Vw t25 camper [email protected]

[AlanJones]

Can you post the full URL on gumtree-contact.com that you were directed to, so that the site can be reported as fraudulent.

Full URL: http://gumtree-contact.com/gumtree/gumt ... ombi%20Van

Advert has now been removed from gumtree btw.

At this time of year you can be certain that there'll be plenty more fraudulent camper van adverts posted to take its place on every ad site you can mention.

I bet it won't take me long to find one.

Getting them deleted isn't the solution, because it's so easy to post them in the first place. People must learn that they cannot risk buying any vehicle over the internet without viewing it first. I wouldn't buy a car from a main dealer website without viewing it first, so buying one from a simple ad site is amazingly reckless, particularly bearing in mind that hundreds of fraudulent adverts are being posted daily in the UK alone.

There's no point getting a good deal if you risk throwing all your money away. It's better to pay a little more to be certain you're not dealing with a scammer who has no vehicle to sell.

I just got a text message from [email protected] about a 4,000 motorbike....Im sure its the same guy and a scam...can I do anything to try and help catch this Muppet?

lucas, you probably just did the best thing possible by posting about it so others can be alerted.

I was interested in a BMW K1200 GT bike posted on eBay - location Manchester, the ad even had a Manchester phone number associated with it (01614648566) which of course was never answered. Evelyn now claims it's in Scotland etc - just send the money via Paypal. I think I'l pass on this one.
It does make me wonder however, that the person(s) behind this scam, don't change the email address or even the wording of the emails.

Be cautious - never buy a vehicle without seeing it.

Hi fellow victims,
We're a young couple looking for a campervan. We were emailed by Evelyn ( Evelyn <[email protected]> or Ebay name: everlyn4121 or another email given [email protected] ) who offered us a great deal on a camper ( 2006 Ford Transit Jumbo for £3,500) we could not refuse... but said she was after a quick sale so we jumped at the opportunity. Before we paid all our savings across we searched Evelyn Scotland and searched the Campervans plates and couldn't find any errors. Then we received an email from Paypal which looked fine at the time and we processed the payment expecting the Campervan to arrive today. No campervan...

The bank details given to us from the "Paypal" email was:
Bank Name: TSB
Account number: 27937360
Sort code: 30-98-70
Beneficiary Name: K Matan
Bank Account Noted. (BW)

Since reading this we have searched the Bank Account details we transferred the money into which is also a Lloyds Account in Tottenham, Chelmsford Legg ST OSC, 1 Legg Street, Essex, CM1 1JS. Its now 11.25pm Saturday night so the banks are currently closed, in the morning we will call them to try get our money back.

What other steps can we take to get our money back?

Are there any chances we wont be able to get our money back?

ANY HELP WOULD BE APPRICIATED!

@NSanderson

Report it to Action Fraud as soon as possible also. http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/

Welcome to Scamwarners NSanderson.

I'm sorry to have to tell you that it's unlikely that you'll get your money back, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't go through the normal steps of reporting it. I'm afraid that online fraud is rampant and most ad sites are full of fraudulent adverts.

I tend to concentrate on Autotrader UK, and there are people who work on other sites, and it has to be that way simply because of the volume of scam adverts. Until this weekend something like 100 fraudulent adverts are posted daily and the one who has stolen your money has been operating for several years. It's a professional set up and he uses either 'money mules' or fraudulently opened accounts and the money will be moved using an untraceable method the moment you send it. I appreciate that it's devastating for you and it's frustrating for us as I spend many hours flagging up frauds and no action is taken by anyone.

Ad sites and the banking system are both operated so laxly that they are perfect places for fraudsters to exploit the public. Once a criminal persuades a victim to pay money in to a bank account, the money is lost and there are many thousand fraudulently opened bank accounts being used to receive stolen money. It's turned in to a big business.

Sadly, I have also been defrauded by a similar advert for a camper van on Gumtree in February. I have repeatedly told Gumtree when these adverts appear but this morning the same advert that I was conned with as well as several others have been put up with someone with a variation of the name Evelyn. I would not advise anyone to use Gumtree at all until they can spot obvious and repeated frauds.

Welcome to Scamwarners and sorry to hear that you got scammed.

All ad sites are pretty much the same and are awash with scams. I concentrate on Autotrader UK and post details of the car scam ads in another part of this forum and have recently started covering camper vans.

If you don't know what to look out for and how to protect yourself then ad sites aren't safe to use. I wouldn't use them because they aren't the online equivalent of a shop. When you go in to a shop you can compare items as you know they're all equally genuine or not, but ad sites are a mixture of genuine offers and scams, making it impossible to make comparisons and a sensible choice.

If things continue this way the days of ad sites are numbered. Buying from an ad site is more like entering a lottery, except that when you win, you only get what you paid for.

Further to my posting this morning (18.03.14) and having warned Gumtree that there were several adverts for campers by variations of the name Evelyn, I checked again this afternoon and the same adverts and more are now on the site under Camper Vans. They are easy to spot by anyone, so is it difficult for Gumtree to block the poster(s) of the adverts and protect customers? I contacted Action Fraud when we were scammed in February but they appear disinterested and after several weeks just sent me a message thanking me for the information. Gumtree are offering an open and continuous invitation to those defrauding the users of their site. Today I got a customer satisfaction survey from Gumtree ireferring to an email report on fraud I made over a month ago when I could not get through to them on the phone.

Of course the fact is ozcalstock, you aren't telling them anything they don't know already.

Cynically fraud is actually good for business because it ramps up the number of adverts being posted and makes the site look like an Aladdin's Cave of bargains. I don't say that this is a deliberate policy but it does help and reminds me of the days I used to spend school dinner times watching the street traders operating on a local market. Some of them were showmen and, as I wasn't a buyer, i could just watch how it all works as I stood and munched on my sandwiches. The dinner service sellers were my favourite as their act was like being at the circus, but their performance and the great sales patter was all an act, and a good one designed to pull in the buyers.

Stripped of scams ad sites wouldn't look such a good prospect for buyers and, as long as they get advertising revenue, they will only invest a certain level in fraud protection. Fraud only loses them money if it deters advertisers, so it's a case of buyers beware. That's the cold hard truth.

As tough as I am on ad sites, it's also the fact that it's virtually impossible to remove all scams because the scammers invest a lot of time and effort in posting scams, and if you buy without viewing and inspecting a vehicle first, you're really misusing the site. No real seller expects you buy a vehicle without viewing first, but scammers certainly do. The site is really only a shop window.

No ad site is greatly worse than any other and online fraud is an increasing risk. It's regrettable that you, and many others, have discovered this the hard way.

I receiv ed an email this morning from Gumtree saying that they take complaints like the one I made about adverts for camper vans under variations of the name Evelyn very seriously. I checked Gumtree and there are 5 adverts under the same name, including those with the exact details as those that successfully defrauded purchasers in the past.