Hi all
Edit: as advised, I contacted my bank straight away. They looked into the details of who I sent the money to, and it was an international bank account, which confirmed it was a scam. They said they might be able to recover the money if it hasn’t been moved on yet, but this morning I received a £50 payment from a bank.
Word of advice for anyone buying online: make the seller send a photo of the item with their name and date in the photo, and check their bank details!
Pretty sure I’ve just been scammed on Facebook. Completely my fault for missing the warning signs – it was late in the evening and I was tired.
I was looking for a car part in a car parts Facebook group and someone messaged me saying they had the part I needed. We struck up a conversation and all seemed normal. I said I wanted a picture of the part before payment. They seemed a little reluctant, but did send me a photo. I ended up paying them £50 for the part through a bank transfer (yes, should have done PayPal I know), and they said they would post it in the morning and send tracking details.
What should have raised a flag was the name on the account they wanted me to send it to was different from their Facebook name.
Of course, no tracking came through and they haven’t responded to my message asking if they have posted it. I took another look at the photo and realised the part is wrong – it’s for a LHD car, not a RHD UK car. That makes me believe they just grabbed a photo from Google without actually knowing the part well.
I know it’s my fault, and I’m not actually that fussed about the money I’ve lost on it.
Question now is, is there anything I can do? I imagine their Facebook page is fake, and with a bank transfer there’s little protection. Is it worth calling my bank up? Is there any way I can mess with the scammer?
Up for ideas.
Ta