Friend Scammed - next steps?

[Brother D]

I have a friend who was scammed out of a couple of grand. From what he told me the warning lights and claxon would have been blaring from every single interaction, but that's just me being naturally paranoid.

He was looking for some additional staff for his business - he recalls an unsolicited email about how this 'company' has supplied great workers across the industry so speaks with the guy (there was no website for this 'company' - Red flag 1)

They arrange for workers to turn up, but the agent/person wants payment in advance (Huge Red Flag 2)

The payment is to a name different to the person he is speaking/emailing to (I'm running out of flags).

The day the guys are supposed to turn up - don't. The mobile phone (another red flag) only goes to voicemail and emails are not answered.

My friend asks me what he can do - the very first result in google for the name of the person he transferred money to and the industry - returns the name of someone sentenced for fraud in that industry.

So question is, what can he do about it? I said get a crime number, but is it worth going to police in the area he was sentenced before? Or the local police with the information that the guy has done it again?

Being as the only solid evidence is the bank account details and name on the account what else can be done? He doesn't even know the address?

Thanks in advance

[98elise]

Unfortunately the police will class it as a civil matter.

As far as they are concerned your mate has paid for something but not received it yet, even if it screams scam.

[Brother D]

98elise said:

Unfortunately the police will class it as a civil matter.

As far as they are concerned your mate has paid for something but not received it yet, even if it screams scam.

Surely it's still fraud? I mean its been done by a know fraudster? And it's pretty much the exact same scenario they were convicted for a couple of years back.

[sideways sid]

Brother D said:

98elise said:

Unfortunately the police will class it as a civil matter.

As far as they are concerned your mate has paid for something but not received it yet, even if it screams scam.

Surely it's still fraud? I mean its been done by a know fraudster? And it's pretty much the exact same scenario they were convicted for a couple of years back.

Your friend has two choices:
1. put it down to experience, write off the loss, be more diligent with the company's funds in future and move on.
2. decide that running a business is beyond him and get a normal job, leaving somebody else to worry about these kinds of issues.

[Brother D]

sideways sid said:

Brother D said:

98elise said:

Unfortunately the police will class it as a civil matter.

As far as they are concerned your mate has paid for something but not received it yet, even if it screams scam.

Surely it's still fraud? I mean its been done by a know fraudster? And it's pretty much the exact same scenario they were convicted for a couple of years back.

Your friend has two choices:
1. put it down to experience, write off the loss, be more diligent with the company's funds in future and move on.
2. decide that running a business is beyond him and get a normal job, leaving somebody else to worry about these kinds of issues.

So you don't think it's worth pursing in any manner? Not even small claims court?

[Camelot1971]

Brother D said:

So you don't think it's worth pursing in any manner? Not even small claims court?

What are they going to pursue?

It will be a dead email address and dead phone linked to a mail box address or just some random persons one. The money would have gone via a money mule and forwarded on to Nigeria/wherever. The name of the person could be random or picked to make you think it's a known fraudster but could you prove any of it?

I'm sorry to say but your friend is an idiot and shouldn't be running a business if they fall for a simple scam like this.

[Evolved]

Wow. A fool and their money.

I honestly can’t believe he did what he did tbh!

[ShampooEfficient]

Can I have his details? Im being pursued by my dead brother's enemies and have several million pounds I need to smuggle out of the country, he sounds like the perfect person to assist...

[Sheepshanks]

Camelot1971 said:

I'm sorry to say but your friend is an idiot and shouldn't be running a business if they fall for a simple scam like this.

As a salesman I would say company owners and MDs are often remarkably blasé about money - they’re looking at the big picture and don’t drill into details.

Ours is like that and he went some way down the road to parting with $60K on an email scam - it was pretty clever and only rang alarm bells with he started asking if we could handle the 3 ton piece of equipment we were going to be sent on someone else’s behalf.

[98elise]

Brother D said:

98elise said:

Unfortunately the police will class it as a civil matter.

As far as they are concerned your mate has paid for something but not received it yet, even if it screams scam.

Surely it's still fraud? I mean its been done by a know fraudster? And it's pretty much the exact same scenario they were convicted for a couple of years back.

I was conned out of a car when I was younger and less wise. The police would not even record it as a crime, let alone investigate. The person who did it had clearly done it before as he used a loophole in the banking system.

[sideways sid]

Brother D said:

sideways sid said:

Brother D said:

98elise said:

Unfortunately the police will class it as a civil matter.

As far as they are concerned your mate has paid for something but not received it yet, even if it screams scam.

Surely it's still fraud? I mean its been done by a know fraudster? And it's pretty much the exact same scenario they were convicted for a couple of years back.

Your friend has two choices:
1. put it down to experience, write off the loss, be more diligent with the company's funds in future and move on.
2. decide that running a business is beyond him and get a normal job, leaving somebody else to worry about these kinds of issues.

So you don't think it's worth pursing in any manner? Not even small claims court?

You think that a convicted fraudster would obey a small claims court order to repay your friend.

But prior to that stage, your friend would need to win the case, and given that he got himself into this situation, there is a significant possibility that he would lose!

[Brother D]

sideways sid said:

Brother D said:

sideways sid said:

Brother D said:

98elise said:

Unfortunately the police will class it as a civil matter.

As far as they are concerned your mate has paid for something but not received it yet, even if it screams scam.

Surely it's still fraud? I mean its been done by a know fraudster? And it's pretty much the exact same scenario they were convicted for a couple of years back.

Your friend has two choices:
1. put it down to experience, write off the loss, be more diligent with the company's funds in future and move on.
2. decide that running a business is beyond him and get a normal job, leaving somebody else to worry about these kinds of issues.

So you don't think it's worth pursing in any manner? Not even small claims court?

You think that a convicted fraudster would obey a small claims court order to repay your friend.

But prior to that stage, your friend would need to win the case, and given that he got himself into this situation, there is a significant possibility that he would lose!

I mean the other companies scammed by the guy had a successful conviction previously (and the guy ended up doing time for doing something during his suspended sentence). However I expect it probably a repayment of a quid a week no doubt...

Yeah chatting to him this weekend - he's just writing it off to experience (and I think a bit of embarassment)... He's a good guy, just a bit too trusting in people, but hopefully learnt his lesson...

[red_slr]

Brother D said:

he recalls an unsolicited email about how this 'company' has supplied great workers across the industry so speaks with the guy

This is your only real avenue. Start to make enquiries with him again and try and get a bit of info. Think about your script / story each time to try and get a bit more info. Its possible you might be able to track him down. It might take a long time and a lot of fishing though, worth it for a couple of grand?

You could try reverse scamming him..... LOL

[Robertj21a]

98elise said:

I was conned out of a car when I was younger and less wise. The police would not even record it as a crime, let alone investigate. The person who did it had clearly done it before as he used a loophole in the banking system.

Actually a loophole in the banking system - or not being sufficiently careful ?

[Brother D]

red_slr said:

Brother D said:

he recalls an unsolicited email about how this 'company' has supplied great workers across the industry so speaks with the guy

This is your only real avenue. Start to make enquiries with him again and try and get a bit of info. Think about your script / story each time to try and get a bit more info. Its possible you might be able to track him down. It might take a long time and a lot of fishing though, worth it for a couple of grand?

You could try reverse scamming him..... LOL

I mean we know who it is. He has been convicted before of the same scam, my friend got caught out as he thought he was dealing with someone else (burner email and telephone), but the bank transfer went to this guy who has an unusual name, so wasn't hard to track down.