Warning!

[docwra]

Just got this off the Gticlub forum - not very nice. the guy runs a parts co, BTW .........

Ok this is what has been happeneing - got an order for a set of coilovers, wheels, tyres, body kit, taillights seats and seat mounts - came to about £1480 all in, this was at the last crail show i was at. Then they guy said thats fine and can i pay for it with a cheque? yeah sure says i - so he writes the cheque - give me and an address to send the stuff to and that it. Then a few days later i gets a phone call from the bank the cheque has been cancelled from the senders end. 90% off the goods have already been dispatched (only thing i managed to stop was the wheels)

Got on the phone to the guy - WTF is goin on?? Sorry was the reply - bank messup - give me your bank details and i'll transfer the money, ok so gave him the account number of the business account and the sort code - phone me back 10 minutes later ok the money is being sent right now. 2 days later gets a phone call - my credit limit has been breached - at £5000 - plus it had over £2000 worth of customers money in it at the same time and its all gone! guys mobile has been cut off and the address the parts where sent to is an abandoned petrol station! they have been signed for by someone and dissappeared! i am totally gutted - ive been in tears for the most of the day!
not sure where the guy come from or anything, but he said he saw my advert on a site - could be porka - could be lupogti - could be ukpolos.

We are having to sell the flat, sell one if not both of the cars, sell the bits i have stored and sell all the othe half finished projects too!
The account isnt covered by insurance then i am liable for all interest charges and costs! plus i still have to pay the suppliers too!
In all im down by over £7k and the interest on £5k is bad - £100 or so a week!

Thing is i need ALL of your help!

I have a description of his MK4 Polo and a rough description of him

First him: 6', black hair - green eyes - looked like a broken nose and had a black leather jacket on with a dragon down the back, thats all i remember!

Car: ( I paid more attention to this) - It was a Black 16v 3dr with 14" Le Castell (off the golf cabs) and black LED's on the back - smoked side repeaters and (this biggest thing that stood out) was a huge silver VW logo in the back window - number plate was "S239SPU" - but could be fake!

Could happen to any one of us ...............
If anyone recognises the car or anything, let me know and Ill put you in touch with the poor bloke who had this done to him.
:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
On a related note, is there any way you can be completely sure you wont get ripped off when buying parts etc. off someone the other end of the country??

[Dave_S]

Oooh thats not good :( poor bugger :(

Dave

[moondog]

i know nicely only usually does 200's but explain your situation and ask him to check the plate, i doubt that if the guy has ripped you off like that it will be a genuine polate but might be worth a try.

sorry to hear that BTW, what a w*nker, hope he dies from some nasty disease that hurts a lot

[Jason]

Thats terrible!! whole business down the drain!
how come he didnt wait for the cheque to clear before he sent out the goods???

[Leon]

Originally posted by Jas
Thats terrible!! whole business down the drain!
how come he didnt wait for the cheque to clear before he sent out the goods???

Have to say that he should have waited for the cheque to clear. While I feel sorry for the guy, it is common sense, esp when dealing with cash in that quantity.

Just a thought, if the addy was a deserted petrol station, would the couriers really have delivered there?

[ScoobyDoo]

Surely the bank has some responsibility? it should be safe for you to give our your bank sort and a/c no. for direct BACS transfers.

Money coming in is one thing, but withdrawing money the bank should have requested authorisation or proper ID.

I'd fight with the bank as far as I could.

People selling parts to other enthusiasts through boards often give good discounts and dont deserve to be ripped off like this.


:mad:

[Nicely]

Fake plates. That's a Transit. :rolleyes:

[Vez]

Should have waited for the cheque to clear!!!

His business wasnt insured against fraud? Eh? Wah? Surely not?

I sell quite a bit of stuff on ebay, and ALWAYS wait for cheques to clear BEFORE doing anything else, even package the stuff!!!

He should fight the banks though!

[Jezz_S13]

surely it's deffo the banks fault?

[Leon]

I wouldn't have thought so. After all, he did give out all the relevant details and might not have had a max limit on the withdrawls - alternatively they could have been classed as POS wich seems to get through everytime.

Basically, this guy has ben kippered by a similar scam to the nigerian emails that keep doing the rounds. It is exactly the same in principle...

[Midgers]

I've posted the story on Strathycruise.com. A lot of their members go to Crail so someone probably knows someone. So far they've made all the same kind of points as you :)

[Amdathlonuk]

That's a real Pi$$er............:(

However I've got a cheap set of coilovers and some other bits going.........

[SteveCarter200]

Originally posted by Amdathlonuk
That's a real Pi$$er............:(

However I've got a cheap set of coilovers and some other bits going.........

Bad joke mate.

[SteveCarter200]

Has the guy got a name of the bloke that ripped him? I guess the cheque could have been iffy but perhaps he got the name off it?

Theres a member of this BB that has access to a names and details database.

[mickstreet]

Can't understamd how he managed to clear his bank account from just a/c no. and sort code?
Surely you need some sort of debit/credit card no. to do this? :confused:

[Amdathlonuk]

Originally posted by SteveCarter200
Bad joke mate.

I agree.................

But would YOU send 2K worth of car parts before payment??

[Pauly_Boy]

Totally gutting!1!!!

Who was it that got done over???

[Papa Lazarou]

I'm sorry I don't understand. He gave his bank details (i.e sort code, a/c number etc) and it got cleared out?

Lots of companies include bank details on their web site and other general correspondence. Its not enough information to enable a 3rd party to withdraw cash from the account, only to pay into it. You know, not just anyone can set up a direct debit and clear out an account. Unless they have a bank insider or something... What do the debits show as on his account? If the bank has been a victim of fraud then it is the banks problem not the account holders.

The sending parts out before a cheque clears. Thats just bad business practice and credit control.

Sorry if this sounds harsh.

[Papa Lazarou]

And no it is not the same scam as the Nigerian e-mails. You give the Nigerians your account details, business letterhead etc. They can't do much with it. Its just part of the plan to suck you in, that you have to "prove" to them that you are an individual they can trust (worthy of ripping off more like). You have to voluntarily pay them money to cover costs which invariably come up as part of the scam. Eg they will say that some official needs to be bribed in order to turn a blind eye to the transaction or something like that. They can't simply clear out your account.

[beavertron]

I fecking hope ur bank acc cant be cleaned out by just giving ur acc no and sort code coz ive given mine out quite a few times for direct transfers to be paid to me :eek:

Anyone work in a bank????

[ScoobyDoo]

Originally posted by Papa Lazarou
I'm sorry I don't understand. He gave his bank details (i.e sort code, a/c number etc) and it got cleared out?

Lots of companies include bank details on their web site and
Papa, come to think of it our company has several bank accounts/sort codes all over our statements (GB£, US$, EUR accounts) and we encourange direct payments........

Doesnt sound right to me

[Martin T]

Deffo fight the bank. They have no right to give his money to some scum if he doesn't authorise it. Tell him to talk to the Citizens advice bureaux, and find out if he's entitled to legal aid. The bad news is I dont think that he is. If he is entitled, then sue the bank for his money.

[SteveCarter200]

Originally posted by ScoobyDoo
Papa, come to think of it our company has several bank accounts/sort codes all over our statements (GB£, US$, EUR accounts) and we encourange direct payments........

Doesnt sound right to me

Actually, thinking about it, every cheque has sort and account numbers on it. If this scam was possible you would be risking bankrupcy every time you pay someone with a cheque.

:confused:

[Leon]

I think there are a few details not on a cheque that you need for some kind of direct transfer. Either that, or the banks servers are not secure and the guy hacked in...

[Jezz_S13]

A load of old tosh, there is more to it than that. :)
Maybe when he gave him the bank details he gave him his switch number and issue number. In which case the man is a fcukwit, albeit and unlucky one.

Back to the joke, will the coilovers fit me car AMD?

[Midgers]

any chance of a link to the original thread? I'd like to know how this turns out. The bloke's probably had these sort of questions already and might be able to shed more light on the matter :)

[alexjj]

Hi there. I might be able to help. It will cost money though, and - not sure how much - depends on if you got an address, or his actual name / bank account details.

why have the police not done anything? You been to talk with CAB? Or your solicitor who does your business stuff?

Seems like not enough due diligence done prior to business here.. A cautionary tail for us all who are moonlighting in an amateur way. A sad story.

PM me if you are serious about finding the guy, and 'persuading' him to repay.

I advise you get formal advice first. when that fails, it will cost you I am afraid. And we dont work on success fees, since there are up front costs for this type of work... ;)

[Papa Lazarou]

For anyone following this here is the original post about it from the man himself, on a Polo forum

http://www.porka.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=XForum&file=viewthread&fid=2&tid=7231&page=1

Post on the Club GTi forum http://www.clubgti.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=18835

[Dave_S]

Originally posted by Papa Lazarou
For anyone following this here is the original post about it from the man himself, on a Polo forum

http://www.porka.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=XForum&file=viewthread&fid=2&tid=7231&page=1



Doh, Company Websense stopped me visiting that one, dodgy named site ;)

Dave

[Rob wastegate]

The full story is not being told here. the ar*se that dupped this guy must have had much more details on him than he is saying. But as alexjj says these people can always be found.

Doubtfull if he would get his money but would be worth it just inflict some pain on him for what he has done!

[alexjj]

Here is my work email - amillar@merchantinternational.com. Only if you are serious about effecting a repayment - this is no longer a retrieval if he has sold on the stuff.

[Midgers]

thanks for that Papa :)

[JB]

Sorry but I have no sympathy whatsoever for someone who sends out goods without ensuring the funds have cleared in his account first.

With regards to the bank, the problem lies with them and he should be able to recover his stolen money with the aid of any half decent solicitor, as well as recovering any cost incurred.

[alexjj]

I concur, but that doesnt detract from the fact that he has been fecked over, and the pleb acted illegally. Whether or not he took advantage of the vendor or not, the simple fact is -

You can run but you can never hide. Everybody gets what is coming to them. Its just a matter of when, and from whom. So why act like a tw*t and take advantage of people who try to be nice to you?

There is always someone quicker, meaner, harder etc. So.. isnt life to short to be an ar5e?

[Rob wastegate]

i agree with you alex

[JB]

Originally posted by alexjj
I concur, but that doesnt detract from the fact that he has been fecked over, and the pleb acted illegally. Whether or not he took advantage of the vendor or not,

You are of course quite right.

[crackdownuk]

at first i thought this was a bit of a bad joke, gag etc. The person how been HAD is admin on the site with over 2K post so i cannot believe he would make a joke like this up. But it seems as if the guy whi git ripped of has hacked into the bank etc

PS back 2 beavertron original Q's

"
I fecking hope ur bank acc cant be cleaned out by just giving ur acc no and sort code coz ive given mine out quite a few times for direct transfers to be paid to me

Anyone work in a bank????"

ditto mate and know a bit worried :(????

PS has anyone ever had a cheque bounce on them???? what happens???

[Papa Lazarou]

Originally posted by crackdownuk
PS back 2 beavertron original Q's

"
I fecking hope ur bank acc cant be cleaned out by just giving ur acc no and sort code coz ive given mine out quite a few times for direct transfers to be paid to me


Don't work in banking but it seems to me in order to do this you would have to be able to either :

1: Hack into the online banking and clear out the account
2: Walk into the bank with fake ID and forge the account holders signature etc.
3: Phone the bank, clear all the DPA checks (mothers maiden name and all that) and then make payments from the account
4: Have someone "in on it" working in a bank. However if that was the case why pick on someone you meet and empty their account? It would not be long before someone uncovers it. I would think it would be less suspicious taking smaller amounts from lots of accounts over a period of time. Most people don't even check their statements. Still you will get caught in the end..

There might be others. Certain companies are able to take money from accounts with just the a/c number and sort code (i.e set up a direct debit). However not just anyone can do this, the company has to be part of the AUDDIS agreement or something like that. It would be pretty obvious where the money was going and the bank has to refund you *immediately* no questions asked if money is debited from your account in error in this way (its part of the direct debit agreement). http://www.paperlessdirectdebit.com/

[Leon]

Originally posted by alexjj
the pleb acted illegally.

this is very true. however mate, from what you've said before, certain repayment "plans" don't sound entirely legal.

I'm not trying to be funny here and I'm nt sure if you're joking or not. If you are suggesting what I think you are suggesting then it possibly isn't worth broadcasting it on an open forum. Not that i'm going to be telling anyone, coz that would be dumb. Just my thoughts...

[Nick]

In the UK is there not a default on how much money you can withdraw from the bank in one day?

[alexjj]

You really have a Starion? I totally always wanted one of those.. :)

After seeing 5th gear a couple of nights ago I was thinking more about a evo 8 though.. well overpriced though they are :(

Anyways, there are above board methods of effecting a repayment. These are not always pursued by the Police, internal or external security services, or even yer common or garden Debt Management agencies.

Company I work for is fully legit, but I normally handle overseas projects on large scale Risk Issues.

Obviously it would be very easy for us to trace this guy on our own turf.

I am seriously in no way insinuating some of our security consultants would injure him - not even on a black bag op. It IS surprising how rapidly though that some of the financial institutions, agencies and people we have to deal with, come to an amicable agreement for settling disputes... ;)

It does cost money to implement a security project though :( Everything does :(

Except cracking one off lol.. Hey everyone enjoy your Friday!

[Pauly_Boy]

How about the Cheque that he was given in the first place!

Surely there'd be details on there!!

[Martin T]

When a cheque bounces, the bank sends it to the account holder. I.e. this bloke should have the cheque to trace the twat.

[crackdownuk]

Originally posted by Martin T
When a cheque bounces, the bank sends it to the account holder. I.e. this bloke should have the cheque to trace the twat.

okay thanks :) but hoe long does it take for a bounced cheque to show up??? ie it takes 3-5 days for a cheque to clear ( is that right) so just say you send it out on the 4 day and then you get a bounce cheque in the morning mail not good :(