Vw t25 camper [email protected]

There are people considering looking in to this on the Legal Beagles Forum but, I hate to have to say this, and I do so to try to help, but I do feel very strongly that it is likely to be wasted effort and money and the last thing a victim needs is to lose anything more - in the way of dignity or money.

I own up to having spent all my working life in banking, but I think you'll note that I am critical of UK banks over this and I speak how I see it. I'll also add that I have no formal legal training but the banks have the situation nicely sewn up. The ridiculous situation is that the only party you can take take on without engaging a lawyer is your own bank who do owe you a duty to attempt to get your money back. That is not only unlikely to get you far, but if you pushed it too far, they could close your account - thus meaning that the criminal gets your money and you get your account closed. You couldn't make it up.

Believe me - your MP is your best option, and the only one that will make banks take notice, and it costs you nowt. Stella Creasey is also a Labour MP with special interest in banking matters. She'd be an option to consider.

I'd be happy to assist but I tend to come and go through health issues, but with enough kicks to the backside I can provide some powerful arguments and background to what's going on and why it shouldn't be happening. If all victims get in touch with their MP's it will achieve more than any solicitor.

Twice my MP has intervened on my behalf and I'm an absolute nobody, but I argue well and my MP's a QC.

I don't want to be 'leader of the gang' but I will add my knowledge and skills for a group political assault, and contacting your MP is easy peasy.

For another victim I've spent the last couple of days tracking one group and the number of ads they've been posting is frightening. The methods they've used are quite weird but I see what they've been doing. I must have between 30 and 50 car profiles they've used in scams ads, and that adds up to big money.

If you watched Watchdog last night on BBC you may have noticed another problem cropping up with a PayDay loan company and this may involve the same scammers making use of the same defect in UK banking procedures.
It might be a good time to raise the issue with them too.

Maybe I'm dreaming, but if every victim contacted their MP's it could become another PPI issue. Victims just need to form a snowball and get it rolling.

Thank you for all your helpful advice Terrance, I'll get cracking on writing to my MP then.

Even if I don't get my money back, which I hold out very little hope in getting back, I won't be satisfied until I've done all I can to try.

You're right, if enough people make their voices heard, then the authorities might actually step up and take some action... I can dream anyway!

I'm contemplating phoning up one of these no win, no fee solicitors to see what they can do for me. Probably not their usual kind of case but maybe worth a try to get some compensation out of the bank...

Just be cautious dealing with his type of solicitor. A long time ago I contacted one and it all seemed to be based on me signing an insurance policy that wouldn't cost me anything - so I was told. I'm not exceptionally clever or particularly stupid either and, being unable to understand how it worked, I decided to drop the idea. He seemed more interested in selling me an incomprehensible insurance policy for which I could see no reason or purpose.

The more he explained it, the dafter it sounded and I was happy to walk away from something I didn't understand. There's no harm trying, but be cautious.

Give me a day or two and I'll pm you a very reasonable and well argued case with evidence and links that you can consider using if you wish. You don't have to use it, and you may alter it any way you want, but it'll give you some ideas.

Even if all bank account opening procedures are followed by a bank when opening these scam accounts, though I am very sceptical as to whether this is happening to judge by current volumes of accounts being uncovered, it doesn't make it alright that banks hold these accounts, and any bank that believes this to be so is very misguided. Apart from anything else, because of the potential for staff and the bank to be prosecuted, these accounts represent a high risk because banks' statutory money laundering obligations don't end with completion of account opening procedures.

http://www.modernghana.com/movie/17758/3/fraudhow-two-nigerians-opened-752-bank-accounts-in.html

If one story illustrates what a mess UK money laundering processes are in, this is it, but other examples aren't difficult to find and this is using the laxity of money laundering procedures to pillage government benefits. If anyone believes that victims are stupid, then the government must fall in to the same category.

I honestly cannot comprehend how this scammer managed this on a practical basis, but considering that you can make yourself a millionaire this way, it's no wonder that the UK has become the world hub for this type of fraud.

The types of fraud enabled through being able to open fraudulent bank accounts is unlimited - from benefit fraud to the scam sales of cars, and other frauds involve the sale of scam agricultural and construction equipment as well as the famous Australian holiday fraud and frauds against local government, and the one thing they have in common is that the funds were/are being routed through fraudulently opened UK bank accounts. The situation is extraordinary.

Thanks Terrance, that is very kind of you to offer to compile a case for me. I would actually like to take up that offer as you are very knowledgable on the subject!

It is a very busy time for me at the moment as we're in the middle of a house move so haven't really had much of a chance to write all these letters I've been meaning to write, hopefully in the next few weeks I can concentrate of fighting my case a bit more. It is now clear that the funds of the account have been emptied so if I was to get any money back, it would be through some compensation or insurance with Barclays. I don't hold out uch hope in being able to get this back however I'd like to do all I can to get these frausters caught.

My email address is [email protected] if you'd like to get in touch. (not sure if I should give out email addresses on here) but done now...

From what I've seen the banks are treating victims with disdain and little less than contempt. Banks are very well used to fobbing off complaints and dealing with legal action which they can afford to bog down until it runs out of money.

The political avenue may not give you a direct means to get your money back, but MP's have to listen, and will listen if all victims make the cost free effort to contact them, and banks get twitchy when MP's are looking in to customer complaints.

Any bank will have accounts used in fraud, and you can't beat a bank up over isolated occurrences, but to have criminal organisations using certain banks as facilitators is nothing short of an outrage and well outside the letter and spirit of money laundering legislation.

Any approach to an MP has to be based on the victim's personal experience but with background information evidencing the scale and scope of the fraud, which simply shouldn't be taking place. Add to that the risks that this poses to the economy, businesses and the ordinary UK citizen, it shows that your loss is part of a much greater problem that must be addressed by the government, and copies of the banks' replies to victims can show their complete inability to deal with the problem. The fact that it is also affecting victims in Australia and Eastern Europe is just ludicrous.

I'm not joking when I state that 419 scammers in Nigeria can't get accounts with Nigerian banks, but UK banks are now a push over. I can't express how extraordinary this is to someone who used to work in UK banking.

I'm working on the wording as I'm tracking and chasing other ad scammers. It may help if I can show the number of ads produced by just one scam group and, you have to ask why I can track and chase them down, and the UK authorities can't - and all this money goes abroad, spent on drugs and financing crime and terrorist activities, and that's one thing the police do recognise, that funds generated by fraud finances terrorism, drugs and people trafficking among other criminal activities.

Yes you're right I will need to approach the MP with those points in mind.

I does seem ridiculous that the authorities aren't able to (or choose not to) track them down as you are able to. Shame you're retired- I think it would have been your ideal type of career!

You can't see everything I do, or what a lot of other members do, but in another part of the forum I am running through a scammer's whole script by baiting him. At the prompting of another victim from Legal beagles I'm tracking down the scams ads from another (or the same) scammer, and I've turned up 30 so far that have been running since 2006. As well as that, another member here spotted scam ads being posted on Auto trader which has led me to a scammer who has hacked a garage's identity and has posted about 10 fake adverts that are currently there.

The problem is that you are not alone and the scale of the problem isn't recognised, by anyone but the victims. If I appear obsessive, it's the only way I can do the research.

This news item caught my eye today.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24285885

Concern over closure of ethnic minority accounts

The problem is that UK banks haven't been strict enough over the accounts they hold. Banks only care about the colour of your money. It's ridiculous to attempt to turn it into a race issue and I responded to the article as they asked for comments.

I'm working on some wording for MP's which will require any victim to preface with their own experience. They have to see your loss as part of a greater problem, and one that affects many people and also businesses. I actually phoned the garage whose identity was being used today and they didn't seem to understand that they would be losing business and their reputation through the scammer's activities. Governments are there to protect citizens, businesses and the economy. If not they don't deserve to be the government.

Let me add that the people posting ads on these sites are traceable because they must be using cards, Paypal or bank accounts. Maybe they're using stolen details but it wouldn't be too hard to shut down all those involved in fraud.

The most astonishing thing is that this is an international forum and yet this appears to be a uniquely British problem. It's nice to know we lead the world at something - but it's a shame it's fraud.

http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=58509&p=177479#p177479

This is getting out of control. Now the same car is being advertised by imposters using the identities of different dealers at the same time.

Someone needs to get a grip. I've saved copies of both adverts.

Based on a lead from an SW member you'll note from this thread

http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=58509&start=60

... that I was able to locate and turn up between 30 and 50 scam adverts posted on Autotrader over the past few days. This isn't the first time it's happened and, for another victim, I managed to turn up the details of 30 scam ads that had been posted in the past that I believe was targeting another ad site.

It takes a lot of time and effort, but it's worth it to get a feeling for the scale of fraud taking place and learning how they operate. It also enables me to turn up identifying features that means that I can link them together as being part of a major organised criminal operation.

It's amazing that major organised crime can operate with the tacit complicity of the authorities who don't want to admit that criminals are abusing the banking system by being so easily able to open fraudulent bank accounts.

If anyone thinks this problem only affects people who make the mistake of falling for scams, that's a mistake, as the criminals will use fraudulent accounts for any crime - from drug money laundering to funding terrorist organisations, and the authorities do recognise this.

The 'blitz' approach, of loading one ad site with scam frauds in a short period, is interesting and it's like fishing with sticks of dynamite because they'll pick up every buyer looking for a bargain on that site over a short period of time. They don't want to mess about with one scam ad, which is like using a fishing line and hoping to get the odd victim. They want high volumes.

That's great that you're managing to do all this research and find evidence for more scams.

It is unbelievable the immense scale of it all.

I've written another letter back to Barclays saying that are failing to address the problem etc and that I will now write to the MP and contact the financial ombudsman for further help on the matter.

We'll see what comes of it.

http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=47114&start=90

In this thread I've detailed my dealings with another 'maggot' (my word for these scammers) and today he's finally come up with a Spanish bank account for me to use, that I'll report. They purposely make the process long winded to discourage people like me, but I hope to be able to take them on in bulk in time, but I have a tendency to overload myself with tasks, which is why I never do things within expected time limits.

The most important thing is that anyone who spots a scam advert should report it here, then I can track down any other adverts, and the 'blitz' ads are easy to identify and then I can post them up to act as a warning for anyone who performs a Google search.

As I do this I'm picking up common identifying features. it's unlikely to help me trace the criminals, but it enables me to claim that there is an organised criminal gang behind this. The criminals can change identities every day, but some things they can't change. That's important because it makes it a matter for SOCA, rather than Action Fraud. SOCA deal with major organised crime and carry much greater clout.

More reports from other victims here:

http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!msg/webmasters/0sbfeFPkrqg/F2Yd1sHtFuAJ

Acting together victims can make a difference. Just by making it harder for criminals to use UK bank accounts will reduce the effectiveness of their frauds significantly. They won't go away and they won't stop, but it shouldn't be made so easy for them.

Autotrader have removed the maggot's fake adverts and the maggot's gone back and posted new ones, so I've posted up the new details.

Good work Terrance- you're doing a great job tracking all these scams.

I have reported one more incident to Action Fraud and Barclays. Pretty much an exact scam to what I fell for. Camper van on Gumtree, a mobile number to contact which ultimately lead to a fake eBay site and a account for Barclays in London. My Dad posed as a potential buyer, which lead him on to them giving him details to make a payment trasaction. At first this 'Evelyn' gave him an account in the Czech Republic and then a Barclays account when he said he couldn't pay into a foreign account as he wasn't protected. We immediately reported tham at that point.

still another ad VW EARLY BAY T2 1969 DORMOBILE CAMPER VAN in Dorking Surrey and the following email:

Evelyn <[email protected]>

I had some troubles with the fees payment and I had to end the ad. I spoke with eBay and we still have their support if you agree to proceed. Its still for sale.
Fees were finally paid which make us eligible to proceed. Due to my location and since view is not an option I have requested personal support and I was approved to use Buyer Protection Program. Here is how the process works:

- you give me your full name and shipping address
- I start the transaction with the eBay,
- they send further payment instructions,
- you have to pay for the item to eBay to secure the funds,
- they confirm me that they received the funds,
- I deliver the camper,
- you receive the camper,
- they send me the money.

Everything is covered by eBay. I will get paid only after you confirm that you received the camper in good order.
Let me know if this is acceptable. Thank you

Evelyn

On Mon, Sep 30, 2013 at 7:54 PM,

Added quotation. (BW)

If you bait scammers for info, as I do theresa1983, it's best to follow simple precautions you can pick up at 419eater.com. No technology or special skills required, just some common sense precautions to take.

You did better than I did in getting more than one account. The benefit is that if they know that not all buyers are genuine it'll make them put potential victims through more hoops which will make it less likely they'll be successful and give buyers more reason to be suspicious.

The scammers currently targeting Autotrader use some common identifying features and I'd like to check if there are other groups with different characteristics. I can't detail the features in the open otherwise they'll know what to change. Even if I can't trace them, it's useful to be able to separate them in to different identifiable groups. They've previously targeted Piston Heads, another ad site, using the same 'blitz' tactics.

I've picked up a suspicious ebay seller who also uses Gumtree but that's likely a lone individual but I need to watch his transactions more closely.

From ebay

Don’t be fooled by ads or sellers who ask for down-payments to 'reserve' an item (particularly cars) – fraudsters have no intention of returning your down-payment

I'll keep an eye on him as he asks for down payments.

I've found my Holy Grail - someone operating multiple ebay accounts to sell vehicles with dummy auctions and dummy transactions between accounts as well as adverts on Gumtree. I know he has at least 4 ebay accounts and probably more but collecting sufficient evidence will take a lot of work. You can operate multiple accounts, but not doing what he's doing. He's breaking the rules with other things he's doing and I'm surprised he's not been tagged before now. He even managed to get some adverse comments scrubbed, I believe on the basis of his other positive feedback, but that's his own feedback from what I can see.

Once I have a picture of his set up then I'll start making some purchases to see how he's operating.