I've never heard of it, but thanks for the head up.
I hope your mate can get this sorted without too much fuss.
They might want to check their credit records - because normally they would want a deposit and a credit agreement?Originally Posted by GWFH
Jesus so simple but will hoodwink a lot of people- Scammer would have to have quite a bit of personal info to set up the credit agreement, why would it take a company six months to chase also, if the first DD didn’t go surely that would of raised a red flag with them.
Might have been buy now and pay later?
Also if they originally starting chasing via email - would have gone to scammer's account?
What did he buy? That might also help to establish how easy/hard the scam would be to setup?
A household electrical appliance. I've just checked and the option to pay by instalments is still available on their website. The only bit of information that needs to genuinely belong to the buyer is their name and shipping address.
So the fraudulent seller would just use any email address and someone's credit card details (the future instalments being recurring payments on this).
It's that simple which is why I'm surprised I can't find any mention of it on the world wide web at all.
Unless it's to prevent copy cats. But that should be balanced against people being aware so they don't get scammed as well.
This highlight the issue of digital contact being the norm these days, as you say, the supplying company would have contacted the scammer by phone text and email for ages with the buyer being unaware.
Cheers..
Jase
Op surely your friend has no relationship with the manufacturer, he just tells them where he bought it, or he better still ignore them, I’m assuming as he bought it via Facebook he didn’t give someone his credit card details
I'd write to them expressly denying a relationship and make it clear that *they* (the manufacturer) have been scammed and that they should take it up with the police.
Maybe the new threat from the supplier is actually the scam?
But he hasn’t bought it, the scammer has bought it using the friend’s name.
He still bought and paid for it, from the Facebook scammer. An often unenforceable clause in most Ts&Cs is that the goods are the property of the seller until paid for, which obviously would make The device stolen goods.
The scammer didn’t own it so he (the friend) couldn’t have bought it from him.
If stolen goods the friend has no rights over it and he will be out of pocket.
I suspect the seller would not have clear title to sell the goods in question and likely remain the property of the company.
Not what you friend will likely want to hear.
All messages between buyer and seller were exchanged on Facebook. Scammer was paid using PayPal - Goods and Services not Friends and Family. PayPal are being most unhelpful and don't want to get involved - quelle surprise.
The letter from the manufacturer is genuine.
I was trying to get my head around the legal position. This makes sense. My friend hasn't entered into a contract with the manufacturer however they have received the item. So they shouldn't be obliged to pay the remaining instalments but the device still belongs to the manufacturer and they may have to give it them back.
Thanks all for your responses.
Thanks, you posted as I was typing but, yes, I think we're accepting that's the unfortunate position.
Yes, that's how I see it. Depending on the value he might be lucky and the manufacturer lets him keep it as it's now been used.
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