More than 20 concerned members of the general Public have got together and contacted Catch a Thief UK and Public Appeals UK after they have lost hundreds of pounds in cash due to a fake adverstising page posing as a furniture business on Facebooks Market Place. They all paid via direct bank transfer directly to the scammers bank accounts and have lost thousands of pounds between them.

 

One of the group members stated, "delivery never happens and we all got blocked to stop us warning other people."

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The group which was originally formed on WhatsApp contacted Catch a Thief, as they want to make other members of the Public aware of the scam.

 

The group have also reported the scam page posing as a business to Action Fraud and Facebook, but are suprised and shocked to see that the page is still up and running after each losing hundreds of pounds to the scammers. 

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The victims of the scam have each tried to contact the seller by making a number of phone calls to the scam company but the calls never seem to get answerd, the group have also tried messaging them to find out why their furniture hasn't been delivered and ask for a refund only to find that they then get blocked from the scammers page. They have also contacted their own banks about the scam and were advisd that there was nothing that their banks could do because victims authorised the cash transfer. 

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Members of the group have reached out to Catch a Thief for help with the investegation and we would urge any members of the Public to get intouch with Catch a Thief UK if they believe they have fallen victim to such a scam.

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According to the Office Of National Statistics, there were an estimated £3.8 million incidents of fraud in the year ending March 2019. In 63% of fraud incidents, there had been no contact between the victim and the offender; the most common methods of contact were online. 11% of incidents were by telephone and 14% by email.

 

For Legal rereasons and the fact we are assisting with the investigation we can not name the specific page at the moment.

 

We have put togther a some advice that can help you keep safe from potential online scams:

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• Always be suspicious of all "too good to be true' offers and deals. There are no guarneteed get-rich-quick schemes.

• Dont agree to offers and deals immeimmediately. insist in on time to get independent legal advice, before making a decision.

• Do not hand over money or sign anything until you have checked someone's credentials and their company's.

• Do not rely on feedback or glowing testimonials this is because scammers can get friends and fake profiles to write good reviews for them.

• Never send money to anyone you do not know or trust, whether in the UK or abroad, or use methods of payment you're not comfortable with.

• Do phone the company using the phone number of google and make sure they answer a lot of scammers will have a phone number but never pick up.

• Beaware of pressured sales, if someone is rushing you to spend a lot of money. This is called pressuring sale where you feel you will miss a good deal.

• Always log on to a website directly rather than using a link in a email.

• If you have spotted a scam or have been scammed, report it to Action Fraud (0300 123 2040) and get help. 

• Scammers are cunning and clever there is no shame in being deceived. By reporting the fraud, you'll make it more difficult for them to deceive others. 

 

If you believe that you have been scammed when purchasing furniture via Facebook Market Place then please feel free to fill in our online incident report form here and we will do our best to help.