Has my brother in law been scammed?
Discussion
Brother in law is into mountain biking. He rides with a group of friends, one of whom owns a MTB shop. About 5 weeks ago he orders a bike frame from said shop owner friend at cost price, £2100 (best price elsewhere is £2400 + import duties, so it's a good deal), paid half bank transfer, half Paypal gift. Was told 5-7 days to fulfill order.
Since then the following bad luck has allegedly befell the shop owner:
1) Got Covid (during which time bike frame was delivered to shop next door)
2) Told he couldn't collect from shop next door because the owner was away (who had the keys to the store room)
3) Son ill in hospital for a week
4) Lost keys to the shop
5) Locksmith unwilling to drill the locks as he didn't carry replacements
6) Got a large abcess and facial infection
7) Had abcess removed, now worried about re-infection so doesn't want to go out
There were probably a couple of other "mishaps" i've forgotten about
Another member of the bike group also has an outstanding order unfulfilled so it's not isolated.
In my view there are three options:
a) Shop owner has genuinely had a run of bad luck
b) Shop owner has cashflow problems but fully intends on fulfilling the order as soon as he can
c) Shop owner has scammed my BIL
Since then the following bad luck has allegedly befell the shop owner:
1) Got Covid (during which time bike frame was delivered to shop next door)
2) Told he couldn't collect from shop next door because the owner was away (who had the keys to the store room)
3) Son ill in hospital for a week
4) Lost keys to the shop
5) Locksmith unwilling to drill the locks as he didn't carry replacements
6) Got a large abcess and facial infection
7) Had abcess removed, now worried about re-infection so doesn't want to go out
There were probably a couple of other "mishaps" i've forgotten about
Another member of the bike group also has an outstanding order unfulfilled so it's not isolated.
In my view there are three options:
a) Shop owner has genuinely had a run of bad luck
b) Shop owner has cashflow problems but fully intends on fulfilling the order as soon as he can
c) Shop owner has scammed my BIL
It all seems pretty scammy, handing over £2100 to be given a load of reasons as to why the product paid for cant be retrieved. Number 5 especially seems a crappy fib for why the frame still cant be collected. Surely a locksmith would either carry cylinders(for convenience and callouts) or get you in the shop and go and collect a replacement?
Facebook gift rings massive alarm bells. No comeback. Any legit business would not accept PayPal gift. I always tell customers not to pay by gift even though it would save me a couple of pounds and send them a proper invoice for goods and services. The bank transfer also rings alarm bells as well.
He was asked to hand over a significant amount of non retrievable cash before getting the goods?
(And did)
Let me think about it.............
Not an expert but Id look him up on Strava ASAP to see if I can get a handle on his home address, stock up on frozen sausages and then politely visit said shop and see if he actually has a job there. Then police
Mr E said:
B) leading to c)
Totally this.The friend wasn't going all out to defraud your brother but was in a very tight corner financially and convinced himself that he could get through the difficulties with a short term 'loan' - which he now cannot repay. He never ordered the frame.
A business, afaik, cant accept a paypal gift.
So he has (prob) personally taken the money on that front.
It also leaves you with no recourse with paypal as they disclaim liability on the gift payments.
So thats dodgey move number 1.
The bank transfer, did that go to his business account? If not, move 2.
Then all the excuses, well thats clearly BS which he has used before. Move 3, check mate.
The fact your bil has gone along with it so long means he is probably far, far down the list of people this guy owes money too.
If he is scamming for 2k at a time had he has done over 10 people... well you are never seeing that money again.
My advice is to get on his case big time about this because the person who makes the most noise is likely to get paid first. If you sit there and do nothing I suspect you will get a text in a few weeks saying the business has had to close and the bank now own the frame (which does not exist) and sorry about that - thats business etc etc...
So he has (prob) personally taken the money on that front.
It also leaves you with no recourse with paypal as they disclaim liability on the gift payments.
So thats dodgey move number 1.
The bank transfer, did that go to his business account? If not, move 2.
Then all the excuses, well thats clearly BS which he has used before. Move 3, check mate.
The fact your bil has gone along with it so long means he is probably far, far down the list of people this guy owes money too.
If he is scamming for 2k at a time had he has done over 10 people... well you are never seeing that money again.
My advice is to get on his case big time about this because the person who makes the most noise is likely to get paid first. If you sit there and do nothing I suspect you will get a text in a few weeks saying the business has had to close and the bank now own the frame (which does not exist) and sorry about that - thats business etc etc...
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