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Did you know over 60% of fraud victims are male and it is the most under-reported crime in the UK ?
Action Fraud is a new helpline and website launched by the National Fraud Authority to help vicims of fraud.
Action Fraud is the UK’s national fraud reporting centre. If you’ve been scammed, ripped off or conned, If online shopping fraud has cost you money, If you’ve been a victim of identity theft, call them and they can help.
Early recognition of fraud can be vital, so no matter whether you think you’ve been a victim of fraud or you just want to know how to protect yourself, they are the place to start.
Action Fraud is a central point of contact to call and get help if you’ve been a victim of fraud.
The website can be found here or the helpline number is 0300 123 2040
So have any DadTalkers been a victim of Fraud ?
What happened ? What did you do ?
I bought a MP3 player on ebay and when it arrived it was broken and the seller is no longer responding to my emails. 😯
Apart from giving negative feedback I'm not sure what I can do to get my money back. 👿 Is this fraud? Should I report it to Action Fraud?
We were foolish enough to send money off for a really-unbelievably-cheap betamax video recorder donkeys years ago when we were newly weds. Our cheque was cashed but no video recorder arrived.
We contacted the magazine who were able to inform us that concerns had been raised and we could contact the MET.
It ended up that the police were soon aware of the company and were investigating fraud.
Some 9 months later the magazine sent us a good will payment of the full amount we had sent off.
It was a good lesson to learn: beware unbelievable offers because they might not be what they seem.
On the flip side we continued to buy a betamax machine and that format really didn't take off - but our machine lasted for many years.
/orange
Hi freerunner,
We asked Action Fraud to comment on your post and this is the reply we got back:
Action Fraud:
As online shops and auction sites have become more popular, fraudsters have been known to take advantage of the new medium over which they can commit their crime. You should check if eBay can help to resolve the issue and ascertain whether a fraud has been committed by opening a case on the site ( http://resolutioncentre.ebay.co.uk/ ).Action Fraud’s call handlers can provide advice and support as well as a service for you to report fraud.
Look-out for potential fraudsters on online auction websites by following this advice:
• Be careful if the seller requests to be paid via Western Union, Money-Gram, or bank-to-bank money transfer. These types of payment make your money virtually unrecoverable and you get no recourse if something goes wrong. eBay recommends that its customers use PayPal as it comes with buyer protection.• Get to know the seller by looking at their selling history and the types of goods they sell. Be extremely careful when buying things from people with little or no selling history.
• Don’t get carried away in the excitement of winning an auction. Fraudsters rely on you being keen and off your guard. It’s never too late to ask a seller questions to ensure that you’re completely happy with what you are about to pay for.
Contact Action Fraud for advice on fraud prevention or to report a fraud.
Helpline: 0300 123 20 40 or visit http://www.actionfraud.org.uk
I hope you find this helpful.
Gooner
As a matter of interest, where ebay is concerned, it's worth looking up their history for more than just fraud protection. I was looking to buy an item recently and looked at the sellers history and found that he was selling the identical item in the US, priced in dollars (he was based in Hong Kong) at much less than the UK price, even with the added postage taken into account - easy to pay in any currency on paypal.
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