Scammed by sale on Gumtree

[Agent]

That happened to someone I know - went through the courts for money owed by a friend. They ended up giving something like £10 / month on an amount which was thousands, while she goes on holiday several times a year, has recently brought a new car and owns the vast majority of her property.

Even when the police catch and prosecute them, the courts are so lenient it's a joke.

[peterb]

That happened to someone I know - went through the courts for money owed by a friend. They ended up giving something like £10 / month on an amount which was thousands, while she goes on holiday several times a year, has recently brought a new car and owns the vast majority of her property.

Even when the police catch and prosecute them, the courts are so lenient it's a joke.

So the friend needs to go back to court to either get a lien on the property (first call on the proceeds if it is sold) or to get the amount increased following a financial assessment. (but note, I am not a lawyer - but it might be worth obtaining legal advice if the defendant's circumstances have changed)

[Agent]

So the friend needs to go back to court to either get a lien on the property (first call on the proceeds if it is sold) or to get the amount increased following a financial assessment. (but note, I am not a lawyer - but it might be worth obtaining legal advice if the defendant's circumstances have changed)

It's pointless.
She has children, so needs the house to live - she has other debts, so she simply said that any further debts could put her and her children at risk. The car she uses for 'business' and any loss of it would cause her to not be able to pay.

Honestly, she had debt collectors involved, lawyers (and good ones) and the other person admitted the charges against her. There are just so many things that the other party can have 'taken into account', with judges that are so soft it's embarrassingly broken.

She even stopped paying at one point for a long period. To get her to pay again?....back to court, which costs money. Just before this happened, she started paying again, so no need to go to court but gave her a huge break in payments.

It's all well and good giving advice like that, but she's been there and done it - it just doesn't work like that. These people often hire their own lawyers that know all the loop holes. It's not a simple issue at all.

[ik9000]

It's pointless.
She has children, so needs the house to live - she has other debts, so she simply said that any further debts could put her and her children at risk. The car she uses for 'business' and any loss of it would cause her to not be able to pay.

Honestly, she had debt collectors involved, lawyers (and good ones) and the other person admitted the charges against her. There are just so many things that the other party can have 'taken into account', with judges that are so soft it's embarrassingly broken.

She even stopped paying at one point for a long period. To get her to pay again?....back to court, which costs money. Just before this happened, she started paying again, so no need to go to court but gave her a huge break in payments.

It's all well and good giving advice like that, but she's been there and done it - it just doesn't work like that. These people often hire their own lawyers that know all the loop holes. It's not a simple issue at all.

when I take charge she'll be first against the wall.

[Ashley McLoone]

if you know who he is, and where he lives then you might be able to go through the small claims.

i was the same with Action Fraud, you have know idea what or if they are doing any thing.

i have had some luck with mine it turns out that i am 1 of 6 ppl, the guy has been arrested and is out on bail.

I'm just waiting on this going to court, and then seeing what happens, if i don't get what i want out of it i will then try them small claims my self.

my fingers are crossed.

Thats great news for you. Sadly i'm not getting any further with my case. Paypal just keep saying to me "have to talk to my supervisor, we'll contact u within 24-72hrs" and no one ever ever gets back to me, its always me phoning them up on the 3rd day asking why has NO ONE called or emailed me?? then i gotta explain the case again and then they say exact same thing to me againn saying "have to talk to my supervisor about this, we'll try to get back to u within 24-72hrs" and i'm just like "u've said this now about 3 times, and u never get back to me!" and then they put on the sympathetic act like "i understand, i understand. I'm sorry. We'll try and get in touch with u within 24 hrs....if not within 72 hrs" lol. Wtf? And Police for some reason told me to wait, wait for wot, a bus? The moneys NOT coming in, it wont come in so why have i to wait exactly?? So by the end of this week i think i'll just phone them again and tell them nothings happened, so wot now?? And Action Fraud have done buggar all. Heard nothing from them, not one word.

Oyeah, and sadly i do not know where this person lives, and even if he did give me his address it woulda been a fake one. He told me he was from Blackpool, and this was his postcode, but when i type this postcode into google it doesnt come up an area in Blackpool, or a street name, it just comes up Blackpool city. Like its the main postcode or somethin? I have it written dwn somewhere, not on me just now. But i gave it to police anyways. And i gave them this account number and sort code i used to pay into account. I cant believe i didnt ask for his actual name, wot the hell was i thinking.

[csgohan4]

Thats great news for you. Sadly i'm not getting any further with my case. Paypal just keep saying to me "have to talk to my supervisor, we'll contact u within 24-72hrs" and no one ever ever gets back to me, its always me phoning them up on the 3rd day asking why has NO ONE called or emailed me?? then i gotta explain the case again and then they say exact same thing to me againn saying "have to talk to my supervisor about this, we'll try to get back to u within 24-72hrs" and i'm just like "u've said this now about 3 times, and u never get back to me!" and then they put on the sympathetic act like "i understand, i understand. I'm sorry. We'll try and get in touch with u within 24 hrs....if not within 72 hrs" lol. Wtf? And Police for some reason told me to wait, wait for wot, a bus? The moneys NOT coming in, it wont come in so why have i to wait exactly?? So by the end of this week i think i'll just phone them again and tell them nothings happened, so wot now?? And Action Fraud have done buggar all. Heard nothing from them, not one word.

Oyeah, and sadly i do not know where this person lives, and even if he did give me his address it woulda been a fake one. He told me he was from Blackpool, and this was his postcode, but when i type this postcode into google it doesnt come up an area in Blackpool, or a street name, it just comes up Blackpool city. Like its the main postcode or somethin? I have it written dwn somewhere, not on me just now. But i gave it to police anyways. And i gave them this account number and sort code i used to pay into account. I cant believe i didnt ask for his actual name, wot the hell was i thinking.

I think this is a lesson for all of us, that Gumtree is rubbish and unregulated. It's only useful for non monetary services like your local sports club recruiting for example

[mikeo01]

Yep Gumtree is terrible.

I still get emails saying "I hope your recent experience doesn't affect you visiting our site" or something along those lines. It's like yes I nearly lost £100 then did lose £55. Of course this is nothing compared to how much you lost and I am very sorry about that honestly stick to Amazon or eBay and never ever accept any offers of any sort until you know you are covered 100%.

Apparently they work very closely with law enforcement but told me in an email "they cannot help retrieve my money, only to help the law enforcement stop this fraudulent activity in the future".

In other words, tough if you lose your money we aren't helping.

Yes "unregulated" really is the word I'd use. It's just a site to place your ads on, that's it.

Don't worry least we'll be reminded when that "happy" salesman comes on, on the adverts telling us how great Gumtree is.

[csgohan4]

Yep Gumtree is terrible.

I still get emails saying "I hope your recent experience doesn't affect you visiting our site" or something along those lines. It's like yes I nearly lost £100 then did lose £55. Of course this is nothing compared to how much you lost and I am very sorry about that honestly stick to Amazon or eBay and never ever accept any offers of any sort until you know you are covered 100%.

Apparently they work very closely with law enforcement but told me in an email "they cannot help retrieve my money, only to help the law enforcement stop this fraudulent activity in the future".

In other words, tough if you lose your money we aren't helping.

Yes "unregulated" really is the word I'd use. It's just a site to place your ads on, that's it.

Don't worry least we'll be reminded when that "happy" salesman comes on, on the adverts telling us how great Gumtree is.

Yeah it's quite easy to see that Gumtree is full of scams, generally if it's too good to be true, it likely is fake.

I agree, stick with Amazon or Eay/ Scan . Amazon is my main one I use, their returns is second to none for me.

[Saracen]

....

I'm just waiting on this going to court, and then seeing what happens, if i don't get what i want out of it i will then try them small claims my self.

....

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you do perhaps need to know.

There are two stages to the small claims court process. The first is winning your claim in court. That, given your circumstances, should be fairly straightforward.

But thats the good news.

The bad news is .... DO NOT assume that winning the case necessarily means you'll ever see a penny of the money. Getting the judgement in your favour is often the easy bit. The court, however, is not going to physically collect the money. Doing that, if the debtor doesn't just pay up, may well involve further court fees, and/or employing bailiffs, and even they cannot get money out of someone that doesn't have any, or any assets they can seize. And that's assuming the indivudual doesn't just vanish, and show up at the other end of the country.

Small claims court isn't expensive, but addition fees and bailiffs costs can add up. Of course, these are added to the debt so IF the debt is successfully collected, the other bloke will end up paying it .... but you have to pay coyrt/bailiff fees up-front, so if collection fails, you will lose those fees on top of your initial losses.


So .... before taking court action, do yoyr homework. Find out everything you can about the person that owes you money. Do they own a house? If so, vanishing is far less likely. Are they in a stable job? If so, for a fee, the court can order deductions direct from pay, collected direct from the employer. You might also be able to access bank funds the same way .... if the bloke has a bank account, and it has funds. Finding out may not be easy.

In short, try to ascertain if collection is likely to succeed before forking out even initual court fees. Sometimes, falling as it is, the best option is to avoid sending good money after bad, and just walk away.

One more thing. If this bloke knows the game, even the court process may be frustrating. Expect him to pull all sorts of stunts, like not showing up to court, then claiming illness, or car breakdown, etc, then appealing (technically, it's not an appeal, but it's tantamount to the same thing), sovyou could end up going to court several times. And he'll likely apply to the court to have the case transferred to his local court, and could well get it. So you could be travelling to him more than once. I've seen it happen.

Again, travelling costs may well be added to the judgment, which is fine if collection succeeds, but if it doesn't, you can add travel costs, maybe meals, and possibly other incidental costs to the sum you end up writing off.

Sometimes the small claims process works well, and sometimes it doesn't. Just don't assume even winning the case is the end of the process, or that you'll necessarily get paid even if you do win.