BUYING SCAMS: Case study

Mike Longstaff of Roadrunner Racing spotted a Brian James RS3 trailer for sale on ebay for £5500. He checked the ebay seller’s track record and it had 100% positive feedback, having been registered since 2004. With the trailer over 200 miles away in Surrey, the seller asked for a bank payment of £2750 to secure the purchase (a bank payment would avoid the Paypal fees incurred at 3.4%, which would equate to £93.50) and for the remaining balance to be paid in cash when the seller delivered the trailer.

Mike made the payment to the seller’s bank account in Leicester, but heard nothing else from the seller. He contacted ebay and they explained that the account of the seller had been hacked and the photos of the trailer had been taken from another advertisement. He then contacted the bank: “They confirmed within 24 hours that it was a fraudulent account set up with fraudulent documents. I asked them how this account could be set up and they just said they get it all the time as a current account can be opened online. What about a passport and other identity? Well, it turns out you can scan them in.”

Mike tried to recover his payment, which had been withdrawn as soon as it had cleared, claiming the bank had been negligent in making adequate checks when setting up the account. He took the case to court and lost. “In my opinion, I lost the court case because of a much bigger case six months before in the High Court in London,” he says and has since discovered that the scam is being investigated by several police forces across the UK.