Just been scammed

leo79

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Sigh....... Just found out that I've been scammed out of a large amount of money.
I feel sick and utterly foolish. I'm the one who always checks with my mum, gran and also my wife regarding scam phone calls/emails/phishing sites etc. when they're unsure about something.
And now I've fell for it myself.
Long story short(ish), wanting to treat myself for my upcoming 40th. After searching and trying on for the last couple of months I decided on a certain watch.
Lo and behold, one only pops up on a watch forum I frequent. Good price, based in the UK, good profile on that site and a couple of other sites, I send him a message. I hear back from him through email, this is quite common on this forum.
I get him to reply to me on the forum through private message so I can confirm its him I'm dealing with.
Anyway, I was as comfortable as I'd ever be sending this amount of money so did the transfer. He sent confirmation of payment and said he'd send tracking number next day.
Have a guess what happened next. No contact at all, got in touch with the Mods on that forum, they almost immediately ban him and tell me its a well known Nigerian scammer who had hacked this other blokes legitimate account.

Did I feel completley at ease with the whole thing from the start? No, my gut feeling told me something was amiss. Can't put my finger in it, but you know what? I still went ahead. What a c*ck.

I always tell my lads to trust your instinct but because I got caught up in finding my watch at a good price (not an ridiculously cheap price) I ignored my gut feeling and lost a load of money.

What a fool, chin up :suicide:
 
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I echo the above thoughts but because his scam worked this time he will try again unfortunately.
 
Sorry to hear that mate. Is there nothing the bank can do?
I got in touch with my bank as soon as I found out, they were very good and took all the details. They said it's been escalated and I'll get a fraud officer(?) to call me back as soon as they've spoken with the scumbags bank.
But the payment was made two days ago and probably gone through western union and some other money transfer places by now.
 
I feel for you man. Don’t beat yourself up, it could happen to anyone.

Last year, I bought a £1600+ lens from a well known seller on eBay (over 13,000 positive feedback). Lens never turned up and no answers to queries. Same thing happened to many tens of other buyers of various items of similar equipment. Luckily (for me), I paid with PayPal and got my money back after an anxious wait. The whole scam must have cost PP thousands!
 
It happens to all of us. Don't beat yourself down. Thankfully 99.9% of the time the authorities deal with it quickly.
 
Hopefully your bank is signed up to the new scheme & they will refund your money?

Thanks, very interesting. Just checked and both banks involved are part of the scheme. I feel a bit giddy now.
I'm not going to get my hopes up and I don't like to tempt fate so I'm not going to speak of this ever again 🤫.

@rousetafarian I'll happily pm you the site but I do use it quite a bit and I don't want to be seen to be bad mouthing them. They seem quite big on targeting scammers and people regularly sell high value items on there without any issues. I think I've just been unfortunate or stupid, probably both.
 
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Unfortunate, yes, stupid, no! How WOULD you know if a long term and well known member's account had been hacked? You nor anybody else would know, so don't blame yourself.
 
Leo - have a read of this thread.

edit: I see you have responded on the watch forum.
 
Thanks, very interesting. Just checked and both banks involved are part of the scheme. I feel a bit giddy now.
I'm not going to get my hopes up and I don't like to tempt fate so I'm not going to speak of this ever again 🤫.

@rousetafarian I'll happily pm you the site but I do use it quite a bit and I don't want to be seen to be bad mouthing them. They seem quite big on targeting scammers and people regularly sell high value items on there without any issues. I think I've just been unfortunate or stupid, probably both.
It’s not a reflection on the site, nor would it be if it happened on this forum
 
strangely enough I was watching a video last night about a guy who got scammed on a watch forum too - he bought a Daytona which never arrived, then the guy sent him another one (wait, what?!?) and it was a fake...!
 
Thanks, very interesting. Just checked and both banks involved are part of the scheme. I feel a bit giddy now.
I'm not going to get my hopes up and I don't like to tempt fate so I'm not going to speak of this ever again 🤫.

@rousetafarian I'll happily pm you the site but I do use it quite a bit and I don't want to be seen to be bad mouthing them. They seem quite big on targeting scammers and people regularly sell high value items on there without any issues. I think I've just been unfortunate or stupid, probably both.

A customer of mine was just comprehensively rinsed by scammers in such a way I naturally assumed they may as well have set fire to it - four seperate banks involved, smallest amount was 9k and they've been reimbursed in full. Fingers crossed for you.
 
...... I naturally assumed they may as well have set fire to it.......

That's exactly how I feel about it. I transferred the money directly into another person's bank account. On my own free will.
Yes, unknown to me, I was being tricked due to a hacked account but I still sent my money to a strangers bank account.
Spoke with my bank again today and they have just said it's ongoing. But to be honest, I only contacted them to report it because I thought it was the done thing to do, so people are aware of it. Never even crossed my mind there'd be a chance of getting the money back.
 
That's exactly how I feel about it. I transferred the money directly into another person's bank account. On my own free will.
Yes, unknown to me, I was being tricked due to a hacked account but I still sent my money to a strangers bank account.
Banks could certainly do more to help us if they’d stop dragging their feet on the mooted name check on transfers Name checks on payments face delay

Your transfer would have either flagged up a different account name (if they’d given you a false name) or they’d have had to give you their real name.
 
video i mentioned.. mods please delete if not appropriate..

 
So sorry to hear about this, and my full sympathy goes out to the OP.
Out of interest is there any recommended more secure way to send money to a total strange upon the promise they will send you something upon reviving the money?

I know here we have the AV-Forum special hit squad to deal with any such cases.
e92f57fbd1c64d4015b5b05b11e7ebaf.png


But in general, is there any path one can take that can offer protection for such deals, other of course then face to face, which in today's connected world is often not practical.
 
So sorry to hear about this, and my full sympathy goes out to the OP.
Out of interest is there any recommended more secure way to send money to a total strange upon the promise they will send you something upon reviving the money?

I know here we have the AV-Forum special hit squad to deal with any such cases.
e92f57fbd1c64d4015b5b05b11e7ebaf.png


But in general, is there any path one can take that can offer protection for such deals, other of course then face to face, which in today's connected world is often not practical.
Escrow services do precisely this... For a fee.
 
I guess many of us are too shy, embarrassed or frustrated to talk about scams we are bitten by. I purchased a PassLabs XP20 from a guy in Italy. He sent me photos of him, and his passport and him with his family. The bank exists as does his address he’s used. He never intended to send the unit. It’s a scam. So...Aside from getting on a plane hiring a world champion wrestler named Enforcer and making a visit to see him I’m $USD1850 lighter.
The police there only accept personal internet scam reports at local police stations. They have issues too I guess. The Embassy here outright told me it’s none of their business. They couldn’t link me with anyone in Italy at all. Another fake service.
I published the photos and passport in Italian Audio FB’s but what if the ID’s are all stolen? So people in the Italian audio complained to me. I had to remove it. One guy offered help but it didn’t work out.
What bugs me is this guy’s advertisement is still up. I tried contacting the website but no one responded.
Just another very frustrating story...
 
I feel sorry for you. The question I ask is how does a Nigerian conman (or any nationality) manage to open a UK resident's bank account without having to go through security hurdles?
 

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