Scam / Ripped Off - Some help

[Adam Kindness]

Not via this site, but I've been scammed buying a MTB via PinkBike. Long and short of it is my own fault for being too trusting... and not doing the checks before sending money... and bank transferring the cash! £900 so not a massive amount but enough to piss me off.

The advert - http://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/2124377/

Friday 10th Feb - After a few msgs and then emails I sent the money and he promptly fell off the face of the earth.

He gave his full name and address, but these are prob not real.

Joseph / Joe Mitchinson - [e-mail]

293 ormskirk road
Wn59dn
Greater Manchester

His bank account details

Barclays Bank

Account number 90639389
Sort code 20 25 95

I also have some headers from email but nothing pointing to aliases.

• ********************************************************************

I've since done a bit of digging on the bike (should have done this first eh!) and spoke to the guy who built it, and got the contact details for the owner who had not long sold it. Described the advert and low and behold it sounds like someone has just lifted the previous owners advert.

Can anyone help trace this clown? I'm going to speak to the bank to try and retract the payment but not holding out much hope of that. Can anyone trace the account holders name/details from the acc/sort code?

Involving the police - I guess i'll need to really, but any advice on who/where? I'm out in NZ just now so cant nip in past the local station LOL

pic of the add in case it disapears.

[Adam Kindness]

found this on ebay

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Santa-Cruz-Heckler-650b-...

[matrignano]

I'm always wary when the sort code shows the bank's branch is far away from the account holder!
Leicester vs. Greater Manchester

[Shug89]

When a deal seems to good to be true.............

Buying a mtb unseen over the internet seems odd to me

[Adam Kindness]

I'm working out in NZ just now so viewing wasnt practical. I wanted a bike for when i arrived... my last one was stolen!



Cant make this st up LOL

I buy plenty unseen. Dont always have the time to look at everything. Ad seemed legit, and price not far off what i;d have considered ok.


Email headers (i'm the trackscotland accout, and IP in singapore i think)

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From: joe mitchinson <[e-mail]>
To: "[e-mail]" <[e-mail]>

[xxChrisxx]

matrignano said:

I'm always wary when the sort code shows the bank's branch is far away from the account holder!
Leicester vs. Greater Manchester

Why would that matter? Where the account it held (ie opened) is rarely going to relate to where people currently live, as people move.

The account details don't change when you update addresss.

Do you really panic when its an online account, so has a super abstract sort code?

[R8Steve]

Did you have a phone number for them Adam?

[Adam Kindness]

sadly, no.

He replied with his contact details name/address and I missed the glaring omission of a phone number before asking the wife to make the payment.

He's actually just been back in touch on pinkbike to say that the bike will be with me today. I'm calling BS after speaking with the orig builder of bike and previous owner.

I've asked again for a number.. and for tracking details for the 5th time.

[Shug89]

In all honesty Adam, thats pretty crappy. If i see the bike around any trails i'll sure be asking some questions!

[MDMA .]

advert shows location as Rochdale, he is in Wigan ( not far from me ) yet bank account is in Leicester.

I smell a rat. can check the house if needed one day later in the week. I doubt Joe will live there

[essIII]

Shug89 said:

In all honesty Adam, thats pretty crappy. If i see the bike around any trails i'll sure be asking some questions!

Except if this is a scam, the fella who has the bike will have no idea that all this is going on. He'll have bought the bike from a genuine advert some time ago (that eBay auction that adam shared?), and now someone else is reusing that advert.

[Gareth79]

I doubt anyone would be able to give you the account holder's details from the number/sort code, but the bank might be able to confirm that the name/address matches. In fact one time I paid some money into an account over the counter and gave them the all the details and asked them to check that the name and address matches the account number - and they did.

Obviously that still leaves you with a problem - you'd either need to get the police interested or sue the person.

[Adam Kindness]

Yup, the orig/first owner of the bike was in Rochdale, and thats his advert.

[Gareth79]

MDMA . said:

advert shows location as Rochdale, he is in Wigan ( not far from me ) yet bank account is in Leicester.

I smell a rat. can check the house if needed one day later in the week. I doubt Joe will live there

It's a Barclays Direct sort code - mine is 20 25 25 and comes up as Direct/Leicester purely because I applied for it online.

[Adam Kindness]

essIII said:

Except if this is a scam, the fella who has the bike will have no idea that all this is going on. He'll have bought the bike from a genuine advert some time ago (that eBay auction that adam shared?), and now someone else is reusing that advert.

I have the new owners name (Alex ..... )... according the the orig owner/seller. I'm still waiting to hear back if that EBAY ad that I posted was the orig seller or another scam ad. If a scam it'll give a bit more info. Looking back on the EBAY user ID for the seller though it looks to be the orig sellers add.

[Adam Kindness]

Confirmation that the EBAY advert i linked is the ORIGINAL sale advert. The real one.

[R8Steve]

I've just contacted him about it asking to buy it...if he offers to sell it to me or asks me to send him money then you will have your answer.

It does mention collection preferred so will see what is said if i offer to collect.

Phone numbers are usually helpful with whatsapp/facebook/etc as they usually unwillingly link back to the person unless they are really switched on and using a burner phone for their scams.

Hope it all works out for you.

[SixPotBelly]

Feel sorry for you, OP

Assuming it's a scam, the guy would have needed to give ID when opening the account so the bank ought to know who he is. They probably wouldn't tell you but they might tell the police if they asked (or if they required to do so by a court). *If* you can get the police to tell you, then you can pursue him by submitting a Small Claim to the County Court. Even then you might need bailiffs to collect it, if they can find him and if he has any assets. So not straightforward and no guarantee of success, but in your shoes I would definitely try. (And if he was prosecuted for deception as well that wouldn't that be a bonus.)

[TwistingMyMelon]

Contact Barclays Fraud department , the Barclays account could be a account of someones whos is hacked and they don't know about it

Or it could be the scammers if he is really stupid

Address could be just made up

[Adam Kindness]

tried barclays fraud - 20mins on hold. Hung up....

RBS fraud - .... waiting