Good afternoon, Action Fraud have advised that criminals are continuing to take advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to commit fraud, as a scam involving the purchase of pets, such as puppies and kittens. So far, 669 people have lost a combined total of £282,686 in March and April, after putting down deposits for pets they have seen advertised online. The adverts that victims have responded to were posted on social media, general online selling platforms and also specific pet selling platforms. The criminals posting these ads never have any animals to sell and will ask victims to put down a deposit for the pet to secure the purchase. They use the outbreak of the coronavirus and the current lockdown restrictions as a reason why the victim cannot come and see the animal first, or pick it up. After the initial payment more and more funds will be requested to cover insurance, vaccinations and even delivery of the pet. To help protect yourself from scams like this: Do your research. Before purchasing anything online, including pets, look up reviews for the site, or person, you are buying from. If you are still not sure, ask a trusted friend or family member for their advice. Trust your instinct. If you cannot physically go to see the animal in person, ask for a video call. If the seller declines, challenge them on why. If you have any suspicions, do not go ahead with the purchase. Choose your payment method wisely. If you decide to go ahead with the purchase, avoid paying by bank transfer as that offers you little protection if you become a victim of fraud. Instead, use a credit card or a payment service such as PayPal. Share this information with family and friends, protect yourself and others.
We had a message from one of the sites after making an enquiry, asking loads of questions about the breed etc. A bit OTT, I'm guessing further down the line they would have asked for payments, we'd only do cash on collection anyway or bank transfer once we'd picked the pup up.
They'd never catch me out with these scams. Anyway, all my money is tied up with a guy from Nigeria working on my inheritance.
My partner and I are looking for a Motorhome to go off touring when I retire. We saw one on eBay and I sent a message through eBay but got an immediate "out of office" reply with an email address. So I sent an email and they tried to get me to buy and have the vehicle delivered with the delivery company taking the payment. They sent me a PayPal "invoice". I was starting to get a bit suspicious and checked the sending email address which turned out to be unknown. In the invoice were links to "PayPal Help Pages" which when I typed in the URLs, my internet provider blocked. I sent a message to the "seller" saying that I believed it was a scam and the listing disappeared within minutes. I reported it to Action Fraud. So please beware of any eBay listing which when messaged sends you an "out of office" reply with an email address. If you get any emails with links, check the sending address on email-checker.net and never follow any links.
never ever buy a motorhome without going over it with a fine tooth comb. tell them you want to hear it started from cold,go round with a damp meter,make sure everything works as it should,heater,water heater,all the 12v' electrics AND the 240v electrics i cant stress enough the importance of the above, 20,30 grand can buy you a whole load of bother if you dont know what you are looking for.. i saw some right bags of s h i t when i bought mine and spending a lot of money is no proof of getting summat good, theres a lot of motorhomes pinched, therefore theres a lot of ringers about, i finished up buying new,i bought at the end of the season and saved a fortune, i'd also buy german over british everytime,far better build quality , i've had mine ten years and its been all over the place, down forest tracks,on beaches ,up in the alps etc etc, all hard going compared to nipping to cleethorpes , its had some hammer and not the slightest bit of damp in it. hope this helps you pal,like i say be VERY wary when buying a motorhome
This is great advice we have had some proper dodgy people when we got through to buy a pup,one let us FaceTime pups said he was in Sheffield but when I asked him to show me out of window said no,so god knows where he was in world,he wanted 250 deposit,don’t reckon we would see that again if we paid up
Great advice. I triple-taked when i saw "therefore theres a lot of ringers about" - It did not look right on my monitor...
When we sold wife's last car on autotrader we were contacted by a bloke who was very interested and would drive up from London at the weekend. Two Asian blokes turned up in a mini, gave the car a quick look over, weren't interested in a test drive just wanted to pay and take the car as they had to get back to London. We asked for payment by bank transfer, he'd brought half the asking price in cash ( how did we know the notes weren't fake?) and wanted to pay the rest with a' company cheque'. When we refused the pressure started, "come on mate come on you knew we were coming we've had a long drive" this went on for about 20 minutes and I was getting pissed off so asked them to leave. One of them got straight on the phone and spoke in a foreign language, the other sat himself in the dining room texting on his phone, neither would leave, I started to get angry and told them they weren't getting the car and told them to piss off. The one in the dining room put his arm around me and said don't worry pal we will be taking the car today. It then got a bit physical as I dragged him out of my house whilst my mrs called the Police. They left pretty smartly. Police told us it was a common scam and had been happening around Huddersfield and Barnsley a lot, the money wasn't forged but when counting it out to you they folded notes in the bundle to count them twice, the company cheque bounced, your car was gone forever.Probably a taxi in eastern Europe. Folk fell for it because they saw a wedge of notes and trusted the company cheque wouldn't bounce. As well as buyer beware also seller beware, it's a fkin jungle out there.
Motorhomes, when I see one towing a car I am struck with the thought, why don't you buy a car and caravan instead? It just looks like they've gone mad and are doing it back to front. Bikes or scooters on the back I get. Am I missing something, is there a reason why you'd prefer a Motorhome towing a car?
Unfortunately you so need a degree of common sense. I know when we bought our puppy, I nipped home to transfer the money and it wouldn't sodding do it! I'd left my son holding said pup and asking questions about caring for him thinking I'd be 15 mins or so and when I went back it was agony waiting for it to go through Must have had a trustworthy face because it took 2 days to sort out but we took the pup that day anyway
