Most money you've been scammed out of?
Discussion
I lost £1500 in quite an elaborate fraud on eBay in 2008. I had just started out in business and that amount was approx of my profits to that date. It was gut wrenching
I wrote it off and went about my business. With a bit of luck, managed to avoid a £3400 fraud on eBay again. I didn't say much to the guy, was just relieved not to lose the money.
Then 2015, lost £12500 to a gangster in Naples. That was 10% of the deal size. I could easily have lost 125k but was told by a friend what this gangster is really like and made my excuses and lost just the deposit.
Over to you. What have you been scammed out of?
For me, it's a case of living and learning. I could have given up business in 2008 but plodded along and made a better life for myself out of it.
I wrote it off and went about my business. With a bit of luck, managed to avoid a £3400 fraud on eBay again. I didn't say much to the guy, was just relieved not to lose the money.
Then 2015, lost £12500 to a gangster in Naples. That was 10% of the deal size. I could easily have lost 125k but was told by a friend what this gangster is really like and made my excuses and lost just the deposit.
Over to you. What have you been scammed out of?
For me, it's a case of living and learning. I could have given up business in 2008 but plodded along and made a better life for myself out of it.
Spare tyre said:
Not in the same league as the above but I’ve purchased a few iffy motors where stuff has been covered up, concealed etc. Buyer beware I guess
My 2nd Fiat Coupe 20VT was like that, trader selling from home, washing car as I arrived, talking to me to distract me when I was about to spot something bad etc. I laughed about it but it cost me nearly £3k as I ended up selling the car for spares/repair less than 6mths later.
In business I'm probably over cautious/cynical, it's stopped me from getting scammed much but I bet it's cost me more in lost opportunities over the years.
Not me, but my brother.
You've got to think back to an era before ATM machines for this one.
We ran a business together in Ilford. One morning I got into work and found him sorting out the float in the till. There was a bunch of car keys on the counter. When I asked him what they were, he said a guy had come in and told him his van had stopped round the corner and he needed a new battery. The problem was that he didn't have any cash, so could my brother lend him £25 until the banks opened. Here's the keys, he said, I can't go anywhere any way.
I asked my brother if he realised he had just bought a set of car keys from the breakers yard for £25.
You've got to think back to an era before ATM machines for this one.
We ran a business together in Ilford. One morning I got into work and found him sorting out the float in the till. There was a bunch of car keys on the counter. When I asked him what they were, he said a guy had come in and told him his van had stopped round the corner and he needed a new battery. The problem was that he didn't have any cash, so could my brother lend him £25 until the banks opened. Here's the keys, he said, I can't go anywhere any way.
I asked my brother if he realised he had just bought a set of car keys from the breakers yard for £25.
Roofless Toothless said:
Not me, but my brother.
You've got to think back to an era before ATM machines for this one.
We ran a business together in Ilford. One morning I got into work and found him sorting out the float in the till. There was a bunch of car keys on the counter. When I asked him what they were, he said a guy had come in and told him his van had stopped round the corner and he needed a new battery. The problem was that he didn't have any cash, so could my brother lend him £25 until the banks opened. Here's the keys, he said, I can't go anywhere any way.
I asked my brother if he realised he had just bought a set of car keys from the breakers yard for £25.
So this was before 1968 and car batteries were £25? You've got to think back to an era before ATM machines for this one.
We ran a business together in Ilford. One morning I got into work and found him sorting out the float in the till. There was a bunch of car keys on the counter. When I asked him what they were, he said a guy had come in and told him his van had stopped round the corner and he needed a new battery. The problem was that he didn't have any cash, so could my brother lend him £25 until the banks opened. Here's the keys, he said, I can't go anywhere any way.
I asked my brother if he realised he had just bought a set of car keys from the breakers yard for £25.
Back in the early 90's I was a long way down the line with a house purchase, in SW Scotland.
I had paid the deposit to the solicitor, around £15k.
I received a letter telling me the money had gone missing, it turned out one of the partners had been embezzling.
Apart from losing the money, the letter stated that I had no comeback and I would have to stump up another £15k, FFS!
I told the solicitors, in no uncertain terms what a bunch of lying
s they were.
Funnily enough, a couple of days later, I received another letter, informing me that I didn't have to repay the money, and I was, in fact, covered by the law society guarantee, or something.
It was quite an infamous case, the partner, from Newton Stewart, ended up doing time!
I still don't trust solicitors any further than I could kick their flabby arses down the gutter, utter scum!
I had paid the deposit to the solicitor, around £15k.
I received a letter telling me the money had gone missing, it turned out one of the partners had been embezzling.
Apart from losing the money, the letter stated that I had no comeback and I would have to stump up another £15k, FFS!
I told the solicitors, in no uncertain terms what a bunch of lying
s they were.Funnily enough, a couple of days later, I received another letter, informing me that I didn't have to repay the money, and I was, in fact, covered by the law society guarantee, or something.
It was quite an infamous case, the partner, from Newton Stewart, ended up doing time!
I still don't trust solicitors any further than I could kick their flabby arses down the gutter, utter scum!
£10,000 twice.
First to a brother in law who had been unemployed for years, got a job that needed a car to get to work, lent him £10000 for a car, he bought a £5000 car that was a load of crap and he spent the rest on hi fi. He made one repayment and then said I am not going to pay it back.
Second time a friend needed some cash flow to keep his business going, lent him £10000 into the business, after one month he took it out for himself, went to Court and I won, but he had no money and went bankrupt.
Never ever lend money unless you dont expect to get it back
First to a brother in law who had been unemployed for years, got a job that needed a car to get to work, lent him £10000 for a car, he bought a £5000 car that was a load of crap and he spent the rest on hi fi. He made one repayment and then said I am not going to pay it back.
Second time a friend needed some cash flow to keep his business going, lent him £10000 into the business, after one month he took it out for himself, went to Court and I won, but he had no money and went bankrupt.
Never ever lend money unless you dont expect to get it back
Robbo 27 said:
£10,000 twice.
First to a brother in law who had been unemployed for years, got a job that needed a car to get to work, lent him £10000 for a car, he bought a £5000 car that was a load of crap and he spent the rest on hi fi. He made one repayment and then said I am not going to pay it back.
Second time a friend needed some cash flow to keep his business going, lent him £10000 into the business, after one month he took it out for himself, went to Court and I won, but he had no money and went bankrupt.
Never ever lend money unless you dont expect to get it back
Fool me once...First to a brother in law who had been unemployed for years, got a job that needed a car to get to work, lent him £10000 for a car, he bought a £5000 car that was a load of crap and he spent the rest on hi fi. He made one repayment and then said I am not going to pay it back.
Second time a friend needed some cash flow to keep his business going, lent him £10000 into the business, after one month he took it out for himself, went to Court and I won, but he had no money and went bankrupt.
Never ever lend money unless you dont expect to get it back
Oh I forgot I got stung a few weeks back
Paid for a car at a dealer, the price had an extra xx on the top at paying time for 12 months tax, ok not a prob saves me a job
Sat at home a couple of weeks later, looking at my car app. Turn out they’d charged me for 12 and put 6 on it.
I went flipping potty at them the following day. They sorted it but that was the start of me unearthing lots of lies from them, some really shocking. Do that a couple of times a week and it’s a nice Christmas party fund.
This was a main dealer a few weeks back, but naming and shaming is not allowed
Paid for a car at a dealer, the price had an extra xx on the top at paying time for 12 months tax, ok not a prob saves me a job
Sat at home a couple of weeks later, looking at my car app. Turn out they’d charged me for 12 and put 6 on it.
I went flipping potty at them the following day. They sorted it but that was the start of me unearthing lots of lies from them, some really shocking. Do that a couple of times a week and it’s a nice Christmas party fund.
This was a main dealer a few weeks back, but naming and shaming is not allowed
I lost £90 on a motorbike forum to someone that was going to send me some fairing panels, but then didn't. Unfortunately gave him the benefit of the doubt and by the time I tried to claim it back it was too late.
I get the feeling it wasn't a straight up scam, but more of an opportunity thing.
The member was a regular on that forum until they disappeared shortly after scamming me.
Another time I was scammed £40 on gumtree for a computer CPU that didn't work. I ended up selling the broken cpu along with the cooler for spares or repairs for £20. I also messaged the buyer to make damn sure they knew it didn't work to make sure they knew what they were buying. They must have just been after the cooler I guess.
She wasn't going to tell me straight away but then revealed that she had done this. She was under the impression that there was an interest free peroid on the loan (there wasn't, but the principal was a couple grand lower to compensate for this interest free period).
Truth is it didn't even compensate for the full "interest free period" , but I guess they bet on people not knowing how to do maths or use excel.
Unfortunately my mum always trusts "the professional" over her own family with her own interests at heart, and she wouldn't listen to me at first. It took me hours of convincing to cancel.
She ended up getting the same job done for £7k cash. Thing is she has had some emergency money struggles after this, and had she not gone down this route, I think she would have been in big trouble financially.
I get the feeling it wasn't a straight up scam, but more of an opportunity thing.
The member was a regular on that forum until they disappeared shortly after scamming me.
Another time I was scammed £40 on gumtree for a computer CPU that didn't work. I ended up selling the broken cpu along with the cooler for spares or repairs for £20. I also messaged the buyer to make damn sure they knew it didn't work to make sure they knew what they were buying. They must have just been after the cooler I guess.
LosingGrip said:
Not scammed as such, but dealership added a load of extra (£1,500 or so!) onto my finance agreement and lied saying it's the same price with and without.
Got it sorted within a week so didn't actually lose any money.
This is a common thing it seems with finance pushing it as the same price or "cheaper" than if you buy it outright. A very well known conservatory, roofing etc company (Something to do with a mountain) pulled something similar with my mum shortly after my dad died. My mum signed up to spend £21k on a conservatory roof on finance at 20% interest.Got it sorted within a week so didn't actually lose any money.
She wasn't going to tell me straight away but then revealed that she had done this. She was under the impression that there was an interest free peroid on the loan (there wasn't, but the principal was a couple grand lower to compensate for this interest free period).
Truth is it didn't even compensate for the full "interest free period" , but I guess they bet on people not knowing how to do maths or use excel.
Unfortunately my mum always trusts "the professional" over her own family with her own interests at heart, and she wouldn't listen to me at first. It took me hours of convincing to cancel.
She ended up getting the same job done for £7k cash. Thing is she has had some emergency money struggles after this, and had she not gone down this route, I think she would have been in big trouble financially.
Edited by bluezedd on Sunday 1st September 17:01
£100 in the early days of eBay buying an old phone. Seller gave me a £5 discount if I paid via via bank transfer to avoid eBay fees. Obvs never saw the phone or money again. Still annoys me to this day because I’m usually super careful with my hard earned and not usually that
stupid. It was only £100 but still.
stupid. It was only £100 but still.
MrJuice said:
I lost £1500 in quite an elaborate fraud on eBay in 2008. I had just started out in business and that amount was approx of my profits to that date. It was gut wrenching
I wrote it off and went about my business. With a bit of luck, managed to avoid a £3400 fraud on eBay again. I didn't say much to the guy, was just relieved not to lose the money.
Then 2015, lost £12500 to a gangster in Naples. That was 10% of the deal size. I could easily have lost 125k but was told by a friend what this gangster is really like and made my excuses and lost just the deposit.
Over to you. What have you been scammed out of?
For me, it's a case of living and learning. I could have given up business in 2008 but plodded along and made a better life for myself out of it.
Ok, I'll bite. Tell us more.I wrote it off and went about my business. With a bit of luck, managed to avoid a £3400 fraud on eBay again. I didn't say much to the guy, was just relieved not to lose the money.
Then 2015, lost £12500 to a gangster in Naples. That was 10% of the deal size. I could easily have lost 125k but was told by a friend what this gangster is really like and made my excuses and lost just the deposit.
Over to you. What have you been scammed out of?
For me, it's a case of living and learning. I could have given up business in 2008 but plodded along and made a better life for myself out of it.
almost lost £3k via my bathroom fitters email account having been hacked. Got some very genuine looking emails from 'him' that were asking for money up front. I refused to pay that, but when the job was done `I got an email asking me to pay the amount to a certain account. Which I did. This was done on good Friday. On the Saturday the fitter texted asking to be paid, at which point the flag went up. Managed to get hold of the banks fraud team, and thankfully they put a stop on the account without the money having been moved. - Luckily I hadn't informed the fraudster that I had paid. Got all my money back eventually but it was a worrying time. Fitter was paid after I got the money back and told to sort out his email security.
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