Thanks guys, I smelled a rat as soon as I transferred the funds, stupid I know particularly since I’ve bought thousands of pounds worth of stuff from the various forums over the years with not a single issue.

If I manage to get my refund then I’m just going to buy a new Zero from Niche but have to say trying to find out the warranty situation on their website is a joke unless I’m going senile in my old age likewise with Facebook market place trying to report a fraud is practically impossible fas as I can see although in saying that I rarely use FB.

https://coffeetime.freeflarum.com/u/Twotone2

    Twotone2 Facebook doesn’t really care unfortunately, marketplace is basically a wild-west free for all

      No the Niche I ‘bought’ was black and evidently the build date was 2021.

      I suspect my scammer hijacked an Irish guy’s account no idea how he managed that though but I have a photo of the Zero plus screenshots of the sales conversation, as soon as I pressed him or her for postal information they blocked me.

      Here’s the photo

      https://coffeetime.freeflarum.com/u/Twotone2

        Twotone2 ah that’s my mistake, it was black - same one. Account was in the name of Peter Murtagh (or very similar)

          Twotone2 Just a quick heads up to advise you to avoid Facebook Market Place if you find one on there.

          I was ripped off last week by someone supposedly selling one in Newton Stewart, foolishly I paid for it up front by bank transfer @ £295, and then the person subsequently blocked me.

          I’m currently trying to obtain a refund via my bank but I’m not hopeful.

          The fraud is call APP or the Authorised Push Payment Scam.

          Tony

          Sorry to hear you were scammed. I’m personally facing Marketplace scammers as a seller currently, something I have never experienced before. Trying to sell a camera, and all the interest I seem to get is from scammers. One said “his brother” will collect within 30 minutes (and fled when I suggested a safe payment option), another is buying for “his cousin”, a third with another story, then four more - all the same. They all sounded suspicious and all went quiet as soon as I brought up safe ways to move forward. Looking on line those scams become more and more sophisticated. Some “overpay by mistake” and ask for a refund, or they arrange a courier so you don’t have proof of delivery and then claim they didn’t get it, or they ask for a phone number and then use that to scam with a code… All the accounts they use look legit, but they are highjacked accounts. On one of them there were warnings from people who were scammed by the highjacker. There is no end to their creativity. They prey on the weakest and it becomes harder to navigate safely. The best tip I have found online is to be very suspicious and trust your gut. If anything makes you not feel 100% safe - walk away.

              Doram - this doesn’t surprise me at all. Scammers go through great lengths to defraud you. And it’s relentless. Where I work there’s a whole department which is dedicated to fraud prevention, and as part of my job I work with that team providing solutions to stop them. The stories I hear and the lengths they go through are somewhat fascinating. It’s actually scary to think there are people out there capable of doing such things with no thought of the consequences for those on the receiving end what so ever.

                  I’ve been on AV forums for years, I mainly use the classifieds there and in the recent past scammers targeted the classifieds relentlessly, mainly the iPhone section, I’m pretty sure they were in Lichfield and used all of the usual stuff ie ’no I won’t be home at such and such a time so I’ll post so send me the money’ etc.

                  Think it was one family who were doing most of the scams and they were eventually caught and convicted but they were back within weeks.

                  That’s why I’m annoyed with myself for getting caught out because I know the rules when dealing with random people selling stuff but I just let my guard down and got caught.

                  I don’t actually need a grinder either which is bleeding ironic.

                  Anyway OP best of luck in your search.

                  https://coffeetime.freeflarum.com/u/Twotone2

                  16 days later

                  Just to clarify for future reference. Do you select ‘Paying for an item or service’ and the fee is automatically applied? And presumably you are then covered? Or do you need a business account?

                  @Twotone2

                  Sorry you were scammed buddy. I was almost scammed out of £5750.00 for a car. Spoke to the chap, carried out messaging with the company etc, looked at the business address and checked the place existed, ran an HPI check on the number plate, all checked ok, so I paid the money. Wasn’t till my Bank alerted me to the fraud, that i was none the wiser. Luckly for me, the chap who’s account they had hijacked was on line at the time I paid and didn’t recognise the payment and notified his ban straight away so the money was withheld. Got all but about £17 back. Very suspicious of people now. Don’t buy anything unless I can pay cash on collection.

                    Twotone2

                    Hi, just wanted to say thanks. Saw this on FB. Messaged the seller and suddenly got suspicious. Stumbled across this post and you saved me wasting anymore time with the scammer. Massive Thanks!

                        Here’s the bank account details I paid the cash to guys hopefully this will help other people.

                        Date of Payment

                        Payment Amount

                        Name of the person you sent the money to

                        Name of the Bank you sent the money to

                        20/06/2023

                        £295.00

                        Daniels Peter Stikuts

                        Modulr

                        Account details: Daniels Peter Stikuts, 04 00 72, 35700076

                        https://coffeetime.freeflarum.com/u/Twotone2

                          Twotone2 Tony, if you can do a bit more detective work, as in screen shots of other fraudulent transactions he has been involved in, then eventually the police will take notice. The point will come where it is obvious he is going about defrauding folks on purpose.

                          Yesterday on Ebay, I saw this advert:

                          https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/134537668631?hash=item1f5311e817:g:fYYAAOSw8ItkP9D1&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAAwJ6BjbXWxDJRCIG%2Fxi3XhTLrEwpqCS47%2F8eyraEcHtlbn%2BWMeDKr00bEWvoNcYZRIHfBuMkyLf7xtPbR6%2F8kGD5dNfQdFC%2FK6WPINF0FgSKkwsq1lRmSDH1j20%2Bm0zzPVyZximrV%2F3rdQL92ksr0Eha1k6XYaEkpEN9IyvYgQuULlxgj4Hfn3PmMxuJv5V09O%2FQKTa26%2Bz9EYFXYDMFNeIqlduiNHs4R%2FjfRg%2Bvkc%2FoA3nz%2Bt8Z9QTHqyHDsHDN5Xg%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR96Z4rmsYg

                          I then sorted the list out into nearest first. Lo and behold exactly the same advert appeared 3 places lower down. The scammer had zero feedback but had used the exact same advert and reduced the buy it now to £500. I reported it and it was removed straight away, but that does not always happen

                          https://www.suddencardiacarrestuk.org/2024/02/thank-goodness-for-madeira-cake/