Re: Seen A Scam? Warn us if you have!

I think I mentioned a possible scam several days ago and I have since been attempting to get my money back from them.

On 3 May I ordered one of those 'steering wheel trays' which clips on to the car steering wheel so you can work or eat in the driver's seat (though not when you're driving of course).

My own stupid fault: it was advertised on Facebook by a company I'd never heard of, but I thought, 'It's only £20 so I'll risk it'.

On 8 May I received a message from Hermes: 'It's on its way'. Great, but when I looked on Hermes' tracking number it said 'Unknown'.

To cut a long story short, I contacted the vendor who initially addressed me as someone called 'Ann', then assured me that their orders commonly take 5-8 days to arrive but due to Covid 'we've been experiencing some minor delays'.

After I queried it, the vendor told me that the item would be delivered to me within 10-14 business days.

On 14 May I discovered that the company had changed its name from 'AutoTray' to 'WoofyWhiskers'! 'Hello', I thought, and the penny dropped!

On 21 May I demanded a cancellation of the order and a full refund on the grounds that they had failed to deliver within the advertised period. I had also discovered that this company had ordered the tray directly from China - no wonder it was taking so long to arrive. The seller had not mentioned any of this and had clearly been lying to me.
I also emailed Hermes and instructed them to cancel the delivery and return the item to the sender.
Finally, I contacted PayPal to whom I had paid from my credit card, and informed them of my decision and requesting that they refund the payment. They agreed to hold the payment until they had investigated.

On 23 May, the seller emailed me apologising that she cannot process a cancellation as the item is already in transit, admitting that they manufacture and process their items in China and apologising for not making that clear.

Nevertheless, having looked at all the evidence, PayPal emailed me on 2 June stating that 'the case has been closed in your favour', and that they have issued a refund of £19.99 to my credit card.

I could have just left this and put the loss down to experience, especially as I was daft enough to fall for what I realise now was an obvious scam, but I'm like a dog with a bone.
I've also now bought a similar tray from Amazon for the same price, post free, which arrived the next day!
Much better than a month!

The company to avoid is called either 'AutoTray' or 'WoofyWhiskers' (or possibly even something else by now), and the person I was dealing with is named 'Jessica Andrews' and trades from 'Bell Yard' in London.

Re: Seen A Scam? Warn us if you have!

I received this warning from the fraud people today:



" Phishing remains the most successful attack vector for cyber criminals targeting individuals and businesses.


Cyber criminals love phishing. Unfortunately, this is not a harmless riverbank pursuit. When criminals go phishing, you are the fish and the bait is usually contained in a scam email or text message. The criminal’s goal is to convince you to click on the links within their scam email or text message, or to give away sensitive information (such as bank details). These messages may look like the real thing but are malicious. Once clicked, you may be sent to a dodgy website which could download viruses onto your computer, or steal your passwords.

As of 30 April 2021, over 5.8 million emails were reported to the Suspicious Email Reporting Service (SERS). The tool, which was launched by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the City of London Police last April, allows the public to forward suspicious emails to an automated system that scans it for malicious links. Since its launch, over 43,000 scams and 84,000 malicious websites have been removed."

And here are some numbers and contacts to keep handy:


How you can protect yourself from phishing messages.

"Fake emails and text messages can sometimes be difficult to spot and criminals are constantly getting better at finding ways to make them seem more authentic. Email address spoofing, for example, is just one of the tactics criminals will use to try and make their fake emails look real. Here are some tips you should follow to protect yourself, and others, from scam emails and text messages:

1: Be cautious of messages asking for your personal information. Official organisations, such as your bank, should never ask you for personal or financial information via email or text message. If you receive a message and you want to check that it’s legitimate, you can call the organisation directly using a known number, such as the one on a bank statement or utility bill.

2: Report suspicious emails. If you receive an email you’re not quite sure about, you should report it to the Suspicious Email Reporting Service (SERS) by forwarding the email to: report@phishing.gov.uk. Your reports will help government and law enforcement agencies to remove malicious emails and websites.

3: Report suspicious text messages. If you receive a suspicious text message, you can report it by forwarding the message to 7726. It’s free of charge and enables your mobile network provider to investigate the origin of the text and take action, if found to be malicious.

4: Report fraud. If you’ve lost money or provided personal information as a result of a phishing scam, notify your bank immediately and report it to Action Fraud.

Re: Seen A Scam? Warn us if you have!

Good grief!! How many??! That's unreal

Re: Seen A Scam? Warn us if you have!

I know. Frightening isn't it.
It is going on all the time, 24/7, we just don't get to hear of most of it.

Re: Seen A Scam? Warn us if you have!

This is a weird one

Having moved recently the Sky engineer came to install sky to the new property and unfortunately in the process he damaged our TV...not to worry he tells us someone will contact you to replace the TV.

Couple of days later a call from Sky...yes they will replace we just need to give them bank details for the money to be transferred....alarm bells here as surely as we pay by direct debit they have our details? When I suggest they use the bank details they have the person got very insistent aggressively so ....so I put the phone down and rang Sky. They told me no-one had rung me and I did the right thing to ring them....they dealt with the claim on the phone and all is done now. Weird though that someone would know we were waiting for a call?

Re: Seen A Scam? Warn us if you have!

Summer that sounds really scary and weird! maybe it was a Sky worker looking for an opportunity?

Re: Seen A Scam? Warn us if you have!

Amazing! How did they know?

Perhaps the engineer's running a 'sideline'!

Re: Seen A Scam? Warn us if you have!

That to me seems obvious. He managed to damage the TV, and tells you that you would be contacted. Should be reported or mentioned to Sky.

Re: Seen A Scam? Warn us if you have!

S'what I think too.

Re: Seen A Scam? Warn us if you have!

Not exactly a scam, but I'd like to warn others of my experience in using an Amazon Marketplace seller.
I wasn't aware of the pitfalls, but when an item I ordered had not arrived by the specified date, I asked to cancel the order for a full refund.
Amazon, surprisingly, responded simply that I "cannot cancel the order", and that I must contact the seller.
I did that through Amazon's web page - the seller (Peak 247) appears not to have a web page of their own - and was told that I must wait for a further two days and contact them again.

A shame, as I have been with Amazon for donkey's years and have never had a problem before.

The moral of the story: DON'T USE AMAZON MARKETPLACE!
I never shall again.