Scam Tip Report #7004 - Mike Preston Inverness Gumtree Ad
| Scam Reporter | Scam Tips Received
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| Frank H Diebel
Glasgow, Glasgow City, United Kingdom
2012-12-20 22:59:55
Classified Ads Scam
Other Classifieds Site |  +4 Mike Preston Inverness Gumtree Ad I replied to an ad on Gumtree which advertised a 1985 Porsche Carrera Coupe for £2,100 to sell. The person selling the car contacted me via e-mail and wrote that his name was Mike Preston and his Porsche was stored in Inverness. When I told him that I wouldn\'t come to Inverness he wrote that he would have the car delivered to London for £100. He also wrote that he worked on an oil rig and therefore couldn\'t hand over the car personally but the deal would happen via eBay. He e-mailed me an invoice, which looked like it was an official eBay document. On this invoice it said that I would have to transfer the money into an eBay account and afterwards the car would be delivered to me and I had three days to decide whether I wanted the car.
That seemed safe to me and I transferred £2200 into the Barclays account of C. Albu Sort Code: 20-96-55 Account No: 23778835 on the 11th December 2012 mentioned on the invoice. Mike Preston then contacted me and told me that he had received conformation from eBay that I had paid. The delivery was arranged for 14th December but the car didn\'t turn up. I then googled Mike Preston Inverness and found various people on www.scamdex.com/ScamTipReports/6409 who had also been tricked into paying for cars that didn\'t exist.
Maybe this might help - I replied to a similar ad on Gumtree a couple for days later and got contacted via e-mail by a person named Debra who was also selling a very cheap Porsche, using the same method of delivery and payment. It that helps I could get in touch with this person again to get some information about a bank account because the bank in question might be able to find out who the account holder is. It seems that this Mike Preston regularly uses Barclays accounts and it is a mystery how Barclays is not aware of this.
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Follow Ups/Extra Information. Most recent is listed first.
| Anonymous () Added the following extra information on :2012-12-30 13:00:16 |
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I borrowed £7000 from HSBC for the purchase of a car on the 28th Nov. To pay for the car I responded to an email and SMS which I was sure was from GUMTREE recommending an independent broker who would assist in a safe and secure transfer of £7200 for the purchase of a car which was advertised on Gumtree, if it had not come from GUMTREE (as I thought ) I would not have responded. look at their web site that the Gumtree email and SMS directed me to. (www.topcarbrokers.com) even down to company number and pictures of the supposed managers of the company, how many more of your customers will be duped by this scam, how can the organisation be closed down. I transferred the money on Wednesday at around 16:00 from my HSBC Account to a Barclays account no 43438678 sort code 20 14 14 in the name of MC Martin. Top car brokers registered it as received and was awaiting my release, about two hours after transfer I smelled a rat when your advertiser started stalling and changing the agreed rules, I rang HSBC bank and I was told they could do nothing, after three calls they agreed to put a trace on the cash, but that is a dead end. I could only contact Top car brokers via there site email, which I did quite a few times, they eventually sent me a email saying the money would be paid into my account by 09:00 this morning Fri, of course it was not, I suspect it was trying to stall me till they moved the funds from Barclays. After numerous requests Top car brokers gave me a contact phone no 0843 2899471, this is premium rate number that just asks you to hang on for next available operator,( surely as they will be collecting revenue from this number it must be traceable.
I reported the fraud to the police and they gave me a crime Ref no, NFRC 121100105236.
The fraudster who advertised the car in Gumtree(and I am sure set up the whole scam) gave his name to me as a ADAM MICHALSKI whos mobile no is 07523613796 (when I googled this no it was already linked to car scams and Gumtree). If HSBC had of taken action with Barclays when I first rang them I am sure the money could have come back, but taking over 24 hours and three phone calls lost me my money. BARCLAYS have facilitated a fraudster opening a bank account, I assume they gave false details when they opened that account, this error on behalf of BARCLAYS has cost me £7200, I believe they shoud repay the money to my account.
I am devastated that I let myself be duped, I am a pensioner and cannot repay the loan from HSBC easily, (I was going to sell my car which is worth more than the ghost car and repay the loan) .
Following is I believe some of the names e-mail addresses and companies Adam is using to scam.
Now I am faced with repaying £602.00 a month to HSBC.
| No Name (Dublin, Leinster, Ireland) Added the following extra information on :2012-12-22 22:13:49 |
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Name Unknown | Email Address:
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| No Name (Dublin, Leinster, Ireland) Added the following extra information on :2012-12-22 22:13:49 |
Scammer
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Name Unknown | Email Address:
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| No Name (Dublin, Leinster, Ireland) Added the following extra information on :2012-12-22 22:13:49 |
Scammer
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Name Unknown | Email Address:
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