I’ve been well and truly ‘done over’!

Oh dear, Luckylegs. There are some awful people about and you mustn’t blame yourself. It just makes it harder for legitimate sellers. My daughter sold a child’s Gruffalo onesie via her local FaceBook group. She only charged £5 and the lady who wanted it turned up, thrust a plastic bag into my daughter’s hand saying ‘the money’s all there’, and ran off. When my daughter checked the bag it was just full of foreign, out of date currency (all mixed). My daughter is very bright and so cross that she fell for this scam.

Did you pay with Credit Card or Paypal? You may be able to make a claim. You could contact Trading Standards for misrepresentation of goods, and contact Action Fraud. (Although in my experience even if they agree you have been defrauded and pass the matter to the police with a crime reference, plod probably won’t be bothered to do anything)

Another thought - does he rent from a housing association? If so report him to them. They don’t like their tenants behaving in this way.

Have a look on the Citizens Advice Bureau website
(Citizensadvice.org.uk) go to the section on the top right hand corner that says Public Site and the the subject along the top "Consumer". There is a section under Scams that might give you the answer.
You could try calling your local CAB office, but be aware that each office specialises in certain areas and many are currently working remotely, so that you will need to wait for a callback. If they can't help, they will point you in the right direction of someone who will be able to.
Hope you get this sorted.

Someone else mentioned Trading Standards, I would contact them and see what they can do.

Let Citizens Advice know about it. They may be able to advise the best way forward. Definitely let his local housing and police and environmental officer know about them.

I don't understand why you didn't check them before money changed hands??

The onus is on the buyer to check what they are purchasing is actually what they want.

Remember the old saying "Buyer Beware"

I'm afraid there is nothing legally you can now do. Just be more vigilant next time!

Report him to his local Council and to his local Police Station. It might not lead to anything, but you might be lucky. Also, if he blocked you, get someone else to write on his page that he has cheated you, and blocked you.

Comments from Facebook Marketplace; hope they might help:

“We're sorry to hear this happened. If you feel you were the victim of a crime, please contact your local police department. In addition, you can report the seller to us in Marketplace. To do that, visit the buyer or seller's profile, which can be found at the bottom of the product profile. Tap on the “Seller Info” section, and there you'll find a “Report” button. Facebook will review the case.

If you have any questions, please visit the following page on Facebook:

www.facebook.com/help/19612...

Hope this helps,“

“In addition, you can report the seller to us in Marketplace. To do that, visit the buyer or seller's profile, which can be found at the bottom of the product profile. Tap on the “Seller Info” section, and there you'll find a “Report” button. Facebook will review the case.“

Trading standards is definitely your best bet...all purchases have a 14 day cooling off period and if the goods are faulty they must be refunded or replaced. Having said that when my mother was scammed they were unable to recoup the £360 she was charged for an hour’s garden tidying (!).....but were able to stop them conning anyone else.

It happens all the time. I bought a "remote control" toy dog that looked and behaved like the real thing in the promotional video. When it arrived it was just a soft toy. Quite a pretty one but certainly not worth the £20 that I paid! My boyfriend got a set of headphones and a soft toy!

Buyer beware is something we all need to remember plus if something is too good to be true it usually is. Sorry if that sounds harsh. It does NOT however excuse the man ripping you off. If you ring Age Concern and ask to speak to Consumer Direct they should be able to tell you the legal position. You could also get advice from your local community police officer.

I’m pleased you’re focused on sorting this. I would be the same. Do you have family that can return the doors for you and protest loudly outside his house until the money is returned?

Also I recently found out Trustpilot is paid by some companies to reduce the amount of negative feedback. I was scammed and Trustpilot actually hassled me on behalf of the company about my negative feedback! Don’t trust Trustpilot.

I understand your anger, but please be careful about spreading the news of your problem with these people on other groups, reset your privacy settings on FB and remove any details of where you live, try to make sure that they can’t find you or contact you via your own family and friends.
Some people are ‘cheeky scoundrels’ and some are low life criminals who have contacts and will not just sit back and let you post things about them.
If you feel you have a case then report it officially as soon as you can, just in case you are tracked by the people who scammed you.
Again don’t feel bad about being scammed, the ones who did it are in the wrong not you.

Dont get mad, get even. A woman told you who him and his girlfriend was. Let police know, because then other people may be saved from these people. Give police as much evidence as you can get. Police have a Fraud Squad, they will set up a sting. I can assure you they are making off with many folks money this way, not just you. Most of us have been scammed. I never buy anything on internet without checking reviews etc, relating to companies. Please do not feel bad, the bad ones are the sellers. Crimestoppers might like to know about them too

Obviously as we are stupid idiots, we paid cash, my H isn’t mad, he doesn’t do that but I am so mad at myself. H admits it’s 50:50 as he washed his hands of it and said get them in the end. I’m causing him some trouble on his various sites though, so I’m getting some satisfaction.

How did you pay Luckylegs? If it was PayPal you can raise a case and escalate it immediately on the grounds that goods are not as described. You may be able to use chargeback if you paid with a bank transfer or debit card. If it’s cash there’s not much you can do, but it is fraud and I would report it.

I have spent the day trying to join all the various groups in order to warn people not to buy anything from him in between bouts of crying. I’m devastated at my stupidity and naivety. I really thought I had more nounce than that.

One girl from the same town happened to see my post on a site on Facebook and said as soon as I mentioned doors, she knew who it was. It turns out him and his girlfriend are well known for this scam. They ‘help’ people by taking unwanted items supposedly to the tip but flog them to people stupid enough to bite. Hundreds of people have come forward with tales of how they’ve been scammed. Someone from the same road has reported that the neighbourhood are fed up of the shenanigans and want us to email a local police officer and the housing association.

I don’t think the police will be interested but I’m going to try Trading Standards. All I want is this rubbish out of my house and my money back.

Sorry to hear this Lucky, I think a visit or call to your local police station may be worth a try. They should be able to find him, he may even be known to them if he makes a habit of this sort of thing - sounds as if he might.
I hope Karma catches up with this lowlife.

Never pay for used stuff up front, only after you have seen it.

As merlotgran says. Could even sign up on the FB groups to which the town relates and post on there too - there are some rotten gits around

Name and shame him on facebook and ask others to share it. Make sure you mention the town.

Does Marketplace have any safeguards in the same way as ebay does? Could you contact them? At the very least they could refuse further posts by this person

So sorry to learn of your predicament. We always look for reviews of companies online before purchasing anything and look at TrustPilot too. DH was looking for a new iPhone 12. He found one that was so much cheaper than from Apple. Before he ordered, I suggested he look for reviews on the company first. Anway, it had just one star rating and awful reviews. Goods came from China. He bought a genuine one from Apple. Came following morning.

Sorry this has happened to you, but being brave enough to post your experience on here is a warning to others.
When buying large items from second hand websites, don’t pay until you collect them and can see what you’re buying.

You could try your local trading standards office for advice?