Forum Scammers?

[GuestyR33]

Hey everyone.

A close friend of mine recently attempted to purchase a turbo off a highly known car forum.

not SAU but i wont mention which one as i dont want to damage its reputation.

Anyways this is wat happened:

He found the turbo he wanted, contacted the seller via pm. Got his mobile number, and

arranged the sale of this turbo. My friend deposited the money into his bank account with

the impression that it would be sent as soon as payment was confirmed. The guy did seem

genuine. Very nice in fact. Once payment was made, the seller informed my friend that

the turbo had been sent. A week had past and my friend began questioning the situation.

He managed still to contact the seller via mobile, but all the guy could say was that he definately

sent it. And that he would look into it. A further week down the track still nothing.

My friend requested his money back but the guy insisted he sent the turbo and that unless he

gets that back, he cant refund.

Wat should i tell my friend to do? It looks like he probably never had a turbo. He was just a

scammer. But maybe it was lost in the mail. who knows. Can the police do anything?

We have his mobile number and bank account number.

But can anything actually be done.

If it makes it harder, he is actually in a different state. Queensland to be exact. Can our VIC

police do anything?

Any help will be muchly appreciated. My mate is $1000 out of pocket... ouch...

Thanks peoples.

Guesty...

[BL01]

In these cases, the police won't be able to do much i believe. A few mates of mine has been through this. They are out of pocket as much as $3000 but the police will dismiss this as a civil matter.

[GuestyR33]

In these cases, the police won't be able to do much i believe. A few mates of mine has been through this. They are out of pocket as much as $3000 but the police will dismiss this as a civil matter.

Civil matter. So they basically tell u to get over it?

Is there anything they can do.

Or are they just a waste of time.

[Abo Bob]

That's not right. It's fraud which is a criminal matter but.. they may not necessarily get your money back for you but they will flush him out and charge him.

[KamikazeR33]

yeah def fraud

if not take him to the small claims court

[saff_cossie]

Did the seller send it recorded delivery, if so check that

Ask the seller to post the receipt for sending and look for any numbers that could help identify the parcel

Was the item insured by the seller when he sent it

For future reference, I send anything internal here recorded in the form of a parcel. I tell the buyer that and if they dont like it, they can collect it.

For $1000, I would want an address from the seller and considering the cost of flights and potentially what could be wrong with a turbo, would probably fly up there to collect it (assuming your mate is here in Vic and seller is in Qld).

This does happen with parcels and can be legitimate so to start with, if I were your mate, I would be putting every effort into assuming the parcel was sent and searching for it and engage the help of the seller. That will be one way of seeing how genuine the turbo was from his efforts to track it down.

Hope it gets sorted

[GuestyR33]

That's not right. It's fraud which is a criminal matter but.. they may not necessarily get your money back for you but they will flush him out and charge him.

Has anyone here been through this?

I'd love to hear wat happened to others, and whether anything came out of it?

I feel sorry for my bud though. This was the first time he tried to buy anything off the net...

Thats gotta hurt.

[justin911]

my sisters friend got a car for like $5k once... the idiot who sold it wound back the km's.. but left the servicing book in the glovebox which showed it was wound back

anyways cops didnt give a stuff... like the other guys said.. they said its a civil matter and would need to goto civil court..

[justin911]

also im not saying this is wat your friend did cause im sure his story is 100% legit,

but in general... say u send me something... whats stopping me from recieving it and saying i never recieved it anyways ??

[GuestyR33]

also im not saying this is wat your friend did cause im sure his story is 100% legit,

but in general... say u send me something... whats stopping me from recieving it and saying i never recieved it anyways ??

Thats a good point. I know my mate didn't do that cause he's so upset / furious etc.

As anyone would be. But stuff like that must happen all the time. How do u prove

otherwise.

I think COD is the only way to go? At least its safe.

But even with cod u still cant be sure the right product is in the box

u aint aloud to look.

[justin911]

registered post + insurance is always good.. cause then if its insured for $1000 and you get an empty box.. the post office / sender can work out the finer details of why the box is empty.

[GuestyR33]

registered post + insurance is always good.. cause then if its insured for $1000 and you get an empty box.. the post office / sender can work out the finer details of why the box is empty.

Never used that before. Sounds like a good way. How much is insurance though?

[justin911]

not sure.. for stuff less than $100 tho you get it free when you get registered post...

its a good system though.. cause if the sender chooses not to claim the insurance, then you can tell there obviously trying to be dodgy... and if they do take up the insurance with post office and are dodgy, the post office will tell the cops who will listen to them

Never used that before. Sounds like a good way. How much is insurance though?

[GuestyR33]

still curious if anyone else has been through this?

[R31Nismoid]

its a case of buyer beware.

in this case, sadly your friend was not careful and has been stooged.

Its fraud and what not, but for $1000 you gotta ask yourself is it worth the hassle

[dongypro]

you shouldve asked the seller to do registered post or fedex..

they arrive very quick

but i guess the police cant do anyhthing cuz its done thru forums..

[khunjeng]

not sure.. for stuff less than $100 tho you get it free when you get registered post...

its a good system though.. cause if the sender chooses not to claim the insurance, then you can tell there obviously trying to be dodgy... and if they do take up the insurance with post office and are dodgy, the post office will tell the cops who will listen to them

I always use registered post for stuff say over $100 or stuff that can break...its worth it. BUT...its the seller who will organise it...he could give u a dodgy number...but IMO it is much safer. Another option is to do a COD system through australia post...I used this 3 times now and is by far the best and safest way to send stuff.

effectively the buyer can only get the goods on the delivery..and the seller doesn't need to pay anything if you arrange this correctly as us have the option for the seller to pay for shipping...or the buyer...you can request this for any type of delivery through Australia post - does come at a fee but to might save u $1000!

KJ

[Ronin 09]

stuff does get lost in the post....

i ordered some stuff from a coffee / tea shop in Balaclava (near St Kilda) and had them send it to me in the city.

it took 4 weeks to arrive.

bloody AusPost

[NS2500]

I don't like to admit it, but I've been scammed recently by a poster on SAU - consequently noted on the known scammers list. I'm currently down $400 on some brake calipers.

I contacted my bank (Commonwealth/Netbank) and they said that they can initiate an investigation with the other financial institution and the account holder to hopefully a) get the goods I'm entitled to or b) my money back.

They charge $25 for the service (they're a bank after all) and said it could take up to 6 weeks. As I've only just started the process I haven't got any more info yet but I was surprised that they had such a service.

[NRB]

I contacted my bank (Commonwealth/Netbank) and they said that they can initiate an investigation with the other financial institution and the account holder to hopefully a) get the goods I'm entitled to or b) my money back.

They charge $25 for the service (they're a bank after all) and said it could take up to 6 weeks. As I've only just started the process I haven't got any more info yet but I was surprised that they had such a service.

I once had to do this through an online auction site. I paid the guy by PayPal but he never shipped the goods. PayPal couldn't help me so I went to my bank (Westpac). They recovered my cash and I didn't have to pay a cent.