I’ve been well and truly ‘done over’!

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.

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!

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.

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

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.

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.

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)

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 When my daughter checked the bag it was just full of foreign, out of date currency (all mixed).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.

In your shoes I would collate all the screen shots of conversations, his location details and name etc and get it all over social media, Name and Shame!

I'm sorry that you've been ripped off in this way, actually there was a feature on Martin Lewis Money Show last night about scams!

I trade a lot on Market Place, but I only ever deal in cash, insist on collection and I never post anything or deliver personally.

Another one to contact is Radio Four's You and Yours. They're very good at tracking down scammers and getting money back. Especially if a lot of people have been caught. You may not want to go public on air, but there will be other victims who will.

I would let the police know, Citizens Advice, Trading Standards, the lot. These people will get away with this time and time again if it's just left. I'd trouble with a well known site that sells homeware and I've finally got my £190 back into my account this morning. It has been over a month of daily emails and upset. The item was badly damaged when I opened the box, I took pictures and emailed them straight away. Each time a different person came back with different information. Waited in 2 days on my replacement only for them to tell me it hadn't even been sent and a resolution dept was dealing with it. That made me dig my heels in even more that my money was sitting in their big fat bank account. Don't let these people get away with it. It's really awful you won't see your money again, I was lucky, but it's all the upset its causing you too, it's not right.

Luckylegs I'd have rang the police if only to help stop someone else from being fleeced. There are some sharks out there who don't think twice at extortion, a crime in itself.
Too much to lose at any time of year let alone now.

You could try the Small Claims court, as by law, things must be ‘fit for the purpose for which they were intended’.

Citizens advice will explain how to go about.

I hope you do proceed.

Sorry to hear this Luckylegs, I hope the situation gets resolved to your satisfaction.

I was scammed recently by ordering something from a sponsored advert in my Facebook feed. I ordered some t-shirts for my daughters which looked lovely in the pictures but when they eventually turned up 3 months later (they were made and shipped from China which was not indicated in the ad) they were poorly fitted and horrible cheap material not even good enough to be used as dusters! Expensive as well.

I got "done" a year or so ago after buying something on ebay, bit of a complicated issue. Not as much as your loss but I ended up with literally nothing to show for it and lost about £80 with no fault of my own. I tried everything to get some redress but to no avail. In the end I just had to let it go, but it still makes me furious when I think about it. So many scammers and bastards out there. I know how you feel and sympathise

I’m sorry to read about your experience. If I were you, I’d contact the BBC’s Rogue Traders programme and report this bloke. Also give as much negative feedback as possible wherever you can to warn others.

Get in touch with your Bank and explain the situation to them if you paid by Debit or Credit card. They will be able to pull the money back from the sellers Bank Account.

Sadly a visit to the police (suggested above) is pointless as no real criminal offence has been committed there is a slight element of misrepresentation but this is a more a civil matter, (breach of contract).
If you can track him down you could issue a County court claim against him,but there is no guarantee that he would pay up and then you might have spent the court fee for nothing.

www.actionfraud.police.uk/

Have a look at this website. It may help.

Good luck ??

I was cheated out of £750 paying to have my roof repaired The rain was pouring in so I was desperate to get it fixed. I wouldn't have minded paying this out if the the problem was solved, but it was not. I should have realized at the time as the man was only on the roof for ten minutes. I had to pay another roofer to come and do a proper job. The whole incident has made me very wary and I now only use recommended tradespeople. It cost me over a £1,000 in the end.

Don't mean to be harsh, but i can't believe there's folk still falling for this type of scam tbh.....??

Unfortunately it's a case of "buyer beware". Expensive lesson I'm afraid. All you can do is warn others

Not very helpful nannan2.

If any of you do word games online,don't buy from advertisers on there, particularly a company called Magoloft. They are all Chinese shysters. I got done.

All of you suggesting Trading Standards/Police/Credit cards ....this is a scammer, luckylegs has been unfortunate and obviously people like him don't take payments by credit card. Just do what you are doing, report him to FB marketplace and hope that other's don't fall for it. Maybe use the doors as flooring for your loft? That's what we did when we replaced our doors, and just treat it as a lesson learned and don't beat yourself up about it. I buy quite a few bits on FB marketplace and have got quite a few bargains with things people just don't want anymore, but I always go to their address, always view before paying, but I realise this may not have been the option with something as big as doors. Don't let it spoil your day, just feel sorry for someone who is so awful they make their living by scamming decent honest people.