[Peter J Haigh]

 Warning to all, I have just been frauded out of £1800!!

 This was for a Airflex Storm Carpet cleaning package that was on ebay last weekend, item number was 371207441046.
 I communicated with the seller via ebay and he asked me to contact him via email for more details. I did this and received lots of photos  - I asked him if he had a buy it now price, he did this was £2000 - I therefore offered him £1800 which he accepted.
I then asked him to put a buy it now on ebay, he replied he was unable to do this but ebay would soon send me an invoice.
I received a very convincing invoice from ebay support, even with a live ebay help link. The only strange thing was that it had no paypal. I clicked the live ebay help link and a new page opened up with the ebay logo and a live support person began to answer my questions and validified that the invoice was OK and would be covered by ebay buyer protection. I then make a direct BACS payment to the sellers Barclays account.
Back and forth emails between myself and the seller continued as he had not withdrawn the item from sale. He withdrew it on Sunday evening (the price was then £2150 !!), he then stated that he would only despatch when he had received the funds ( quite natural ).
I asked him to confirm receipt of funds On Tuesday morning, Tuesday afternoon and evening ( NO Answer )
I then spent hours trying to contact ebay customer support who eventually confirmed my suspicions that the invoice was not from ebay and not genuine, they also sent me the contact details for Action Fraud and I have logged a report.
I have also spent hours in discussions with my bank trying to reclaim the funds.
I am sure that others in this forum will have also seen this machine on ebay so be warned, and feel free to pass on the details I have given above.
If anyone else has been subject to this scam can they please let me know.

[derek west]

Gutted for ya mate, we spot a few of these ebay scams over on the facebook forum and end up bidding silly amounts just to pee the fraudster off, i think the last prochem truckmount we anti scammed was up to £100,000. with either paul king or steve taylor being the highest bidder, he then withdrew it and relisted so we just kept on bidding. very funny but shame we cant spot them all.
hope you get it sorted mate.

[Brendan (chem2clean)]

Jausus Peter,really sorry to hear that.Thanks for letting us all know.

[Peter J Haigh]

This was a very cleverly constructed scam, the links on the invoice nearly all led back to the genuine ebay site. The ebay live help link must have been constructed specifically to scam with someone ready to take calls on a live type chat.

 I am fairly PC literate and an ex project manager for large mechanical/electrical projects so I am well aware of these things however this still got me convinced. Really ped the wife off though, Christmas present freeze until I know whats happening with the bank.

[Simon Gerrard]

Hope you get your hard earned back. Barstewards.

Simon

[John Kelly]

Also watch out for latest email scam originating in the Ukraine it will be titled something like K J Watking & Co  Remittance Advice for £###. Although they do use other legitimate business names. There is an excel spreadsheet attachment which has a virus macro attached. If opened it will infect your computer and steal your banking passwords and others, facebook etc.

You must have macros disabled in Microsoft Office then even if opened the macro will not open until you allow it. Unfortunately non of the anti virus software is picking this up even when a computer is infected. Very sophisticated and very dangerous. They are targeting small businesses in the UK. We had one yesterday.

[fenman]

Getting loads of these payment/remittance emails.
Was tempted to open the first one out of curiosity, thinking great someone has paid me by mistake.
Now I just delete them to the junk file but they keep coming.

[My Domestic Cleaning]

Thanks for sharing Peter. I hope it all gets resolved for you. Best wishes.

[Andrew Briscoe]

Also watch out for latest email scam originating in the Ukraine it will be titled something like K J Watking & Co  Remittance Advice for £###. Although they do use other legitimate business names. There is an excel spreadsheet attachment which has a virus macro attached. If opened it will infect your computer and steal your banking passwords and others, facebook etc.

You must have macros disabled in Microsoft Office then even if opened the macro will not open until you allow it. Unfortunately non of the anti virus software is picking this up even when a computer is infected. Very sophisticated and very dangerous. They are targeting small businesses in the UK. We had one yesterday.

we got this yesterday John along with a second one, fortunately there was no attachment, when her indoors googled the company most links said it was a Trojan. I thought someone we didn't know just wanted to give us money 

[Tom Molloy]

OMG....Was this the same ebay account called BIGLEO  89? I was contacted to say he was selling it through gumtree for £2,300 but he would cancel that deal if I could beat it. He didn't want to continue the deal through ebay because of the fees. I smelt a rat at that time and reported the account to Ebay.

Ebay came back and said the profile had been hacked and it was being used without the users permission. I just had the feeling it was a scan when he suddenly withdrew the auction as the price was going above £2200. There was a day and a half to go. Why would he sell for £2,300 when the price was bound to succeed that?

Sorry to hear about what has happened. Within ebay you had their protection. I would never buy without this and certainly not without seeing the goods first.

[Peter J Haigh]

Thanks Tom
 Yes it is the same person apparently the guys account was taken over.
In my case they made it seem as if it was still being paid through the ebay system albeit as a direct transfer - The ebay live link was very convincing.
I have a feeling that they had a few people on the hook - I paid on Sunday afternoon when the price was still quite low and the item was not taken down until Sunday evening. So I believe I am not the only one who has been had, therefore I am hoping that the police will take notice.
I recieved your email and I will pass on your details to action fraud if I may - I aint gonna let this drop

[Tom Molloy]

Absolutely Peter pass on my details and I will do everything I can to enable you to get your money back. I also have emails from him on ebay asking me to make an offer. I can provide this information should you need it.
You have my number and email should you need them. I really feel for you and your business being conned by a crook like this. I just hope the police can trace this lowlife piece of scum.

Regards

Tom

[Ian Rochester]

Peter sorry to hear about this, I was looking at the item and emailed him, same thing he offered it to me for £2000 with a LOAD of other stuff thrown in including Host Reliant worth £1800  (see the list he emailed me below).

It was at this point that I started to think this is not right, too good  to be true so I backed out.  In hindsight I should have reported it to ebay but it never even crossed my mind and I'd totally forgotten about it until seeing your post

This is a copy of the email he sent me when I asked him for more pictures and a list of what was included

Hi,
 
Please find attached more pictures.
As I said in my first email I can sell it for £2000 ( including delivery ).
Don't worry we will make the deal through eBay system. You will have 14 days return policy to inspect the item and if you will find something wrong you can send it back. eBay will guarantee for this.
Let me know if you are interested.
 
Items included :
Airflex Storm 800psi
Airflex Storm Remote control /Auto-Empty System
1 Priming hose 25ft x 1.5" vacuum hose with 2" ADAPTOR CUFF fitted one end, 1.5" cuff other end
1 Solution hose 25ft(high pressure)
1 jet s-bend classic wand
WP12-2NS Slotted Glide for Westpak
1 CD User Guide
1 Solution hose 25ft(high pressure)
25ft x 1.5" vacuum hose with 1.5" cuff fitted each end 1 1) 1.5" x 1.5" barb connector
Westpak 4" stainless steel hand/detailer tool with splash guard – never used
1 Upholstery Pro Sapphire Hand Tool – never used
1 HOST Relient
1 Sebo BS36 upright vacuum cleaner – comes with 5 bags
1 Dri-Eaz Air Mover Sahara E 3 speed
1 Magma heater 1313- Unused brand new
 1 6" stair tool – never used
1 Foil Furniture Protector Pads
1 Furniture Foam Snap Blocks
Grandi-Groom 18" (head with handle)
1 Carpet Pile Brush 18" (head only)
1 Handy Horse Hair Brush
1 Horse Hair Brush Deluxe
Orion 6L Sprayer with nozzle set
10 Litre Bucket (White)
10 Litre Bucket (Red)
Carpet Sliders (4 x small sliders, 4 x large sliders)
2 Corner guards
Hose hook
Overshoes x 100 (booties)
Pumptec Powersprayer
Mesh hose bag
Rubber backed mat
2xbrooms
2x warning signs
5 sebo vacuum bags
Selection of brushes
2 yellow buckets
 
 
Chemicals included :
Split-X Premium Detergent-Free Microsplitter – Full 5L
Defoam-X Liquid Defoamer – just over 1/2 container
Wool-X Detergent-Free Microsplitter – 2/3 container
Fabric Restorer Full 5L (Prochem)
Micro-X Full 5L Microbial Odour and Stain Digester
Gard-X Stainshield Protector New Ready-to-Use Formula full 5L
Organic Rinse-X Acidic Rinse ¾ full container
Orange-X – ¾ container
Odour Fresh (Prochem) 1/3 container
Rust Remover 1L (Prochem) - Full
Stain Pro 1L (Prochem) - Full
Citrus Gel 1L (Prochem) - Full
Spot-X Microsplitter Spotter 500ml - Full

My details are :
Name: I. Damian
Address: 548 Aspley Lane,Aspley, Nottingham Nottinghamshire NG85RZ, United Kingdom.
Phone number: 07821330507 but unfortunately I can't talk to the phone because I had a neck surgery .
I can't talk for 2 weeks, the risk is too high, I can lose my voice so is better to contact me by email .

[Hilton]

Neck surgery 

Perhaps someone stamped on it.

[derek west]

Have you text the number to see if its a genuine number, if it is (which i doubt it) then you can use a phone tracker to pin point roughly where he is.

[Tom Molloy]

It sounds like this crook has knowledge of the  carpet cleaning industry.
If the funds are transferred to a Barclays Bank Account then their has to be a traceability with this? I have worked in banking and all accounts have to pass the KYC's (Know your customer). Lets hope he is caught soon.
I will make sure I only buy when I see the goods from now on. Massive learning curve for everyone of us.

[mark_roberts]

This looks like a advert that was in the NCCA magazine last month for the same equipment 

Mark

[Peter J Haigh]

 It looks like Barclays and actionfraud have acted and frozen his accounts thankfully. It looks like I will get my funds back so Christmas is back on !

 Lesson learned hopefully they will prosecute the numpty.

 Regards

[Brendan (chem2clean)]

hey Peter,delighted you getting your cash back......

[steve prince]

Good luck Pete
A message to all :
If it looks to good to be true, it probably is!!!!
All ways pay cash on collection