Scammed on Gumtree - Is It Worth Going to The Police?

I was stupid enough to be scammed from a gumtree buyer (no need to tell me that I shouldn't buy on gumtree without meeting the person - I know that now!). I paid too little money for some gift cards and the item never arrived - it was clearly a fake sale and in retrospect I should have seen this.

Anyway, my question is: is this a criminal matter and should I report it to the police. Frankly I'm embarrassed about it and don't even want to tell my wife how stupid I was, and I know that I won't get my money back. But I do want to ensure that if they can be prosecuted or any action taken by police that it is done. Or have I just inadvertently given a nasty person a gift?

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Comments

  • How did you pay them?

    • PayPal - I may be dumb but I'm not stupid!

      • +6

        Good to hear you paid with Paypal. Very easy to obtain a refund if you lodge a 'non received item' dispute via Paypal.

        • +3

          Isn't it harder if you sent the money as a "gift"?

          I hope you paid on invoice?

        • @Ramrunner…..I think you may be right there re a gift.

    • +4

      Will OP get his money back ?

      OP

      and I know that I won't get my money back

      Geewizz

      How did you pay them?

      OP

      PayPal - I may be dumb but I'm not stupid!

  • Forget the coppers and if they do show any interest, they will handball it around amongst themselves! Personally I would write it off as a learning exercise and move on. Gumtree is notorious for this rubbish and its 'buyer beware' at all times.

  • Have a read here, it's a bit long but you'll get some info' on how others have dealt with a similar experience

    http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1819270

  • Definitely get paypal refund. 100% you'll get money back if they sent nothing at all.

    • What if you used friends and family and not goods and services.

      Friend and family have no fees so most non official sales use this I would assume.

  • +1

    I'm not sure if paypal policy has changed over the years but IIRC before they didn't refund anything if you sent money directly to someone unless there is money in the receiver's account first. They only provided guarantee to sales on eBay. This may have changed. Remembering the Yadnum scam makes me shudder (it was a close one for me): http://www.michael-munday-fraud.com/

    • If it's any consolation, the scammer is ugly as sin.

  • +4

    bikies

  • report it to the police anyway. they might not help you but if later the person is identified doing other crimes they have a list of people wronged.

  • I sold some tickets and vouchers on eBay, about 6 weeks later they were returned to sender because the buyer hadn't given PayPal the correct address. Are you certain it is a scam?

  • +1

    Report it here http://www.acorn.gov.au/ (Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network)

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