Fraud / scam victim advice required

[Paddy]

Paddy, what do u mean inside job?

The builder and/or builder's friend OR someone at the bank (offshore call centre)

[SandyD]

Guys no, I do not suspect the builder of a scam, I know him well, his wife and his kids, but I know he is electronically ignorant !! And quite possibly got hacked
He has a house in Portugal, had it for years, he goes there most half terms, so I didn’t suspect anything when I got the hackers email saying he is in Portugal, he was there actually!!

I will write formal complaint letter tonight to my bank, tell the builder am chasing the bank, and won’t pay until it’s fully investigated !

How can one get a fraud investigator to give advise??
Are there private ones?

[Paddy]

Guys no, I do not suspect the builder of a scam, I know him well, his wife and his kids, but I know he is electronically ignorant !! And quite possibly got hacked
He has a house in Portugal, had it for years, he goes there most half terms, so I didn’t suspect anything when I got the hackers email saying he is in Portugal, he was there actually!!

I will write formal complaint letter tonight to my bank, tell the builder am chasing the bank, and won’t pay until it’s fully investigated !

How can one get a fraud investigator to give advise??
Are there private ones?

I which case I would suspect someone who knows your builder. It could even be someone living in Portugal.

[Hobosapien]

Check previous invoice payments to see if same/similar account details (bank sort code and nationality if not a UK bank).

Is the sort code UK based or different nationality to the previous account(s) you paid the earlier invoices into? If UK based then the fraud squad should be able to trace the perp unless a sophisticated identity theft has gone on.

Stall paying anything else to the builder until the fraud investigation has proven the builder was not involved in the scam, either deliberately or accidentally. If accidentally, e.g. their computer was hacked or a relative/friend was involved unbeknown to the builder, you can haggle on a settlement cost similar to insurance splitting the fault of a claim.

If all else fails let Judge Rinder decide who is at fault and out of pocket. Let us know which episode you are in if it goes that far.

[SandyD]

Check previous invoice payments to see if same/similar account details (bank sort code and nationality if not a UK bank).

Is the sort code UK based or different nationality to the previous account(s) you paid the earlier invoices into? If UK based then the fraud squad should be able to trace the perp unless a sophisticated identity theft has gone on.

Stall paying anything else to the builder until the fraud investigation has proven the builder was not involved in the scam, either deliberately or accidentally. If accidentally, e.g. their computer was hacked or a relative/friend was involved unbeknown to the builder, you can haggle on a settlement cost similar to insurance splitting the fault of a claim.

If all else fails let Judge Rinder decide who is at fault and out of pocket. Let us know which episode you are in if it goes that far.

Thing is no one investigating now??? I reported it to fraud action/ met police and all I got from them is a reference number?
Who should I chase to investigate? Shall I call the police? I reported it online as on their site it advices to do it online

[Zigenare]

Thing is no one investigating now??? I reported it to fraud action/ met police and all I got from them is a reference number?
Who should I chase to investigate? Shall I call the police? I reported it online as on their site it advices to do it online

He sent you the account details, you paid to that account. Job jobbed.

You have the email evidence as and when he sues you or the Police get off their arse and do their job.

Explain why you think the onus is on you to fix this.

[Lance]

I which case I would suspect someone who knows your builder. It could even be someone living in Portugal.

someone hacking in a coffee shop the buiklder was using. Especially if the email service is unencrypted.

[SandyD]

I am looking at the outlook email headers now, can some help me with it? not sure what to compare, I have old email from him last Oct, another one which he confirms he sent, and a third from supposed hacker...
IP addresses are similar, last two numbers different
Can anyone help in what to look for?

[SandyD]

Did IP lookup, unfortunately all Yahoo servers, as this is a yahoo, there is no way of knowing which computer the email was sent from

[mudskipper]

To be clear - you were never sent the actual details of the correct account to pay the money to? How did the builder expect to get paid?

It does sound very dodgy.