Scam Recovery

[quote]

Oh shit, I only just read 'Western Union'.
Nigerian scammers it is, then.

 

[gmiller1018]

A seller asking to send money with western Union to buy something is one huge big red SCAM ALERT, it's to late for you now (I do hope you get something back - doubt it however).
But really, how many beers did you had when you placed that order?

Well .. no beers but I did look them up and they appeared to be legit based on company registration and length of time
they had been around. But if they are not who they said they were then my research was in vane. I thought using WU was
strange but they appeared to be legit. :angry:

 

[gmiller1018]

A seller asking to send money with western Union to buy something is one huge big red SCAM ALERT, it's to late for you now (I do hope you get something back - doubt it however).
But really, how many beers did you had when you placed that order?

Well .. no beers but I did look them up and they appeared to be legit based on company registration and length of time
they had been around. But if they are not who they said they were then my research was in vane. I thought using WU was
strange but they appeared to be legit. :angry:

I assume my money is gone but I would like to string them up by the balls and make them pay so I am going to push to grab the
person who picked up the funds unless there is some way to redirect them once delivered to a WU office.

 

[craigix]

Yeah, see who collected the money.

If it's a name like 'Mohammed Mohammad' then yeah, you are probably screwed.

 

[gmiller1018]

Yeah, see who collected the money.

If it's a name like 'Mohammed Mohammad' then yeah, you are probably screwed.

Yes

 

[RajTakhar]

unlucky

someone tried to do the same to me - but i got credit card company to sort out

 

[gmiller1018]

unlucky

someone tried to do the same to me - but i got credit card company to sort out

Yea, if I had done more thinking after the way they asked me to pay I would not be in this mess but at least I did
not pour more money into it and now I just need to track them down and expose them. It is not going to get my
money back but making sure they have to change their mode of operation would make me feel better about being
a total ass.

 

[Patrick R Ludvigsen]

Yea, if I had done more thinking after the way they asked me to pay I would not be in this mess but at least I did
not pour more money into it and now I just need to track them down and expose them. It is not going to get my
money back but making sure they have to change their mode of operation would make me feel better about being
a total ass.

You could always ask the friendly guys on 419eater to set up a mass bait, I'd be happy to join

 

[Pipkin]

You could also try consumer direct, http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/ . They are supported by the office of fair trading. I have used them a couple of times and their advice has been very helpful.

Don't give up hope just yet. They do look like a legitimate company, incorporated in 2002 and up to date accounts filed, although by the sound of it their customer service is poor and certainly their response is strange. i doubt they would have been able to scam for 8 years without being closed down. They should be able to provide a tracking number.

http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk/691e7667a34684646c3fc9786a027d7b/compdetails

Status: Active
Date of Incorporation: 18/09/2002

Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Company Type: Private Limited Company
Nature of Business (SIC(03)):
1730 - Finishing of textiles
Accounting Reference Date: 31/03
Last Accounts Made Up To: 31/03/2009 (TOTAL EXEMPTION SMALL)
Next Accounts Due: 31/12/2010
Last Return Made Up To: 18/09/2009
Next Return Due: 16/10/2010
Last Members List: 18/09/2009
Previous Names:
No previous name information has been recorded over the last 20 years.


http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk/691e7667a34684646c3fc9786a027d7b/wcprodorder?ft=1

For £2 you can order their last years accounts and list of directors.

In the UK I believe if you cannot resolve the dispute, you would normally go to a small claims court. If they rule in your favour, then they are obliged to follow the courts ruling. If they do not, you can issue a winding down order on the company. Can't say I have ever gone through that process myself. Good luck, it won't be easy getting a resolution not living in the same country, but that doesn't diminish their responsibilities.

 

[quote]

You could always ask the friendly guys on 419eater to set up a mass bait, I'd be happy to join

God I love that site. +1 to this.

 

[Nova]

+2

 

[gmiller1018]

You could always ask the friendly guys on 419eater to set up a mass bait, I'd be happy to join

God I love that site. +1 to this.

That site is interesting ... not ready for that, if I get there, then I will ask some of my old buddies
to jump out of hunting in Afghanistan go visit them in country and take them out. I have retired,
so that kind of work no longer interest me. But I am not above considering it.

 

[Javacat]

lol.... Whatever way you go about it, it's good that you are at least trying to do something about it all and not just taking it as a "lesson learnt" and forgetting about it.

 

[Nova]

Idea. Give me the email address you used to correspond with them. I'll email them and ask if I can come to their head office to pick up some goods and pay. If they say no, then chances are they're not based in the UK.

 

[hobbyman II]

do remember the address you where "trading" with may well be legit, the people you paid may have nothing to do with them (esp if you paid a name rather than the company), so it might be a bad idea to have a go at them before you are sure of your target, in Nigeria a common trick is to meet targets in government building lobbies and then "do lunch" while talking "business", since you met the person in a government building, you assume they work there and are trustworthy <_< , seems like this could be something similar.


edit: ninja'd (sorta)

 

[gmiller1018]

do remember the address you where "trading" with may well be legit, the people you paid may have nothing to do with them (esp if you paid a name rather than the company), so it might be a bad idea to have a go at them before you are sure of your target, in Nigeria a common trick is to meet targets in government building lobbies and then "do lunch" while talking "business", since you met the person in a government building, you assume they work there and are trustworthy <_< , seems like this could be something similar.


edit: ninja'd (sorta)

Yes , I am beginning to get that idea ...

 

[Nova]

I got your PM. Just first of all, could you tell me how you heard about this company? And how did you know what products they were selling?

 

[Prometheus]

Ouch, that sounds like what the 419Eater folks would refer to as a "phone lad".

If you have any e-mail correspondence from them, you may want to run the headers through a tool like this one, to see where it really came from.

Unfortunately, I gather from 419Eater and its sister-site ScamWarners, that Western Union payments can be picked up by anyone, and that this is often done with fake IDs, so finding out the name of whoever picked it up might not provide any real information.

 

[Nova]

I'm sorry Gary, you have definitely been scammed.

Sources:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Whether or not he lives in the UK is still up for debate, but it is definitely a scam.

I'll see what I can find out in the morning.

 

[gmiller1018]

I'm sorry Gary, you have definitely been scammed.

Sources:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Whether or not he lives in the UK is still up for debate, but it is definitely a scam.

I'll see what I can find out in the morning.

Well I am sure I was scamed (stupid me ) but I am still going to pursue this to see who got my money. Let me know anything you find thanks.
you found more links than I did. I was trying to find references to their "business" but all the links I could find no longer worked. I originally found
them through a Linix magazine article but can't find / or remember what it was .