Facebook scammers sold me a garden office for £3,600 – but it never arrived: Beauty therapist issues warning over ordeal which left her thousands out of pocket
- Lucy Fletcher, 46, bought a ready built shipping container office on Facebook
- She transferred the cash after talking to the online seller but it never arrived
- Have you fallen victim to an online scam? Email [email protected]
A woman who was sold a £3,600 garden office which was never delivered has been left thousands of pounds out of pocket.
Beauty therapist Lucy Fletcher, 46, from Evesham, Worcestershire, has warned people to be more aware of online scammers after she was tricked into buying a ready built shipping container office from a listing on Facebook.
She transferred the cash after exchanging messages and phone calls – and receiving official looking invoices on business headed paper.
But the office was never delivered and she has now lost thousands of pounds and was left without anywhere to operate her business from. She was forced to buy a second replacement container that set her back even further.
It comes after a Money Mail investigation found earlier this month that scams on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are the source of more than one million cases of fraud every year.
Beauty therapist Lucy Fletcher, 46, was sold a £3,600 garden office which was never delivered
She was tricked into buying a ready built shipping container office from a listing on Facebook to replace her old workspace (pictured)
The incident left her with nowhere to operate her business fromand she was forced to buy a replacement container (pictured) that set her back even further
Lucy said: ‘I feel really vulnerable now – this guy now has my address, he’s had a lot of my money and I’ve lost out on work, so I’ve lost business as well.
‘It was just how professional the scammers were – I had no reason to doubt any of it at all. The emotional stress has been unbelievable. It’s been an absolute mess.
‘If I’ve been scammed – and I think I’m quite switched onto it – if other people aren’t already then they need to be more aware basically.’
Lucy wanted to upgrade to her beauty therapy studio so she could offer laser hair removal.
The seller on Facebook said the room would be delivered to her property and provided her a quote from a business email address on headed paper.
She also received an invoice on headed paper with bank details – and when she transferred the money, the details matched with a business bank account.
Before the transfer was completed, Santander rang Lucy to check she was happy to go ahead and she confirmed she was.
After the payment had been made, Lucy arranged delivery on July 24 – but five days on she hadn’t heard from the seller.
On the day of delivery, she was told the salesman she had spoken to was out of office.
Then her husband called and he was told the container was on the way, but it never arrived.
Lucy wanted to upgrade to her beauty therapy studio with a new larger workspace so she could offer laser hair removal
Lucy had demlolished her previous office and had even prepared a space where the new shipping container was meant to go
After realising the new office wouldn’t be delivered she was forced to but a second container to renovate into a new office
Lucy has been unable to work because she demolished her old studio to make way for the new one.
She said when she complained to Santander they told her they weren’t going to refund her as they called to check she was happy, and suggested she should have checked Trustpilot.
She said she feels Santander should have told her what checks to do to make sure the business was legitimate.
Lucy said: ‘They said the container was on the way – and then we didn’t hear anything after that.
‘My husband called again, and they said the person he’d spoken to earlier was out of office, but he could tell he was speaking to the same person who was now claiming to be someone else.
‘He was obviously pretending to be a number of different people on this one phone number.
‘There was no delivery, we’ve heard nothing at all from them – I literally burned down my existing salon to make space for the container. I was left with nowhere to operate my business from.
‘Now I’ve found a new container which I’ve had to do some work on but at least I have somewhere to work from.
‘I feel really annoyed – Santander should have given me a bit more security other than “are you happy with this”.
‘They should have said we won’t process this until you’ve checked Trustpilot.’
Lucy has now completed her new ‘beauty shack’ following the ordeal
The inside of Lucy’s new office space where she now operates her business from
A Money Mail investigation has found that an estimated 16 per cent of all crimes recorded by the police in 2022 originated on platforms owned by social media giant Meta.
This is more than double the number of robberies, burglaries, homicides and knife crimes combined.
That means every day, an average of 3,000 people fall victim to a scam that can be traced back to one of these platforms.
Most lose thousands of pounds to crooks. More than £1.2billion was stolen through fraud in 2022, according to banking trade body UK Finance.
A spokesperson for Santander said: ‘Our fraud prevention measures detected that this transaction was potentially fraudulent and blocked the initial payment.
‘However, following a phone conversation with Mrs Fletcher the payment was completed.
‘We have thoroughly reviewed this case and in line with the Contingent Reimbursement Model (CRM) Code, given the specific circumstances, have offered to reimburse half of the money lost to Mrs Fletcher.’
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