i am a victim of scam in GUMTREE Uk

Hi Guys. I am so unlucky yesterday. I googled up louis vuitton handbag and found cheap one in gumtree ( I am seeking for used item).

i make a deal and contacted both ( yea it is 2 suspects.) the first one name as carol barnett (sort code 20-11-81, acc number 03565459). from her i did buy 5 bags since it come in package and it cost me around £670. she did give me tracking number ae263911763gb and did contact her through email as well [email protected]. her phone number is 07817221893 and 07974602979.

the other one named as holly roberts. i did pay £190 to her through his account number sortcode 62-30-53, acc number: 00904601. her email address iis [email protected], her phone number is 07790382854

oh please anyone do help me! i did make a report to actionfraud but dont know how long will it takes. i need mental advice for now

Hello, I too have been a victim of the Louis Vuitton bag scam on Gumtree. First occassion on Monday 2nd June 2014, saw an add for a Louis Vuitton Neverfull bag for the price of 170 pounds, the sale inlcuded dust bag and original purchase receipt, all of which was displayed in the photographs. The ad stated the bag was for sale in Bewdley near Kidderminster, but when I contacted the seller Holly Roberts, she said she was actually located ,in Wakefield and I could go to look at the bag that evening as she was off to Glasgow the following day. I suggested she was too far away, but she 'kindly' offered to post the bag if I were to transfer the money to her bank account. So she gave me her banking details Holly Roberts, account number 00904601 sort code 62-30-53, which after searching on Google is a Natwest bank account in London. Payment was promply made inlcuding the postage cost of top. And since then I have not received bag or heard anything. The ad has been removed from Gumtree, and the mobile phone number of 07790382854 will go straight to answer phone. I still have the history of texts on my phone.

The second scam was the following day, Louis Vuitton Speedy 30 bag advertised for 110 pounds by a Carol Barnett, phone number 07974602979. She advertised five Louis Vuitton bags for sale, but I was only interested in the one. Exactly the same scenario as before, the bag was advertised in Bristol City Centre, but when I contacted her it was actually for sale somewhere up north. She promised to post if I made a bank transfer to her account number 03565459 sort code 20-11-51. Again I have done a Google search on the bank details and this is a Barclays bank account in Staines, London.

The stupid thing is, I did have a pang of doubt with this ad, for the simple reason that each time the individual bags were photographed, the person holding the bag had a different set of false nails! I know this may sound silly, but at the time I did think why would you change your manicure so often, generally if you are selling a job lot of items you tend to photograph them on the same day, as the back ground in the photographs were the same. Also, the background showed quite a plush residence, this made me think she had quite a nice lifestyle, diminishing any doubt of a scam. So maybe the bags were photographed by several people,meaning the scam involves a group, or photographed over a period of time and scam has been going on for a while.

Anyway, again no bag. Can anyone out there help, the thing is these people also have some of my personal details like address and telephone number.

Hi ruby.

We encounter the same person!! This u make report to actionfraud?

Carol barnett does send me the parcel but it only the dustbag!!! Not the handbag.

She place her address as 13 kingsway durham darlington dl13ey.

I am very unlucky dealing with those bullshit.

Anyone working with barclay or natwest??? Perhaps thats the only way to trace them down

Welcome to Scamwarners Jiayu and RUBYVALENTINE and I'm sorry to hear that you've both lost money to people who appear to be scammers.

Firstly I have to mention that all online ad sites do have adverts posted by scammers and Gumtree post this warning

"Meet face to face - don't send money (even a deposit) for something you haven't seen"

I've been working on Autotrader UK and I post details of about 100 fraudulent adverts daily and a lot of people have lost money to them and very few victims have got their money back.

I have heard of victims of scammers on ebay getting their money back, because they operate there too, but personally I would never use any online ad site from what I have seen.

The fact that you know the person's bank details won't be much help as the bank won't identify the person involved and to them and the police they'll consider it a civil matter rather than a criminal case.

Buying high value branded items from an online ad site is very risky and I suspect that the best you could expect is to receive a counterfeit product but, as you've discovered, unless you only pay after you've inspected the product, it's quite simple for a person just to pocket your cash.

I'm trying hard to warn people about the risks of using online ad sites, even for buying something as valuable as a car, because most people don't understand how unprotected they are if they've been dealing with a scammer.