pete.young Posted May 21, 2022 Share Posted May 21, 2022 12 hours ago, Kev said: I dunno, DOB seems like a real easy one. How many friends or family members do you not, or can't easily find out, the DOB of? Whereas I imagine scammers would be rather reluctant to disclose such information. It wouldn't work. THere's nothing to stop a scammer registering a fake date of birth, and you don't need to provide a DOB to Paypal anyway so they have nothing to check it against. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Posted May 21, 2022 Share Posted May 21, 2022 5 minutes ago, pete.young said: It wouldn't work. THere's nothing to stop a scammer registering a fake date of birth, and you don't need to provide a DOB to Paypal anyway so they have nothing to check it against. It's just another layer of protection. A scammer can fake everything, but that shouldn't mean there is no point in considering steps like this. Anything to try and discourange buyers and sellers alike from avoiding using a Goods transaction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Downunderwonder Posted May 21, 2022 Share Posted May 21, 2022 What's to stop a private prosecution? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted May 22, 2022 Share Posted May 22, 2022 It's a shame that we don't seem to have widely-available class action (group litigation) in this country any more, as they do in the US. It seems that currently it is only certified for cases of breach of competition law. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorks5stringer Posted May 22, 2022 Share Posted May 22, 2022 We had the Post Office litigation but that took years and the legals creamed off most of the settlement.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borntohang Posted June 1, 2022 Share Posted June 1, 2022 Heads up that our favourite scammer is now posting as James Smith. Still the same listings from the looks of it. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/profile/100029983509089/?ref=permalink Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlitos71 Posted June 1, 2022 Share Posted June 1, 2022 4 hours ago, borntohang said: Heads up that our favourite scammer is now posting as James Smith. Still the same listings from the looks of it. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/profile/100029983509089/?ref=permalink Reported… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill R Posted June 4, 2022 Share Posted June 4, 2022 Now he’s Mason Smith. The Clown pic makes me feel like he’s laughing at us all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prowla Posted June 4, 2022 Share Posted June 4, 2022 3 hours ago, Bill R said: Now he’s Mason Smith. The Clown pic makes me feel like he’s laughing at us all. I got the impression that’s a warning post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maude Posted June 4, 2022 Share Posted June 4, 2022 (edited) 40 minutes ago, prowla said: I got the impression that’s a warning post. I did wonder why he'd add the word scam to the title. As you say, it's a warning not to buy from Mason/Smethurst/Smith etc. Mason, Smethurst & Smith, sounds like a solicitor firm. They usually extract copious amounts of money for very little return too. Edit - Just to add that there are two ads running. One by James Smith (the scammer) and another by a vigilante who's screenshotted (screenshat?) the photo and listed a warning. Perhaps we should all follow suit and screenshot the cover picture of everything he lists and also list it with the relevant warnings. Flood the market with the same products, it should stop others from getting scammed if there were hundreds of identical items listed simultaneously. Edited June 4, 2022 by Maude 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Downunderwonder Posted June 4, 2022 Share Posted June 4, 2022 It would be smarter just to list the same stuff everyone all the same at 1.01£ less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill R Posted June 4, 2022 Share Posted June 4, 2022 3 hours ago, prowla said: I got the impression that’s a warning post. Ah, my bad. Missed the word “scam” in the FB Marketplace post. Feel bad that I reported the listings as scams now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prowla Posted June 5, 2022 Share Posted June 5, 2022 7 hours ago, Bill R said: Ah, my bad. Missed the word “scam” in the FB Marketplace post. Feel bad that I reported the listings as scams now! Did you just shoot Paul Kersey? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mic mac moe Posted June 5, 2022 Share Posted June 5, 2022 This new fake name links him to the old Mick Mason,albeit tentatively Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill R Posted June 5, 2022 Share Posted June 5, 2022 2 hours ago, prowla said: Did you just shoot Paul Kersey? Quite possibly. However, if “Smethurst” is able to get himself back on marketplace after the dozens of times I’ve reported him, I doubt he’ll have much trouble getting the post back up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funkgod Posted June 6, 2022 Share Posted June 6, 2022 it seems allot of this going on on facebook market. there are an equal number of people trying to rip you off if your selling stuff as well. i get them every day without fail. one of the biggest scams on there at the mo that i have seen is the " Ketter shed" scam, have alook its amazing. no matter what area your from there will be someone selling a Ketter shed close to you, with pictures that show a house from anywhere else in the world except the uk with palm trees and all sorts of give aways, all at £75 and delivered to you when you order from their special site, no matter how many times you report it as a scam it pops up again under another name, funny enough some look like hacked accounts from people that have been on there a while, seems fb is just a minefield and will only get worse as they tell their mates how easy it is, and will get even worse untill FB just shut the whole thing down as just too much of a pain in the crack to control. i hope you all get some sort of justice out of all this, nothing can be more frustrating. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prowla Posted June 7, 2022 Share Posted June 7, 2022 13 hours ago, funkgod said: it seems allot of this going on on facebook market. there are an equal number of people trying to rip you off if your selling stuff as well. i get them every day without fail. one of the biggest scams on there at the mo that i have seen is the " Ketter shed" scam, have alook its amazing. no matter what area your from there will be someone selling a Ketter shed close to you, with pictures that show a house from anywhere else in the world except the uk with palm trees and all sorts of give aways, all at £75 and delivered to you when you order from their special site, no matter how many times you report it as a scam it pops up again under another name, funny enough some look like hacked accounts from people that have been on there a while, seems fb is just a minefield and will only get worse as they tell their mates how easy it is, and will get even worse untill FB just shut the whole thing down as just too much of a pain in the crack to control. i hope you all get some sort of justice out of all this, nothing can be more frustrating. Yes - I contacted one of those, as I need a shed, and I got a reply saying to go to their site for their special offers. I've seen them for Herman Miller chairs, electronic drum kits, and other things too; I generally just zone them out now. The price usually seems to be £73 or some unusual number. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted June 7, 2022 Share Posted June 7, 2022 Just catching up on this, can't believe he's still going. Just an idea for anyone with a collection of evidence - BBC Radio 4's You And Yours programme might be interested. I'm pretty sure they ran a piece on this guy's original Caravan Park Fraud years ago. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAJ Posted June 18, 2022 Share Posted June 18, 2022 He is still scamming now under the name James Smith. Using PayPal Jessica Florence Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon A Posted July 8, 2022 Share Posted July 8, 2022 Yes I got done by Mike Smethurst £40 for a mono synth pedal through PayPal friends. I’ve tried everything to get money back and report him but Facebook have done nothing. I’ve lost track of the number of his items I’ve marked as scam. Hope not too many others have fallen foul of the little stinky poo!!😡😡 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Posted July 8, 2022 Share Posted July 8, 2022 I've completely lost track or understanding of what is happening here. What have the police done with each of these reports of theft from the same source? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Downunderwonder Posted July 9, 2022 Share Posted July 9, 2022 Scumbags have scumbags for friends. Offer a big enough incentive for someone to dob him in and someone will bite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorks5stringer Posted July 9, 2022 Share Posted July 9, 2022 With 6 UK Police forces under 'special measures', I would suspect 'naff all'.......there seems to be a re-occuring theme that when people have reported the scams to the Police, it seems the activity is below the threshold at which they will take action. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris2112 Posted July 9, 2022 Share Posted July 9, 2022 26 minutes ago, yorks5stringer said: With 6 UK Police forces under 'special measures', I would suspect 'naff all'.......there seems to be a re-occuring theme that when people have reported the scams to the Police, it seems the activity is below the threshold at which they will take action. It needs to go to a central point that can take action rather than just collating reports and farming out those with leads. If you have twenty scams in twenty force areas, all for a low value, I can see how it would get lost in the mix. There is so much minor fraud in the UK now that we could dedicate every available hour of police time to it and still not be near cracking it, I'd imagine. Of course, having the money to equip a central task force for fraud is the real issue, it's not forthcoming at the moment. It's not for a lack of desire for nailing crooks either but a case of getting the details on the right desk at the right time. Back when I started (thirteen years ago) we would regularly get reports like this from different force areas. If the offender had been traced to your force area you'd do the business. I don't work 24/7 anymore but when I moved departments, we hadn't done that sort of cross force enquiry in years. There just wasn't time for it. The problem is systemic and structural rather than a lack of desire for your average officer to take a fraudster to task. I could have an offender of this scale before the courts in a matter of weeks. Telephone statements from victims, a few files of digital evidence documenting the sales, arrest and interview. Charge on overwhelming evidence even if no admission, likely a guilty plea bit sadly no realistic chance of anyone getting their money back. It's a simple MO only compounded by the amount of times it has been repeated. Sadly as my current role is now a specialism I can't just ask my boss if I can take the Basschat case and run it! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prowla Posted July 9, 2022 Share Posted July 9, 2022 34 minutes ago, yorks5stringer said: With 6 UK Police forces under 'special measures', I would suspect 'naff all'.......there seems to be a re-occuring theme that when people have reported the scams to the Police, it seems the activity is below the threshold at which they will take action. However, it's still worth reporting it, just so the numbers do build up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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